Summer Mercato

Originally Posted by drucurl

BIG DEAL

At the risk of sounding devoid of all emotion/team spirit this is merely a good thing...NOT a great thing.

1) Gattuso is getting up there

2) He isn't technically sound...but he IS overrated.....we could have sold him to some club like ManU or Bayern to get the funds to get things that we DO need like A LEFT BACK OR A POWERFUL STRIKER

3) I'm sure Flamini feels wonderful about this.....unless he is the default choice for Left Back he'll have to fight with Pirlo, Brocchi, Emerson, Gattuso AND AMBRO for a starting spot.....great job Milan Management If Carlo's "Pirlo must play until his blood runs into water" policy continues the options are even more scary because Ambro may well be our next captain.....meaning that he'll have to fight it out for ONE available spor or else Carlo plays the fans favourite 3-DM's in the formation

4) I want to address the issue of Gattuso's intangible contributions like to team spirit, morale etc etc Sure it might impress us when we see him getting all fired up for battle behind our TV sets....but let's be serious how much of an effect do you really think THAT has on the performances of world class players like Nesta,Kaka, Seedorf, Ronaldo? Do you think he keeps us together the way Maldini does?? And if they are playing **** isn't it better to have another PERFORMER to take up some of the slack? I am NOT underestimating it don't get me wrong, but heart and spirit only take you so far these days. This is top flight Italian football not "the little engine that could"

5)Wild is RIGHT. THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GATTUSO'S BEHAVIOUS AND SEHVA's. Coming to think of it Sheva's was more excusable since your family comes first all the time. He b!tched about Istanbul and he is weeping about this season.....

Dru you know I respect your posts but I simply cant agree in here.

Gattuso is a unique player. Milan is a club with heart and we need to take care of our champions and legends like Maldini, Ambro, Rino... Technically he is horrible,yes. But the thing he represents on the pitch you cant replace. GATTUSO IS THE BEST DEFENSIVE PLAYER IN THE WORLD - period. If we had normal fullback like we had Cafu years back, you would see what does Gattuso mean. If next year Zambrotta takes his place next to Gattuso that side of the pitch will be like a wall.

Gattuso is a simbol, every fan in the world respects him. We as a special club need to work on clubs soul, this is not NBA. Dont worry about founds for mercato my friend, Im telling you guys that all the time: Milan has so much money you cant even imagine it.

And Gattuso DIDNT leave Milan, nor did he want to go for money like Sheva, he asked Galliani for reassurance that Milan will bring in new players and play for trophyes. I told you before, and Giovanni did also, that we heard from Italia that Rino was not satisfied with our mercato's and lies from Galliani. Rino stayed becouse he wants to play with real team and not play 50 games per season for Brocchi and Emerson...

dont worry about Flamini, he will play enough. Gattuso, Ambrosini and Pirlo are in front of him, that is normal. But I think, tactically, that Carlo should mix Pirlo-Flamini-.Rino, or Pirlo-Ambro-Flamini, so we have an extra midfielder that can pass normally.

This year Gattuso (I feel) didn't play with as much emotion. Don't know why...

Originally Posted by Jeff

This year Gattuso (I feel) didn't play with as much emotion. Don't know why...

I think a lot of our great players didn't play with much emotion this year

they were playing too much and had no rotation at all, that is why Kaka' and Gattuso are saying we need 20 good palyers and why Galliani said we will buy 7-8 new players.

Gattuso is not a superhero, he cant play 100 games in 2 years and always run the way he does. With Flamini playing regulary, and Seedorf rotation with Dinho and Kaka' we will have fresher midfield. Espacially concerning the fact that UEFA cup in on thursday! Maybe even another midfielder is needed, like Cigarini, Dessena.

I trust your judgement too mrki

As we look at the mercato, and the even more eminent UCL final, this article sounded a cautionary note for me:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2...league.chelsea

It shows that these two clubs (Man U and Chelski) together are over 1Billion pounds in debt!!

