Summer Mercato

Originally Posted by drucurl

guys gimmie a break Most of us love milan down to our last drop of blood but in case you haven't noticed....we're not exactly eating at the Salvation Army here.....

Dru, I cant, and wont expect you to agree with me, after all, when we do, its quite unusual....

Milan is a rich, powerful club, that is owned by a billionaire. He has spent, and continues to spend, vast sums of money on his toy/pet/addiction/tool-for-rapid-rise-in-political-power...yet, for a few years, he hasnt spent huge sums in transfers...yet, the toy still managed to entertain him, and win an odd bit of silverware here and there....so he decides to take a different approach to procurement.

Whats wrong with that?

Inter and Juve in Italy, are the only clubs that can compete with Milan financially, all things (ie Berlu´s purse strings being freed up) being equal:

Moratti, we know, could have cleard up Jamaica´s national debt with all the spending he did on players for his club, who over a God-he-alone-knows how long a period, has a 2 paper, and one earned scudetto to show for it..oh, and a UEFA Cup maybe?

Juve....well...less said about them the better, except to say this: Here is another club that isnt splashing the cash, but still manages to get res...ahh forget it...calciopoli has reduced their involvement in any Serie A arguments invalid, except maybe for the 3rd place finish they managed this season...with a squad of no-name, youth products, and a smattering of stars. 3rd place...and with a new coach.

Roma have an excellent coach, and a great team, built on a pittance...their star player: A youth product.

My point: Splashing the cash doesnt guarantee you titles, but a careful combination of big purchases, with a good coach, a stable atmosphere, and you can still win silverware...and usually with the same, or greater frequency as those spending twice as much.

Originally Posted by drucurl

if Berlu has lost his love or first love for Milan or our success he should sell the club to someone who does...it's THAT simple. Otherwise in the grand scheme of things .....we are just another toy some rich guy got tired of.......and the aftermth of THAT is far worse

So Berlu, because he isnt going "Abramovitch" in the market, or doing a "Moratti spend" has lost his love, or first love for Milan? Ok, he hasnt done so for a couple seasons, with mixed results (from a pragmatic perspective)...we have brought in more players (again, not the PES/FIFA 2008 grade of fantasy players) than I have ever seen us do in one season, and from this we are "another toy some rich guy got tired of"...??

Our wage bill, (surely partially funded by Finivest) is huuuuge...yes another mistake from a gazillionaire who only flies in to watch us when we are in a final...and surely a sign of a man who could care less about a toy.

I dont know about you, but what life has taught me, is that men are only boys that are...you know, bigger...the "boy" never truly leaves the man.

Men/Boys who no longer have an interest in their toys, simply discard them...whether by selling, ignoring, or giving it away....if it is a favourite toy, that continues to provide fun when you play with it, then you will continue to play with it. I dont see Berlu leaving Milan on a shelf in his play room to gather dust. Not when it continues to be a useful tool for him as well. And you know how men are with their tools....(or maybe you dont...but thats not my fault )

Sell the club to whom? This is a bit childish dru, and not your usual high standard...and believe me, (or not) I do understand the frustrations of fellow fans at our inactivity/chatter-with-litte-action this mercato...but get real:

Who would buy? Who would you want to buy our one and only"precious"? Milan is not a item to be sold to the highest bidder...or do you think it is?

Milan is the toy/tool of Silvio Berlusconi. A man who has proven time and time again, that he has a midas touch. Why would I risk my "precious" to someone only interested in the "franchise"?

I dont want Milan to be another Liverpool or Man U...and this seems to be the current model of club aquisition. I dont want more than the 20M pound debt that we have....that pales in comparison to the hundreds of millions of pounds owed by Chelski and Man U...and Liverpool...and Inter (who are saved by a last minute bail out by Moratti every season)

Do you know how much debt sent Leeds down...and they owned their own stadium...yeah...owned.

