Summer Mercato

So we don't have to buy any more (or maybe as they're attacking midfielders)!

Originally Posted by Nordahl

Seedorf is listed as a striker on our official site as well... I simply failed to understand why we are considering a quintessential midfielder as a striker!!!

Because, about a month ago it was:

Strikers: Pato, Inzaghi, Seedorf, Borriello, Kakà

Doesn't exactly inspire you to think you have much depth there. I don't even count Kaka as a pure striker either.

Looks like Brocchi has moved to Lazio. He's been a good professional, too bad that he didn't get many chances in Milan like he used to get i Viola. Good luck Christian!

Thanks to those of you who have responded, and for those that haven't?

Ladies & Gentlemen - I am inviting you to fill out this less-than-5-minute survey for me. This is just a pilot study (i.e., not used for any commercial or publication purpose) that I am doing for my class.

If you are a student (and never have any work experiences), please do not fill this out! If you are a student but have some kinds of work experiences, please help! I truly appreciate your response.

Cheers,
J

This is getting disgusting.

$240 million for CR
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...086955,00.html

Seriously, we might be looking at the beginning of the end of football as we know it. It's only a matter of time before we start seeing bankruptcies of MAJOR clubs, like Liverpool and Arsenal as they try to keep up with the insane owners in the EPL. Meanwhile, viewerships of other leagues like Serie A and La Liga will decline if the EPL keeps getting crazy owners who'll spend anything to get a new toy. Things are quickly OVERHEATING and I don't see any way of stopping it. I hate the EPL with every ounce of me....

Originally Posted by Russo-Neri

This is getting disgusting.

$240 million for CR
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,195...086955,00.html

Seriously, we might be looking at the beginning of the end of football as we know it. It's only a matter of time before we start seeing bankruptcies of MAJOR clubs, like Liverpool and Arsenal as they try to keep up with the insane owners in the EPL. Meanwhile, viewerships of other leagues like Serie A and La Liga will decline if the EPL keeps getting crazy owners who'll spend anything to get a new toy. Things are quickly OVERHEATING and I don't see any way of stopping it. I hate the EPL with every ounce of me....

I assume you hated Serie A when Italian clubs were doing exactly the same thing in the late 80's - mid 90s'. Obviously the prices have changed in the extreme, but Italian clubs had owners buying whoever they wanted, investing millions in an era when such spending was thought not possible. I assume you hated Milan too when Berlusconi was buying anyone in sight and breaking transfer fees for people like Lentini. Not to mention the outrageous spending of clubs like Parma, Sampdoria and in particular Lazio in the early 00's when they spent something ridiculous like £200 million in a couple of summers. Also, what about Inter, they spend a large amount of money each year on players. While for some of these clubs their previous spending has almost crippled them, they still survive and the same thing will probably happen in England where some clubs will fall but most will still carry on running. So to say it's the death of football is a bit over dramatic, especially when everything is cyclical. Leagues have their time at the summit of world football and then fall away only to come back again in 10 or 20 years time. This same thing will probably happen in Russia too.

If a club is in a mediocre state and a mega-millionaire wants to pump all his money into the club, aslong as precautionary measures are taken, then most clubs will sell up for their moment in the limelight. There is a rule about that says if so many foreign owners buy premier league clubs then something happens, it was mentioned on tv recently but i didn't fully understand it to be honest. Apparently they were encouraging the English F.A. to do something about it before the majority of clubs are foreign owned. Maybe the F.A. lose control of the league if this happens, not sure.

Originally Posted by Jim_UK

So to say it's the death of football is a bit over dramatic

Never said it was the death of football, just maybe the end of football as we know it. In reading what i said, I should have left out the part of me hating the EPL, because it sounds like my issue with the crazy amounts of money going around is only a new phenomenon and only occurs in the EPL. (I mean I DO hate the EPL, but that's another story )

My problem is more of things just getting disgusting in terms of how can one person be worth $240 million - and that's just for a transfer fee! You can correlate what seems to be happening in EPL with what happened in Serie A, and I won't argue so much against that. But $240 million?!? Things are getting exponentially more obscene.

And I'm not so sure that football is as cyclical as you say.

Originally Posted by Jeff

Thanks to those of you who have responded, and for those that haven't?