Milan on the other hand, posts a relatively diminutive 20M+ pound loss (unsure of our actual debt obligations) when compared not only to those clubs debts.

Now many fans would argue that its worth that much debt to be in the UCL final....but I beg to differ.

What good is it to do a Leeds Utd?

How wonderful to win a UCL title, but to remain half a million pounds in debt?

I much rather our present condition/status, as I was taught as a child: the bigger they are, the harder they fall....and debts don't come much higher, or bigger, unless one is talking about a small countries' debt to the IMF or World Bank.

I much rather a club that will be around in the top tiers of football, than one relegated due to debt, or somesuch.

Can't believe that Abramovitch "loaned" money to Chelski!

LOANED!!

What is interesting about the terms of said loan, is not that the loan is interest free, but that Chelski is obligated to repay within 18 months of Abramovitch's say so....

18 months to find half a BILLION POUNDS?

Ok firesale check list:
1. Sell the club stadium,
2. Sell the stars: Essien, Lamps, Drogba, Chech, etc
3. Sell youth players snapped up from other clubs youth programmes....etc etc.

Now I am not privy to Berlu's funding policy with regard to Milan, but I have never once read that he "loaned" the club funds. What a difference a genuine fan makes...as opposed to someone just in it for the publicity and the profile.

Bear these things in mind ladies and gents when we clamour for this or that signing, and be thankful to whatever God u worship, that we are Milan fans, and have the owner that we do.

Good in a way to see Amauri out of the picture, as he was a bit too mercenary for me...he will leave Juve the minute they start to founder on rough seas...the first to leave a sinking ship are rats....nuff said.

Holding out hope for Vargas, and would love to see the official price tag for Alves.

To be honest, guardina knows s... about who is loaning money to whom in Abramovic's business... Abramovic cant loan out money to himself as Chelsea is his club. To you know where chelsea village is in London and how much that part of land is worth? Players are worth nothing compared to that...

chelsea will not go to bancrupt, Abramovic is too rich, and United has oil fields...OIL FIELDS.

Clubs are not what they used to be ( Leeds ), now its something different. Business that has 20 mln supporters ( any big club ) doesnt crash down, trust me.

it would be interesting if uefa banned clubs in the champ league who are in too much debt. Even though chelseas amount is huge, for Abramovic anything is managable debt.

Warro sorry bro but I agree with mrki
Case in point are Real Madrid(rumored to be laundering illicit government funds) and Barcelona. Since I have been supporting football they have been in tremendous debt.....doesn't seem to have any net effect on 'em

ManU's most recent indebted status has coincided with the greatest success period they have enjoyed for a long time. The same applies to Chelsea. Then of course there's always Inter who are usually hundreds of millions in the red. Leeds is by far a MUCH smaller club with a waaay smaller fanbase and they made huge investments that didn't pay out.

Maybe if Berlu in his new mode doesn't want to spend...loans the money to get Quaresma, Alves and Gomez we'd be better off than staying in the black up front and continuing to lose ca$h earners like the CL and big name player jersey sales

I think mrki, that u missed my point.

My point is, if, for whatever reason, Abramovitch decides to ask for his money back, Chelski would have to find it...and half a billion pounds aint chicken feed...

And as Greame C pointed out, what if UEFA says: "No UCL if ur in "x" amount of debt"...?

A lot of "ifs" in my riposte, admittedly, and while I appreciate that Man U especially won't do a Leeds...the precedent has beed set.

And that is the point.....debts that high cannot be sustainable in the long term....(In Man U's case specifically), unless ur profit is gigantic year in, year out.

That I am sure, is not guaranteed.

Poor example dru....Madrid is the exception that proves the rule.

I can readily believe that there are Milan fans who would, in pursuit of silverware, have no problem with us being billions in debt....

