Winter mercato 2024

[nefremo]

I'll add a bit of a "long winded" post to the best signing/worst signing/best player/worst player discussion. 

At the mid-season point, I gotta say Pulisic has been the best transfer. 7 goals and 4 assists across Serie A and the CL (22 appearances) is very good and he is on pace to hit double digit goals AND assists.

Worst transfer is a bit difficult. Obviously Chukwueze has been disappointing and I guess he'd take the "prize" here...but I'm not ready to call it a day yet. Pulisic has been performing really well and that has limited Chukwueze....who came in late in the summer, but then not only that, he was forced out through an injury and hasn't really had a run if games to adapt. Again, at this point and compared to the others, he'll probably be the "worst" transfer especially with that price tag that we paid, but I think he can be effective with continuity in the 2nd part of the season. Then again, he's leaving for AFCON, so doubt that'll happen. Others that have been disappointing too like Okafor, who always seems to be injured. Gets healthy and ready, and injures himself within a week again. Whereas we blame Pioli and his staff on the injuries, Okafor's who career has been like this. So this one may not be entirely on Pioli.
I was also hoping for more from Romero also. But he was free and is young, so I get it. Not sure he's good enough for this level though, and it now makes sense why he didn't play much for Lazio either.

Best player - hard to point one out. I'll have to go with Tomori though. His consistency has been great this year. This is probably his best season here, yet those around him don't seem to be on the same page as him most of the time and he ends up covering way more space then he should be.

Worst player - this one is hard. Leao is a candidate, but not because he's been "the worst" player. On the contrary, he's been better than many others. I just said Pulisic is the best signing with 7 goals and 4 assists on 22 appearances, but Rafa has 4 goals and 5 assists on 20 appearances. So is it that much worse? Of course not. But the problem is, when compared to the expectations we had for him at the beginning of the season, he's massively disappointed. Hasn't scored since September in the league and isn't popping up with with quality when we really need it (like last season). Still, I wouldn't call him "the worst" player. It just seems we may have to tame down our expectations for him. I was expecting 20 goals from him this season, but at this point, getting into double digits will make me happy. If both our starting wingers (Leao and Pulisic) score 10+ goals each in Serie A, then that's good. Not world class (what we were hoping), but it's good. So that takes us to the other wingers and the midfield, who are simply NOT chipping in with goals and they really need to. Brings me to Chukwueze again. We can't have a winger that replaced Messias/Saele and cost 20M+, and is YET to score in the league as of January. So he's up there for me. But again, as I said above, he's had very fragmented time. 540 total minutes, which amounts to 6 full games. He just simply hasn't been able (or allowed) to get into stride and get consistent play time. So although at this point he takes the cake, as I said, I'm hopeful.

[Bennacer]

I'll add a bit of a "long winded" post to the best signing/worst signing/best player/worst player discussion. 

At the mid-season point, I gotta say Pulisic has been the best transfer. 7 goals and 4 assists across Serie A and the CL (22 appearances) is very good and he is on pace to hit double digit goals AND assists.

Worst transfer is a bit difficult. Obviously Chukwueze has been disappointing and I guess he'd take the "prize" here...but I'm not ready to call it a day yet. Pulisic has been performing really well and that has limited Chukwueze....who came in late in the summer, but then not only that, he was forced out through an injury and hasn't really had a run if games to adapt. Again, at this point and compared to the others, he'll probably be the "worst" transfer especially with that price tag that we paid, but I think he can be effective with continuity in the 2nd part of the season. Then again, he's leaving for AFCON, so doubt that'll happen. Others that have been disappointing too like Okafor, who always seems to be injured. Gets healthy and ready, and injures himself within a week again. Whereas we blame Pioli and his staff on the injuries, Okafor's who career has been like this. So this one may not be entirely on Pioli.
I was also hoping for more from Romero also. But he was free and is young, so I get it. Not sure he's good enough for this level though, and it now makes sense why he didn't play much for Lazio either.

Best player - hard to point one out. I'll have to go with Tomori though. His consistency has been great this year. This is probably his best season here, yet those around him don't seem to be on the same page as him most of the time and he ends up covering way more space then he should be.

Worst player - this one is hard. Leao is a candidate, but not because he's been "the worst" player. On the contrary, he's been better than many others. I just said Pulisic is the best signing with 7 goals and 4 assists on 22 appearances, but Rafa has 4 goals and 5 assists on 20 appearances. So is it that much worse? Of course not. But the problem is, when compared to the expectations we had for him at the beginning of the season, he's massively disappointed. Hasn't scored since September in the league and isn't popping up with with quality when we really need it (like last season). Still, I wouldn't call him "the worst" player. It just seems we may have to tame down our expectations for him. I was expecting 20 goals from him this season, but at this point, getting into double digits will make me happy. If both our starting wingers (Leao and Pulisic) score 10+ goals each in Serie A, then that's good. Not world class (what we were hoping), but it's good. So that takes us to the other wingers and the midfield, who are simply NOT chipping in with goals and they really need to. Brings me to Chukwueze again. We can't have a winger that replaced Messias/Saele and cost 20M+, and is YET to score in the league as of January. So he's up there for me. But again, as I said above, he's had very fragmented time. 540 total minutes, which amounts to 6 full games. He just simply hasn't been able (or allowed) to get into stride and get consistent play time. So although at this point he takes the cake, as I said, I'm hopeful.