Ladies & Gentlemen - I am inviting you to fill out this less-than-5-minute survey for me. This is just a pilot study (i.e., not used for any commercial or publication purpose) that I am doing for my class.

If you are a student (and never have any work experiences), please do not fill this out! If you are a student but have some kinds of work experiences, please help! I truly appreciate your response.

Cheers,
J

Done it, I must be in a good mood or something

Did the survey though I'll have to Report Jeff to Jeff for spamming . Hopefully he bans himself

well dru I got permission from the mods (I requested in the mod forum) before posting it .

Thanks to all of you who did it!

Both Jim and Russo-Neri have fair points in this debate about the ridiculous money being thrown around in football. While I agree with Jim that the trend has happened in the past (whether it be Italy or Spain and now England), I think Russo-neri's argument that football is changing is very true.

When Berlusconi took over Milan, he had his personal gains from becoming the owner, most notably using calcio to his political advantage. However, he did take the club he supported and save them from ruin, and any of us probably would do the same if we had the chance. Moratti and his father have a history with Inter, and few can doubt their support for the club from a footballing perspective. Similar to the Agnelli family, who lived in Turin and have always had close ties to Juve. The same cannot often be said about those like Abramovich or Suleiman, who have little or no ties at all to the clubs they take over, and simply want a new hobby (or business depending on how you view it). The clubs simply seem to lose their identity and football passion, and become a rich man's toy.

The other issue is the inflation in football, which is ridiculous. The sums of money now being thrown around simply make the game more difficult to appreciate as it devalues the football itself. Players are celebrities and it's not so much the quality of a player people appreciate, but his marketing potential (Beckham is a prime example, while Pirlo who is one of the most talented players ever is highly underappreciated).

I'm not too keen on the direction the modern game has taken. England isn't to blame for the current climate, but the footballing world in general is as this has been a long time coming.

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

When Berlusconi took over Milan, he had his personal gains from becoming the owner, most notably using calcio to his political advantage. However, he did take the club he supported and save them from ruin, and any of us probably would do the same if we had the chance. Moratti and his father have a history with Inter, and few can doubt their support for the club from a footballing perspective. Similar to the Agnelli family, who lived in Turin and have always had close ties to Juve. The same cannot often be said about those like Abramovich or Suleiman, who have little or no ties at all to the clubs they take over, and simply want a new hobby (or business depending on how you view it). The clubs simply seem to lose their identity and football passion, and become a rich man's toy.

Agreed. I wish it was possible to legislate against foreign ownership, although I suppose the EU wouldn't allow it. I'm usually dead set against 'nationalist iniatives' in football (such as non-EU quota, the 6+5 rule etc.), but I do feel it's becomming a nuisance in the world of football with all these takeovers by American, Russian and now Arab billionaires. It'd be a good idea if the Italian clubs made an (gentlemen's) agreement not take sell out to foreign buyers.

I agree with Milan 1983 aswell
Those billionaires don't care what team they buy they just want to buy a team. That investors group tried to buy practically every single top team in EPL before they finally bough Manchester City.

Originally Posted by Ceceves

It'd be a good idea if the Italian clubs made an (gentlemen's) agreement not take sell out to foreign buyers.

Such an agreement is very difficult what's considered a foreign buyer? If it excludes every non-italian ownership then it's isn't legal nor binding, they have no leverage what if an italian owner wants to sell and sells it to a foreigner, since the seller leaves the stage of football other teams can't do anything at all. Or what if a owners signs it and, he dies and his heirs want to sell it, again there isn't any repercussion possible and that gentlemens agreement is useless becoz the one that signs it is gone and the new owner isn't going to sign.
so problems are
a) in the European Union regulations (what are a good thing)
b) what if a company based in Italy buys a team but that company is owned by foreigners? That company is italian so that's ok then but the end result is the same...

goal.com has an article on
Calcio Debate: Who Spent Best In Serie A This Summer?