Sorry, I disagree.....I want Milan to be the same mighty institution we are now, when I am taking my Grandkids (or they are taking me LOL)to see Milan play in a UCL final or two.

No one can predict what the future holds, but one can kearn from the mistakes of the past, and what has been proven tine and time again, is that massive debt, while not a death sentence, certainly aint a good thing.

Originally Posted by mrki

And Gattuso DIDNT leave Milan, nor did he want to go for money like Sheva, he asked Galliani for reassurance that Milan will bring in new players and play for trophyes. I told you before, and Giovanni did also, that we heard from Italia that Rino was not satisfied with our mercato's and lies from Galliani. Rino stayed becouse he wants to play with real team and not play 50 games per season for Brocchi and Emerson...

dont worry about Flamini, he will play enough. Gattuso, Ambrosini and Pirlo are in front of him, that is normal. But I think, tactically, that Carlo should mix Pirlo-Flamini-.Rino, or Pirlo-Ambro-Flamini, so we have an extra midfielder that can pass normally.

I 100% agree with you Mrki besides now that he stays this could reasure other players and possible transfer targets that we only look up and want to do beter. How? Revolution? yes but only in our transfer policy not in our squad. I believe we still have world Class backbone with Nesta-Gatusso-Pirlo-Kaka. I honestly believe every team in the world would want these players.
Now its up to management to fill in the gaps.
The next players will certainly get their share of time on the pitch next season Kaladze, Bonera, Ambrosini, Flamini, Pato, Jankulovski and I believe we will give Oddo an other chance and with some oldies such as Seedorf, Pipo, Favali (He signed an extension so it's unlikely he will leave allthough I don't think he is good enough, it doesn't have to be a bad thing but only as a last back-up, if he plays 10-15 or more matches as a starter than I will feel like we didn't get the right players in the mercato).

Who should come? Well the discussion seems endless but I think we all agree that we should get:
1) GK I don't know that LLoris but if management thinks he's ready why not. Abbiati is also an option although I could understand why he would want to leave. Kalac could stay as a sub. Question is should we give a young keeper the chance? Yes if management really think he's up to it.

2) LB or RB these positions seemed to be cursed for use in recent years but we at least need to have one new player coz our current players don't seem to deliver. Zambrotta could fill in the gap depending on injuries of other players, he could be RB or LB however I haven't seem him play for the last 6 monthes is he still up to it? Bonera, Oddo and Janku, Kaladze also could play these positions but they have failed to convince me that they are te best available option. Flamini could also be an option as I recall he did pretty good with arsenal on the flanks or was that part of the reason he left Arsenal? I don't know? Anybody?

3) CD with our without Paolo we need another worldclass defender, Bonera and Kaladze are good but I don't think they are world class besides maybe Bonera can fill in our RB position who knows, Who should come? Zapata? most likely Udinese doesn't play CL and Udinese isn't Milan to be honest. Mexes is another option but without CL it will be hard to persuade him to come.
Another question mark is Maldini's future, I don't think this should change anything on our transfers. If he stays that's fantastic but I wonder how his knees are doing I'dd prefer to see him to hang up his boots now than he plays another season and in 5years from now to see him in a wheelchair or something. If he plays another year I don't think he will play that much anyway allthough when he is fit to play he still has his place in every team. His pension would really be the end of an era.
Bottomline wheter he quits or not, we can use a great central defender.

4) And we do need a striker. Who could it be? This is a real nutcracker it depends on how Carlo wants to play that is if he stays (Allthough I think he will). If Ronaldhino comes I think we won't get a world class striker (maybe Boriello will come back but I don't reckon him to be that good (yet )). There are so many question's that need to be solved.
Will carlo stay? He will probably stay but what formation will he use?
Will Ronaldhino come?
Will Boriello come back? I don't think so
What shall we do with Gila? (cf. infra).
So I think it's way to early to think to far ahead for us fans.