So, fiscal responsibility, combined with astute purchases, reserved, carefull spending where necessary...driving hard negotiations, selling when and where necessary, for maximum profit, ensuring high morale and atmosphere conducive to performance, usually are the criteria for running a successfull business.

I see where Berlu is doing all of this. A modern mega club like Milan must run like a business, in order for it to continue to thrive. Sometimes spending more than X is not possible, based on the model you are working with.

Yet Milan also has a soul, and one that Berlu helped to resurrect. He isnt God, and he aint perfect, but he is the next best thing for Milan, IMO.

The only person I would replace him with, would be me, and only if I had Abramovitch money.

Originally Posted by drucurl

guys gimmie a break Most of us love milan down to our last drop of blood but in case you haven't noticed....we're not exactly eating at the Salvation Army here.....if Berlu has lost his love or first love for Milan or our success he should sell the club to someone who does...it's THAT simple. Otherwise in the grand scheme of things .....we are just another toy some rich guy got tired of.......and the aftermth of THAT is far worse

great post dru. my issue with signings are 3 fold....1) that milan have made a number of poor signings decisions past 5 years. players like brocchi, emerson, oliviera, favalli etc never should have been brought in. and while everyone makes mistakes, our managements wont just cut losses and make improvements.. they dont always have to cost alot. i like the abate move. if hes our backup 3rd choice RB thats good. should be play well he'll see more time but no real pressure is on him. he is a promising talent and hopefull a future starter. now who cant we have plaers like that in midfield? If i have to see brocchi play more, i will scream he's an embarassment to a milan jersey

2) galliani and berlu's rhetoric is insulting to all paying milan fans. Like it or not, milan is a global brand. it is not some small local club like chievo verona. Milans name reaches up with real madrid, manUtd etc etc. Consiquentl, supporting milan as opposed to a small local club is more expensive...People like myself who have to go loooong distances to get to san siro but still do. people who spent equivilent of $100 to buy a milan jersey online. To say they wont spend but they expect fans to continually spend money and support is not realistic

3) We are soooo close. We are only a few key signing away from dominating team. We are not a team who needs 9 new starters. The fact the last few peices aent brought in, is just frustrating.

Well before I head out to a club (yes I do go clubbing on tuesday every now and then lol)... I'll say this. We should be able to get Eto'o... he's 27... at his prime... and knows how to score in big tournaments. He's the one that equalised for Barcelona in the CL... which Barcelona eventually won.

It's the best solution if we let Barcelona get Adebayor... then Eto'o will be deemed surplus, and be sold. Also Barcelona may look for the money in order to pay to finance the Adebayor transfer.

The financial system of Milan is in relatively good shape compared to others. We don't want to take out loans to buy players like what Leeds did... now Leeds sit in the third division.

Berlusconi is a good guy, and I trust him... remember he's the one that saved Milan from the Serie B in the 1980s, and we should be happy we have someone like him. But Milan has a bottom line. We can't get into insolvency. Napoli suffered that fate earlier and ended up in the Serie C2 at one point..

And with present acquistions I view the management as fixing previously wrongs.

As you said I'm basically beating a dead horse here...

The only problem I have is that if you KNOW you don't have money to buy big players then DON'T SAY THAT YOU WILL. If we're that strapped for cash then also lose the fringe players that cost 3+ million a year in wages and replace them with maybe players from our youth squad who call for lower wages. You'll also need to get our coach to trust those young players some more if we're gonna try to save money by producing talent instead of buying it.

Bottom line: Stop lying to the fans promising big signings when you know we're not capable of such.

We have the money, the reason why now looks like we're lack of money is because we're not spending it for the right people. 7.5M for Ronaldo, a little bit less for Oddo, about 17M for Oliveira, we rated them too much. Now stop wasting the money and buy the right target. 21.5M for Schweinsteiger is not too expensive as I said, rather than 45M which you could actually use to buy 2 or 3 Adebayors. We have the money to sign big players, but WHAT KIND OF big players?

