Winter Mercato

You know we have already signed Zebina : the news was on calciomercato.com yesteday. As usual (f.ex. Cafu) free agents get a contract months before thier contract expires, usually in this period.


We must sign a great midfielder : as our defensive exposure shows, we can't hold on with a team full of fantasisti and playmakers. We must strenghten the midfield, as well as all the other areas.

Buffon : 30 + m
Zambrotta : 15 m
Heinze : free agent
Zebina : free agent

We surely have to use some players as makeweight, but it's time for Silvio to open the wallet.

what are chances of zambrotta being sold in the summer with him only transfering last season?

if he doesn't feel good in spain the chances are great because modern fotball market is ruled by players' will, and very rarely the club can hold on with players willing to go elsewhere.
The question is : " how much are we going to pay if he convince Barca to release him "?
Last summer Zambrotta had already reached a gentlemen's agreement with Braida, but the uncertainty about our future and a contestual offer by Barca convinced him to take a flight for Barcelona.

Zambrotta was in Italy few days ago, and it is said he had some unformal talks with Milan board.
I don't know if it going to be a serious deal, but what is sure is that Zambrotta is an astonishing player, a player worthy an effort. He can immediately set both flanks and eventually midfield. He's either good forward and backward, and being an italian defender, and a quality one, he can eventually play as central back in the future, when his pace will slow down. I'm sure he can be a great central back as well.

Originally Posted by Tony29.

In short i'll just tell you what did he do for Juve, so we'll have a more clear picture what can we expect from him if he arives in Milan :

He signed for Juve, had solid 3 months and got injured, then he got back , played below average 3 months and got injured again.
At the beggining of the next season he got a serious injury and was out for some 5 months. When he got back he was the worst player i've seen in my life.
Then Calciopoli came. Zebina wanted to leave Juve but noone wanted to buy him so he had to stay. But he refused to play in serie B. When he was forced to play a match, he got a red card and was suspended for few matches. Then he came back and got injured immediately.
After 40 days he recovered, and then he got another red card and suspension, which still lasts.

So, most of the time he's injured, when he's not injured he's getting red cards, and when he's not getting red cards he's getting owned by some Frosinone attackers.

It's a win-win situation for Juve. Getting rid of Zebina and putting him in Milan's defence.

well, there seems to be a chance that Zebina's impressive track record with Juve will get even better - according to this article in Gazzetta, he may very well be staying put:
http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Squadr.../mercato.shtml

Thank you Juve.
It's a win-win situation for Milan. Not getting Zebina and letting him stay in Juve's defence.

Originally Posted by zlatanov

well, there seems to be a chance that Zebina's impressive track record with Juve will get even better - according to this article in Gazzetta, he may very well be staying put:
http://www.gazzetta.it/Calcio/Squadr.../mercato.shtml

Thank you Juve.
It's a win-win situation for Milan. Not getting Zebina and letting him stay in Juve's defence.

According to that article Gilardino may be Juve's player . Those are only speculations about Juve's summer possibile transfers, in and out from Juve.
From what we've read so far a deal between Juve and Milan has been made about Zebina.
Juve already bought Salihamidzic and Grygera on Zebina's position, so i very much doubt he'll stay in Juventus

Originally Posted by hishamilan

i know i am new and young but u will all agree with me when i say that we don't want a ready made star like ronaldinho nor an ordinary un experienced youngster like pato, but we really need a skillful GK to replace dida maybe "Steklenberg"<around $4 mil.>, an experienced young DF like < pepe or alex or luisao > , mikel arteta is great as a backup for all midfeild positions < around $8 mil.>, we could also get Montolivo as a sub. for kaka and as for the CF we need a fast one or a goal machine whom i think are either Etoo or Huntelaar.

why didn't any body discuss me???????? i think this is fairly a good reply and it solves the unique non-euro passport if we buy a combination of: steklenberg alex arteta montolivo huntelaar

Originally Posted by Giovanni

if he doesn't feel good in spain the chances are great because modern fotball market is ruled by players' will, and very rarely the club can hold on with players willing to go elsewhere.
The question is : " how much are we going to pay if he convince Barca to release him "?
Last summer Zambrotta had already reached a gentlemen's agreement with Braida, but the uncertainty about our future and a contestual offer by Barca convinced him to take a flight for Barcelona.

