Summer mercato 2009

Ancelotti From football italia

“[Vice-President Adriano] Galliani spoke of a defender and in that we are in agreement. It won’t be difficult to find a talented and young one like Thiago Silva or Simon Kjaer, who I like very much. We’ll have to discuss what we’re after in terms of a striker, though.”

Palermo sensation Kjaer has already been linked with a move to San Siro, while Thiago Silva is on their books and unable to play until next season due to his non-EU status

Originally Posted by K77SH C

Dont get me wrong Brasilero, I like the Brazilian influence at Milan and your reviews, but there always needs to be balance. Its true Italy isnt developing defenders like it used to, but I believe Santarocce will be the next Nesta/ Cannavaro. I know Santarocce is half Brazilian, I do believe Italy has played a massive role in his development (maybe Im wrong) and he will be a mean defender for the Azzuri. Thats why I refer to him as Italian, even if he is also Brazilian.

Mrki, I have been saying since last year that we cant depend on Nesta. He might never come back and he WILL NOT be the same. Hes just turned 33. We cant afford another mercato that depends on to many hopes. We need to build for the future. Also you mentioned that an attack needs to be rotated, Borriello and Pippo just havent been available for large parts of the season. You correctly identifed we need another striker. In many of your posts you commend Wenger, well Arsenal have Van Persy, Adebayor, Bendtnar and Eduardo. If a team like Arsenal has four strikers who they rotate then surely Milan should have more than just Pato to depend on. Thinking otherwise will make the mercato even more hopeful and less effective.

Im not a massive fan of Alex as he is slow, I think Mexes is massively overrated.

Santarocce and Zapatta for Milan could be players that the rest of Europe druels over.

I have no problem with your post, K77SH
You´re one of the best members here...It´s just that I read some times people complaining about a new Brazilian at Milan, and at the same time claim our board to buy Fabiano Santacrocce...and some of these guys didn´t even know the guy is born in Brazil. Hope that you understood my point...

Also(it´s not for you), every time I engage a discussion about this theme, people think I want a Milan team full of Brazilians...Heck, even my FIFA Manager Milan team isn´t...

But I really want Alex and Hernanes in our team next year

Originally Posted by K77SH C

Ancelotti From football italia

“[Vice-President Adriano] Galliani spoke of a defender and in that we are in agreement. It won’t be difficult to find a talented and young one like Thiago Silva or Simon Kjaer, who I like very much. We’ll have to discuss what we’re after in terms of a striker, though.”

Palermo sensation Kjaer has already been linked with a move to San Siro, while Thiago Silva is on their books and unable to play until next season due to his non-EU status

Can someone tell me more about this guy?? I watched some Palermo games but this guy didn´t caught my attention...
Thanks in advance.

Brasileiro,

I guess what people mean (I am too in this group) when they call Santacroce a 'young Italian CB', is that he grew up in Italy. He is obviously half Italian/half Brazilian(father is Italian) and he was only born in Brasil.... and then quickly moved to Italy where he grew up and learned how to play football. He's been trained by Italian coaches his whole life and has played for Italian teams and Italian leagues his whole life.............and he clearly imposes Italian style of play as his 'marking' is exceptional....something that the Italians focus heavily on. So his game is developed by the "Italian School of Football".

The fact that he also plays for the 'Azzuri' makes him Italian too, doesn't it?


By the way, I agree with you about Alex and Hernanes. I would welcome both of them here in a second. I've only seen Hernanes play maybe not more then 5 times.....and I've been impressed with him every single time.

@Brasileiro

I absolutely agree with your opinion about a big guy (not only big but high quality defender) in our defence. This is our problem for years! We have Nesta, Maldini, Bonera, Kaladze but they are not very strong in the air, except Nesta maybe. What make it worse we have 'small' players in the midfield and attack department. Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso, Flamini, etc are not that tall. Of course our forwards plus Kaka are pretty tall (180-185) cm BUT they are not strong in the air. We have only Ambrosini who has that ability (strong in the air) and this is one of big reason IMO why Carlo likes him.

No wonder why we always suffered from set-pieces (corners, FKs) and rarely score goal from set-pieces. That's why I still think that Senderos could be useful for us (even he is not the strongest in the air) as backup defender (but not for 8 million pounds).

About the positition, Santa or Silva can play on fullback especially Silva that I believe can be very strong not only to defend but also to attack from the side.

If we want to add 'italian' to our squad, buy Alex and Santa. This cost us much but not that much as somone already said, Santa is only raw material (talented player not WC defender) and Alex is not Chelsea's first starter if I am not mistaken. These two players could be in range of 25 pounds (totally) and this is a very good investment for next 5 years.

About Carlo's wanted players

Alex is non-EU (right?) and so is Adebayor? We have only one free non-EU spot for next season as one has been used for Thiago Silva.