I can understand the need to balance books and maintain proper finances, but no one is asking for big name signings ala Inter or Chelsea. No one is asking for ridiculously expensive players. It is already a given that we will always be out of the race for any proven top player since we cant cough up the cash. The last proven, world class player signing we made was Rui Costa and we payed a record for him, but that was in the days when Milan were expected to do that. Now? Players like CR7, Quaresma will end up being sold to clubs that can afford their huge transfer fees, clubs like Real, Chelsea, Man Utd, Barca, Inter----once upon a time we would be up there challenging or at least ABLE to challenge if we really wanted to. Sadly, that is all in the past.

What we're asking for are quality signings---players like Vargas, Boruc, Zapata who wouldnt necessarily cost an arm and a leg, but still management come out with the same old crap and teams like Fiorentina and Napoli snap up these players. Where does that leave us?

My point is if they want us to challenge amongst the top teams in Europe and keep winning trophies, then there is no choice, whatever the financial situation in Italian football----they would have to keep investing and producing financial losses. If they really want to balance the books, then we will start sliding down to the second tier, to the level of Roma, Fiorentina, Udinese, Sampdoria---mid table clubs that challenge for league positions, not for the scudetto....Hmmm, from all the noise we've been hearing about 4th place finish over the last couple of years, we may already be in that position.

Originally Posted by Giancarlo

He's the one that equalised for Barcelona in the CL... which Barcelona eventually won.

you keep repeating this like it's some kind of important fact? If I'm not mistaken, Beletti was the one who won that game for Barcelona, so let's get him also

Originally Posted by Stitch

you keep repeating this like it's some kind of important fact? If I'm not mistaken, Beletti was the one who won that game for Barcelona, so let's get him also

Eto'o was the man of the match if I remember... he was one of Barcelona's best players... and his runs still terrorise the defense of other teams. If we can get him at an off-loaded cost, all the better.

Originally Posted by rt9

I can understand the need to balance books and maintain proper finances, but no one is asking for big name signings ala Inter or Chelsea. No one is asking for ridiculously expensive players. It is already a given that we will always be out of the race for any proven top player since we cant cough up the cash. The last proven, world class player signing we made was Rui Costa and we payed a record for him, but that was in the days when Milan were expected to do that. Now? Players like CR7, Quaresma will end up being sold to clubs that can afford their huge transfer fees, clubs like Real, Chelsea, Man Utd, Barca, Inter----once upon a time we would be up there challenging or at least ABLE to challenge if we really wanted to. Sadly, that is all in the past.

I totally disagree with this. The last proven player we've sign was Alexandre Pato. Or even more recently, Gianluca Zambrotta and Mathieu Flamini. And then Kaka was signed and overshadowed Rui Costa. Why Quaresma? Better players than that. Like Schweinsteiger...

We need to balance the books or face doom. That simple. I think Manchester United could be headed towards a path of financial insolvency.

If they really want to balance the books, then we will start sliding down to the second tier, to the level of Roma, Fiorentina, Udinese, Sampdoria---mid table clubs that challenge for league positions, not for the scudetto....

This isn't true either. You can balance the books, yet compete well... you just have to spend your money wisely... and not unwisely like Chelsea. And I think Fiorentina was a one season wonder...

[quote=Warro Bantan;500545]
[I dont want Milan to be another Liverpool or Man U...

Well said..i dont think we could get a owner as good as berlu..the club is in safe hands..

I'm not hoping that Milan will splash some 150M for CR7 nor I want to see us spending money on transfers with an amount, for example as Warro said, that could pay Jamaica's national debt, or doing foolish thing such as brought Quaresma for 35-40M just like our foolish neighbor do (he's good player but overrated with price like that, IMO). All I want is signings that worth its value. Buy Schweinsteiger for 21.5M, or maybe Dinho for 20-25M, then Zapata (or Santacroce as my personal preference), Boruc (or Frey), maybe less than 20M Adebayor or 20M Eto'o, etc. Pato was good signing with his 22.5M value.