Zambrotta was in Italy few days ago, and it is said he had some unformal talks with Milan board.
I don't know if it going to be a serious deal, but what is sure is that Zambrotta is an astonishing player, a player worthy an effort. He can immediately set both flanks and eventually midfield. He's either good forward and backward, and being an italian defender, and a quality one, he can eventually play as central back in the future, when his pace will slow down. I'm sure he can be a great central back as well.

yup milan should look at players like this

instead of that flop zebina

Originally Posted by hishamilan

i know i am new and young but u will all agree with me when i say that we don't want a ready made star like ronaldinho nor an ordinary un experienced youngster like pato, but we really need a skillful GK to replace dida maybe "Steklenberg"<around $4 mil.>, an experienced young DF like < pepe or alex or luisao > , mikel arteta is great as a backup for all midfeild positions < around $8 mil.>, we could also get Montolivo as a sub. for kaka and as for the CF we need a fast one or a goal machine whom i think are either Etoo or Huntelaar.

ok here you go:
I like the idea of Stekelenburg as a cheaper option for a new keeper, cheaper than Buffon that is. He is a very good keeper already and with him being 24-25 yo can only get better with time.
IMO he is not NOW the best replacement for Dida but, with an eye to the future, he is indeed a viable option for Milan.

regarding Arteta, I don;t think he will cut it in Italy even as a back-up player. Spain or England is the place for him, not Italy ... he will be eaten alive in calcio and won't find the space he needs to show his skills ... and him being Spanish, doesn't exactly insrease his chances of Milan going after him.
Pretty good player, overall, but it would be best for both sides, Milan and Arteta, if he stays in EPL/La Liga and try to find himself a better team that can actually play football 'cause his current one is not the place to be at if he wants to develop his talent even further.

Montolivo - great promise in this youngster but it would be best for him to stay at a team where he would be getting more regular football, at least for now. He is still young and there is no guarantee if he will live up to the expectations or will be just another flop - he can still go either way, I think.
Also, Fiorentina will not be easy to convince to sell, not for less than 10-15 mil and for this money we could get an established player, not one who might make it but mislo not make it.
All in all, we should keep him in mind but it's a bit too early for him to come to milan.

Regarding those defenders, I don;t see how Pepe or Luisao would improve our defense. IMO they are good defenders but that's about it. of course time is still on their side and they can improve but I don't think they will ever reach the status of a Cannavaro, Nesta, Ferdinand, Terry, Puyol, Thuram, etc, etc and with maldini retiring, that's the type of player we will need.
Also, Juve seem to be very close to signing Luisao for next year when they will be back in Serie A.

If you are looking for a young defender, who is already better than either of these two, and will only get better, take a look at Zapata from udinese ... Milan and other clubs are already hot on his heals.
As for Alex (the one from PSV, I assume) I think he should be our top priority for an immediate replacement of maldini/Billy in CD with mexes/chivu coming in close second place.

For CF, if we get Ronaldinho and with Rijkaard on his way out too, barca would keep Eto'o - Laporta is keen on the guy, a lot - so I don;t see much reason to include him in our transfer market plans and discussions, at least not in the "realistic" ones.
Also, I doubt Milan would go for both Dinho and Eto'o in one year, and of the two, it would be the Brazilian who is on Silvio's heart and mind.
If Dinho comes, I would expect to see Milan retain 3 important strikers - Gila, Ronaldo, RO/Inzaghi, and a youngster like Aubumeyang on the side in the youth team.

If Inzaghi goes, I guess that makes Huntelaar an option but I doubt Milan would be too keen on him right now given that he's having a pretty average season with Ajax and is even having trouble find place on the first team as of late ... that could easily make Milan see him as a one-season wonder and prefer someone else over him (hint: Pizarro from Bayern will be a free agent this summer ).
I personally like Huntelaar a lot but he is not making friends among Milan management with his poor form this season ... although, on the good side, this would make Ajax drop their demands in a possible transfer move.

Originally Posted by Tony29.

According to that article Gilardino may be Juve's player . Those are only speculations about Juve's summer possibile transfers, in and out from Juve.
From what we've read so far a deal between Juve and Milan has been made about Zebina.
Juve already bought Salihamidzic and Grygera on Zebina's position, so i very much doubt he'll stay in Juventus

what that article says is that Gila is an option for Juve in their search for a Trez replacement ... something that's been around for months now. Nothing final, nothing substantial about it, just an option, along with pizarro, klose, and Toni, who seems to be the one with the grreatest chance of playing for Juve next year.

They are pretty firm, however, on what they said about Zebina - no "might" but "IS DESTINED TO REMAIN".

Also, Salihamidzic is more of a replacement (or more precisely an additional option to them) for camoranesi or one of the other wingers like marchioni and Nedved.
With grygera likely to be first choice at RB and Birindelli on the look out for retirement - like Favalli at Milan - Juve would still need a good back up at RB, and if he can be a back-up for CD too, why not keep Zebina.

I guess we'll know more in about 3-4 month's time

Originally Posted by zlatanov

With grygera likely to be first choice at RB and Birindelli on the look out for retirement - like Favalli at Milan - Juve would still need a good back up at RB, and if he can be a back-up for CD too, why not keep Zebina.

I guess we'll know more in about 3-4 month's time

The problem is Zebina himself. He said numerous times how he wants to leave Juve. He was refusing to play for Juve for 3 months, and when he was finally forced to play (Juve had 5 injured defenders at the time) he got a red card ( it was obviously on purpose ), and another red card followed on his next match.
Even if Juve wants to keep him as a back-up, they are aware it will be a mistake. He's unhappy in B , he'll be unhappy as a back-up in A = must be sold !
Since Marchionni and Camoranesi are both right wings, then , if none of them leaves Juve, Salihamidzic will take the RB position.