That should be part one of our 'revolution' another part is that we should change our policy and also get some really good youngsters. Darmian, Digao, Mazoratti, Gourcuff, Paoloschi why not, but they are not so special just yet. (They should be used in a good team it's stupid to play all our Bplayers at the same time coz that situation isn't real. How can Gourcuff prove what he is really worth if we only use him in 'our worst formation' or any other youngster for that matter. It's much easier for youngsters to play good if they are surrounded by fantastic players as it is for their selfconfidence and to keep of the presure.)
But we should also try to get others, Montolivio for one, of course it will be extremely difficult to lure him to san siro but why not. We could buy him and loan him out to fiorentina so he can gain more experience in the CL, play the 'harvest' year with fiorentina and Pirlo will be a year older when we get him next summer. But I'dd rather have him straight away and give him minutes to play for sure in the copa and in the Uefa cup, this would also mean that we finaly have a decent back-up for Pirlo so we could finally play a good game without him. I do think Montolivio will get enough minutes considering there is also a European Championship and OG (is Montolivio going to Bejing aswell since he is going to EC?) coming up and Pirlo isn't getting any younger although I believe he is still on his peak. But this way we have pirlo and a his heir. Aquilani same story as for Montelivio but I think it would be even harder to get him. He could be the succesor for Ambro or Gatusso or more likely even seedorf it depends on how our formation will look like. Allthough since Flamini signed and Rino stays I think he will remain a personal dream. Rossi could also be a good youngster I like to see with us. But the striker question has to be sorted out first.

For our objectives I think (like everybody else I gues) we should focus on the scudetto and being runner up=failure, but I do think we should aim for the Uefa cup aswell maybe not with all our best players but we should have valid alternatives, that was our main problem this season with all due respect for Brocchi for example but if we rest Pirlo and use Brocchi for either the copa or the Uefa cup then I don't think we can get very far. Our midfield was our strongest line this season but it lacked depth.
I have no doubt that we can conquer Italy next year but I we will have to buy more and more expensive players than we did the last 3 years. Bayeren did the same and it proved a succes. The Uefa cup should be an objective to but scudetto is more important.

As for outgoing transfers Gila is the biggest question mark that needs to be sorted out. I wouldn't offload him for cash only (unless it's a really good offer but I doubt well get any) I'dd prefer to swap him with priced assets of another team. Maybe we could break the bank and offer Roma a good deal (lots of cash) and Gila for Mexes and Aquilani since they have a certain intrest in gila. Another interesting deal might be Gila and cash for Frey and Montelivio.
Another option is that he stays put and I still think he has the potential to succeed unfortunately our current scheme doesn't fit him at all and a partnership with pipo is out of te question but maybe a partnership with Pato could fit him better but I'm affraid he ran out of credit...
Pipo's future is a blur aswell I don't think we should chose him as our main man upfront if he however maintaines his current form than he could still have his place in our line-up.

The rest (Simic, Dida, Emerson, Ba and Brocchi should leave the club as did Ronaldo, Serghino and Cafu) I would like to say thank you for everything but milan can't use you anymore on the field maybe as coaches or scouts etc. I don't think we will get money for those players but I think we should accept wathever we get for them. I hope to sell olivera for some cash and depending on arrival maybe others might probably follow. Anyway that's how I see coming Mercato

i Heard that Valencia might put Banega on the market after the beat us to his signature in January,

would you be interested in signing the young argentine

Fabio Grosso may also be on the Market

Originally Posted by payne

i Heard that Valencia might put Banega on the market after the beat us to his signature in January,

would you be interested in signing the young argentine

I surely would...but would Milan?

He is a quality player, and a good sub for Pirlo, with better defensive qualities...though to be honest, with Flamini in place, I doubt the mgmt will consider him..though I hope we do.

As to Grosso: I

Lovely dissertation Koeke! Solid points, found few to disagree with outright, though I may have to read it more than once to make sure.

So, Rino stays, good news that...