That is the key. Use money wisely. Don't hesitate to spend much money, BUT ONLY IF THE PLAYER IS REALLY, REALLY GOOD. Unlike that Oliveira fiasco. Why we seems lack of money? Because we've already spent 10.5M for Borriello, which is too much IMO. I didn't mind for Borriello to come here, but absolutely not with THAT price (plus Di Gennaro also...)

Bascially, I believe we are piss at MGT for lying instead of not signing players. And enought with so call hardball tactics or smokescreen, b/c I think those are just excuses we say to comfort ourselves. Name one other clubs that operate their transfer market strategy like that.

I am all for MIlan wanting to balance its books but the truth of the matter is that, I really cannot see why Milan is in debt at all for over the past few years. There was not alot of huge purchases beside Gilardino(but that was after a CL runners up finish, so the cash was there), Bonera, Gourcuff, Kalac, Emerson, R9, Oddo, RO, Pato were eight others that were bought in prior to this year. On top of that, there was the sale of Sheva and winning the CL in 07. Thus, Milan should not be in the red, but they are due to wages, thats the issue the MGT should really address.

Now, I am not asking for WC signings, what I am asking are three things:
1. Cut lose dead weight, just release and cut off those huge contracts like Simic, Emerson, Brocchi and Dida, as they are not producing.
2. USE YOUTH, whether sign them or promote them, use them or the wage bill will just continue to climb.
3. STOP wasting money on HAS BEEN, stop looking for bargains, I would rather see Milan invest the money on HAS BEEN into their YOUTH SYSTEM.

Warro posted that teams like Juve and Roma are doing well b/c of their YOUTH PRODUCT, may I also add that Arsenal, ManU, even Real and Chelsea are also relying on their youth product to get success. Terry was a youth product of Chelsea while Lampard, Cech and J.Cole made their name at Chelsea.
Thats something that Milan did well 7 yrs ago, with the first wave of Gattuso, Ambro, Coco, Abbiati, Serginho and RJ, then they bought more younger players to groom in Sheva(even though he was great already), Pirlo, then Kaka, Gila, Bonera, Gourcuff and now Pato.
What I am trying to say is that with the exception of Kaka and Gila, Carlo never plays Bonera(unless half the defenders are injured), and Pato only got the chance mainly due to NO strikers at the moment), and Never have faith in Gourcuff. Actually even Kaka started off the bench for most part of the first season. Carlo needs to play younger players or else there will not be another wave of young guns, like the Maldini, Baresi, Tassotti, Carlo, Donnadoni, Albertini, Gattuso, Ambro and others. And one of the ways to do that is to cut loose on players like Emerson, Simic, Brocchi, Favalli, Dida, Kalac, and even Mr. I cannot sit on the bench-Seedorf.

I can quite a few clubs that operate like that. Arsenal, Chelsea, Barcelona, Juventus... Secco is far worse with his words... you just have to hear him. Galliani is not the only one that does this. Look at how Arsenal and Barcelona are doing about Adebayor.

Arsenal, ManU and Chelsea survive off foreign signings. Our youth system is bigger than their systems. And no we should not cut Seedorf. We should cut Emerson, Simic (he wants to leave), Brocchi and Favalli (perhaps retirement would be suitable for him). But... we are not looking for bargains. We did bring back three of our youth system players... so aren't they doing what you want them to do?

Anyways, just to lighten the mood... I got a perfect goalkeeper..

http://www.goal.com/en-US/Articolo.a...enutoId=759735

Marco Ballotta... he's a free agent now and we should be able to sign him... to heck with Boruc... this guy is our man lol...

Kidding Kidding. This guy should retire already... I can picture him still trying to play professionally even when he's like 49 lol. Give it up already lol! Maybe you can become a trainer or something lol...