I think looking at it and seeing that of the top 5 we've spent the LEAST...kinda reinforces my view that this has been a "PR Mercato",
i.e management has spent little but on BIG NAMES ($heva, R80, Zambrotta) to placate the angry fans

At the start of the summer we needed:
1) To improve width (good wingers or fast skillful wing backs)
-We've sort of placed a band-aid on this problem with the acquisition of Zambrotta. Antonini is a good squad player and we might have done better in keeping Abate. However there are questionmarks over Zambrotta's form (to me Bologna isn't a REAL test) and his physical ability (PACE, STAMINA) will decline sooner rather than later.......my preferences aside, it seemed common sense to buy someone younger, faster and more skillful like Vargas, Rafinha or Alves or even to scout a hotshot South American speedster. To me Zambrotta, with all due respect to him because he STILL is a fantastic player-is the cheap way out. Seeing Inter getting Quaresma- a demand of a serious coach like Mourinho hurt too.

2)A WC GK- Dida is the most talented of the three we have and that says a lot. Abbiatti is and will never be anything special. He won't give up soft goals and was cerntainly not to blame for the loss but he won't offer anything special. He can't save us. Goals that are generally supposed to score WILL score with him between the sticks. Kalac =0.

3)ST- To me $heva is old, slow and past it. He has lost his legendary pace and his shot selection of late is worse than Paloschi's. He IS however a "Milan Legend" (note the quotation marks) and will excite many who will get nostalgic because of his past heroics. To me (formerly his biggest fan and once equated him with Ronaldo ) his mere presence is an insult to us both morally and in footballing terms. As much as I disliked the Idea of Adebayor I would have welcomed him more as a player with pace, potential and POWER rather than the premiership assault victim. Even more disturbing is the fact that Ancelotti HIMSELF has indicated in interviews how he feels about $heva. I fear, if the order of subsitutions vs Bologna is anything to go by that the powers that be have coerced him to place $heva on the field even to the detriment of Pato

4) CB- I actually like Senderos but he's no Nesta that's for sure. Milan's defense minus Nesta isn't pretty. I hope he enhances our tradditionally weak defense of set pieces.

5)Flamini- this one has the lot of us singing management's praises but ANOTHER CDM ARE YOU KIDDING ME ?? I mean kudos for shipping Brocchi out and all but what are we to do with Rino, Ambro, Pirlo and Emerson.....Rino had a poor year that's for sure but ONE bad season doesn't justify replacing a mainstay of the team like Gattuso....and it certainly isn't a priority over the other needs that we have.

Flamini is GREAT make no mistake and he does the job of Rino, Ambro and to some extent Pirlo better BUT he wasn't needed....unless of course the intention was to field him as a fullback in which case there are many better.......aaah but therein lies a tale.....he came for free

6) Ronaldinho. The wildcard. The player who will make this whole post look like utter and complate nonesense if (again "IF" ) he gets back to his pre-2006 form. Of course he clogs up a spot that is relatively full with Kaka and Seedorf (much like Flamini's arrival at CDM) and he might have to play out of position or have other players out of position, which may not be a bad thing but on the other hand could potentially be our undoing. ATM Kaka is the best CAM in the WORLD and though he is probably also the most versatile attacker I have seen in a long time, he plays in exactly the same position as R80 and has never seemed to click on the field with him.

7)Borriello- a player who passed the 12 goal mark ONCE in his career....now touted by Galliani as being better than Huntelaar He may well be, but this is the seventh uncertainty

8)Viudez/Cardaccio- unproven in the big leagues and AGAIN arriving at a very cheap price.....I won't comment on these guys until after the season, but a rule of thumb is that the best young talents are heard of looong before they go to big teams....we all heard of Pato and Kaka before they came to Milan......

In reality we only needed four players , a gk, a FAST SKILLFUL fullback and an out-and-out striker (Eto'o, Adebayor, Drogba, Huntelaar) and a good CB.
Of course we might have had to $plash quite a bit and our transfers might have been closer to 60M Euro than 30....but given the fact that we were decidedly the WORST of the top 5 doesn't this seem logical??

Dinho - in his debut game he:
-asisted for goal
-in first half made 2 perfect passes to Pippo but pippo missed one and was late for one ( the one with looking the other way)
-created 300% chnce for TRAITOR $heva
-earned penalty that wasnt given, CLEAR penalty
-2nd half, one 100% chnce for Pippo who misses from 5 meters, shoots at GK
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Trust me, Dinho is a phenomenon, he cant loose what he has in himself. We hit a jackpot.

flamini - 300 points transfer, brilliant player. Versatile and can play fullback.
Zambro - still one of the best fullbacks in the world
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the rest is pure crap, except maybe, MAAAYBE Senderos, who might do well in more static game of serie a.