Imo, Zebina will 100% leave Juventus on June. Will Milan be his next team we'll see in 3-4 months, as you said !

But Zebina is not what i'm worried about atm. I'm worried about the crazy rumour about Juve buying Toni for 50 M Euro ( wages included) . If it's not true, then those journalists should be fired ASAP. If it's true, Secco needs to check his head !

I think the main issue was playing B as Ibra, Trez and Camo were, and still are, unhappy about it ... but with Juve back in A, the management will need to build 3/4 of a team from scratch so they will need to retain good/decent back up players because a lot of money will be spend on other players like Toni, CDs and so on. if they let Zebina go, that would mean that a replacement will have to be found and no matter how much you guys hate him, you won't find many better players out there for free.

As for him, he probably realizes that at 30 yo, playing at Juve in Serie A is just about the max he could expect for the rest of his career. Maybe he changed his mind and decided that being a back up at Juve is better than playing more regularly for Empoli or Messina ... plus, those teams will hardly be able to match his Juve salary, so a move to a smaller team would inevitably mean a BIG salary cut for him too.

As for Toni, those rumours are just insane, even if they include his salary for the next 4-5 years. last year, when toni was a year younger and had just been crowned WC winner and had just set a Serie A record for most goals scored, Fiorentina were asking for 20 mil euros for him to go to Inter but the cousins didn't wanna pay that much for a 28-29 yo player and went for Ibra and Crespo instead.
So, even if Juve meets Fiorentina's asking price from last year, which a I doubt, if those rumours were true, that leaves 30 mil for Toni's salary for the next 4-5 years, which is probably twice what his salary will be in the end.

my estimate is that, including his projected salary over a 4-5 year contract, Toni would cost Juve around 30-35 mil EUROS, not BP as it was mentioned in that article.
Or maybe what the articel got wrong was the currency - euros instead of BP - because a figure of 35 mil sounds about right to me.

Originally Posted by zlatanov

I think the main issue was playing B as Ibra, Trez and Camo were, and still are, unhappy about it ... but with Juve back in A, the management will need to build 3/4 of a team from scratch so they will need to retain good/decent back up players because a lot of money will be spend on other players like Toni, CDs and so on. if they let Zebina go, that would mean that a replacement will have to be found and no matter how much you guys hate him, you won't find many better players out there for free.

As for him, he probably realizes that at 30 yo, playing at Juve in Serie A is just about the max he could expect for the rest of his career. Maybe he changed his mind and decided that being a back up at Juve is better than playing more regularly for Empoli or Messina ... plus, those teams will hardly be able to match his Juve salary, so a move to a smaller team would inevitably mean a BIG salary cut for him too.

Yes, i can't say this is not true and logical.
But those reports from few days ago make you think he'll leave Juve :
"Reports coming out of Italy suggest that the Rossoneri are in agreement with Juventus over the defender, who will move to the San Siro in the summer
France-born Juventus defender Jonathan Zebina is all set to put on Milan's red and black shirt come next season, after the two club's struck a deal over the out-of-favour defender.

Zebina being out of favour at Juve, and in particular with coach Didier Deschamps, is said to have helped the move along..........



Now, we may asume this is also just a speculation, but we know how fast Galliani is in denying similar rumours. This time neather he , neather Secco ( who also denies everything connected to Gigi's, Trez', Camo's move) said a single word to deny such option.
And it's not a rumour that doesn't even deserves to be denied, like some " Milan is interested in xxxx " rumour.
This time it's said "two club's struck a deal over the out-of-favour defender".
If it's not true, i'm sure we would have heard smthg from Galliani or Secco !

Lol, and our litle discussion here is enough to conclude how good Zebina is.

We have a Juve player ( Zebina) . I'm trying to find facts why he should leave Juve and go to Milan, and you're trying to find facts why shouldn't he leave Juve and go to Milan.

If we change the name Zebina , with Buffon, we'll be 100% changing our position in this discussion

Good point

Actually, I don't mind Zebina as a back up player as long as he's for free and his arrival doens;t mean that Milan won;t go for another good attcking RB to take cafu's place and share that position with Oddo. For instance, I wouldn't mind having Zebina play favalli's role on the team.
The main issue I have with him is that he's injury prone as what good a back player is for, if he's gonna spend most of the time either being injured or trying to find his form after coming out of an injury.
other than that, Zebina is an OK player by me, and his usual 1 blunder/game apart, was pretty good for Roma and Juve (in his first season that is).

without even considering the amount of time he spends injured or even the mistakes he might make in a game defensively, the thing that worries me most about him is his rashness. It seems he's just waiting to come in hard on someone and is always looking to get booked or sent off, that's a liability we don't want even if he is free. So no thanks Juve, you can keep him. We can do alot better.