Good post, and the reason why i said Leao as the most disappointed player is excactly what you says, the expectation. Not just from us, but from the player himself. He is so confident in interwiews and says he is now a leader of this team, and needs to act like that bla bla bla, but what have we seen? A enormous decline. As i said, he has impressed in just ONE game this autumn, and that was against PSG. I no other game he has dominated. He has a few goals and assist, but never impressed in total. And the body language, his defensive abilities and so on, is just distraous, its so bad that you scream filthy words at the screen. 

But of course you need to take expecations in to consideration. I could say that Pobega has been our worst player, but that will be unfair with hos role and the expecation we have to the player. 

My honest opinion is that Leao by far is our worst performer so far. It could just be better in 2024 though.

[Bennacer]

I also see Chukwueze as a case that still can be solved. He has talent, no doubt, and you could see on the goals against Dortmund and Newcastle that he has talent. He needs consistency and to be more unpredictable. He has actually more potential than Pulisic but has not delivered so far.

Maybe 2024 will be his year? Lets see.

[winstonwolfe]

Yes, Chukwueze has been awful, but the guy did not get proper chance. If he got as many starts as Leao or Pulisic, I can bet that he would have the same numbers as Pulisic, or even better. He will leave the club without getting a proper chance to play. Problem is with the bald idiot, he just does not want to give a chance to some players. And some players will get more play time than they deserve. Is he just stupid to make change where it is obvius or just stubborn and want to prove that he is right? Is he that blind to see that Giroud is just not working? Or even Leao, bench him, give somebody a chance. Or Calabria. Rotate you mf, now that you have more quality than last season, that can not be excuse.
Or these injuries, the medical team and fitness team should be long gone.

[Codazzi]

Criticizing players who are managed by Pioli isn't fair unless they absolutely do nothing most of the time (Castillejo, CDK, Messias and Salad).

In order to understand the full potential of the current players, we need to see them being coached by a guy who knows what he is doing. Pioli used to train defensive players well, he can't do that anymore either.

So I just don't know if new signings are good or bad. Everybody says most of them are performing badly. I refuse to think it's their fault. They know better than anyone that the coach should go.

[slifersd1]

There is a rumor that we are about to sign Filippo Terracciano from Verona. Anyone knows anything about him?

[Sampinjon]

As for best signing, if we look at it as best piece of business, consider costs, expectations and everything, I'd say Jovic. On his way to exceed all expectations. If he manages to score 10-15, I'd say keep him for another year(not as first option). I can't even imagine we rely on Giroud for next season, Okafor being non-existent, so we'll need three new strikers, With Jovic - two. If we look at it just as who offered most on the field, than Pulisic. Although, I expected more from him at big games. He's invisible there.
Worst - no doubt, Chuku. Okafor not being far behind.
Best player - if I must pick someone, I'll go with rest of the guys and pick Tomori. Theo being into consideration, despite his recent mental malfunctions.
Worst player, as for first category, if we consider everything, than Leao. Calabria close second. If just impact on the field, than I'll give another trophy to Chuku. If we looks at it as team's weakest link, than Pioli.

[Sleeping Giant]

There is a rumor that we are about to sign Filippo Terracciano from Verona. Anyone knows anything about him?

[nefremo]

As for best signing, if we look at it as best piece of business, consider costs, expectations and everything, I'd say Jovic. On his way to exceed all expectations. If he manages to score 10-15, I'd say keep him for another year(not as first option). I can't even imagine we rely on Giroud for next season, Okafor being non-existent, so we'll need three new strikers, With Jovic - two. If we look at it just as who offered most on the field, than Pulisic. Although, I expected more from him at big games. He's invisible there.
Worst - no doubt, Chuku. Okafor not being far behind.
Best player - if I must pick someone, I'll go with rest of the guys and pick Tomori. Theo being into consideration, despite his recent mental malfunctions.
Worst player, as for first category, if we consider everything, than Leao. Calabria close second. If just impact on the field, than I'll give another trophy to Chuku. If we looks at it as team's weakest link, than Pioli.

I can finally see why Jovic was highly regarded by Real. The guy is a deadly finisher. Puts 99% of his efforts on target and makes the GK work. Great technique and connection when striking the ball. Never overcomplicates things in the box. It's strictly business. 1 or 2 touch finishes no matter the position, angle, etc. And as I said, they all end on target somehow. 

One part of his game that I did not expect, was the ability to bring down the long ball at the midfield, despite being massively outsized by CBs for the most part. And with that, he usually has a neat little touch to release a runner without complicating things (like Giroud). 

I agree that if he continues like this, we should extend his deal and keep him. He can be a great supporting striker at this rate. But we still need to sign a top striker to be our starter.

[Beppe]

Jovic has done very well lately. I hope we extend his contract and he will be one of our strikers next season. He can actually run! Giroud can not, i wouldnt mind giroud as 3th option. But I dunno if he would accept that, and on lower wages.

What do we need the most? A Defensive midfielder?