We also have to keep the 6+5 rule in mind during this mercato. Noone knows how it's gonna be, but it wouldn't be unlikely that it would be implemented soon. According to Wikipedia the plan is to require that the team has 4 Itallians by the season 2010-2011, 5 in 2011-2012 etc. IF this gets implemented, we'd be far better of having an Italian CB, not because of his playing style, but because of his passport. Especially a 21 year old prospect like Santacroce, that in the best case could play at Milan for 15 years. One of the reasons I believe it's good to buy now, is I think the '6+5 rule' would seriously inflate the price on Italian, Spanish, and especially English players.

I definetly agree with everyone that says we need a big defender. Thiago Silva is 180'ish and that's good, but I doubt he'll seriously dominate in the air. We need someone who's dominant in the air. I don't know about Santacroce, but Zapata is a beast in the air, which is one of the reaons I like him, still as I said, we can't ignore the '6+5 rule'.

lack of height doesn'tmean he can't dominate in air. Baresi was under 6 foot, but he had a great leap. Same for Cordoba and Ayala.

Originally Posted by Tony75

lack of height doesn'tmean he can't dominate in air. Baresi was under 6 foot, but he had a great leap. Same for Cordoba and Ayala.

Yea, i guess you're right, but I still see it as a good indicator.

We've been linked with Zuniga from Siena again, fullback, i've only seen him against us, and I found him impressive there, maybe someone has seen him?

And I dont see Santon being such class as Maldini, no matter what clown Mourinho says. Also Criscito, who to me looks like a better player then Santon, only lacks a bit of phisical strenght.

I completely disagree here, Santon is world class, he can be the new Maldini if he was able to develop and act as a proffessional like Paolo did in his career.
Santon, Balotelli are the futur mega stars, we are lucky that they are playing in Italy.

And also, Milan sold MOST tickest in Italy and has largest number of fans per game ratings.

This part is 100 % true, Milan is the first in Italy this year ahead of both Inter and Roma.

I think Mexes is massively overrated.

Completely agree I don't see any thing extrordinary in him as well, and I heard that Alex, Zapata and Santacrocce are world class but I did not see them enough so I am neutral about them.
P.S. Clinchy and Maxwell are both world class any of them can make a huge difference in Milan + I don't like both Abbiatti & Adebayour.

Must missed the day they made anyone world class for Clichy, Maxwell, and Santon to be considered wc.
Decent players but wc??

Originally Posted by hany.Egypt

I completely disagree here, Santon is world class,

How can Santon already be world class? He is 18 and has done nothing of note outside of Serie A. This is an example of classic hyperbole in football today (I'm not picking on you, even I am guilty of it at times). We can say Santon has the potential of being world class, but to say he is already there is really optimistic.

Similarly, Pato is not world class yet.

Originally Posted by mrki

And also, Milan sold MOST tickest in Italy and has largest number of fans per game ratings.

Yes, but you are missing the point. Italy can take gate receipts and matchday revenue to a whole new level if clubs could own their stadia.

Originally Posted by nefremo

Brasileiro,

I guess what people mean (I am too in this group) when they call Santacroce a 'young Italian CB', is that he grew up in Italy. He is obviously half Italian/half Brazilian(father is Italian) and he was only born in Brasil.... and then quickly moved to Italy where he grew up and learned how to play football. He's been trained by Italian coaches his whole life and has played for Italian teams and Italian leagues his whole life.............and he clearly imposes Italian style of play as his 'marking' is exceptional....something that the Italians focus heavily on. So his game is developed by the "Italian School of Football".

The fact that he also plays for the 'Azzuri' makes him Italian too, doesn't it?


By the way, I agree with you about Alex and Hernanes. I would welcome both of them here in a second. I've only seen Hernanes play maybe not more then 5 times.....and I've been impressed with him every single time.

Great way to defend a point, nefremo...This is why imo, MM is the best forum in the world

Btw, your post makes me remember of a Sócrates(ex-Brazil NT player, and legend) quote...He said that in Italy(he played at Fiorentina in the 80´s) a kid grow wanting to be a defender. I Brazil and in others places around the world, the less talented players are sent to the defense our GK positions

Of course, at least in Brazil, the things aren´t the same today...and the proof is the amount of great defenders that we are producing.

Regarding "playing for Azzurri makes him Italian too"...I agree. I´m not against this new trend. But imo a player needs to have a link with the country. Like Deco, Eduardo da Silva or Fabiano Santa...

Btw, the world really is changing(or ending), because if Santa opted to be a Brazil NT player, he would have a much hard time to crack Brazil NT as a defender than in Italy

[quote]

Originally Posted by Siregar

@Brasileiro

I absolutely agree with your opinion about a big guy (not only big but high quality defender) in our defence. This is our problem for years! We have Nesta, Maldini, Bonera, Kaladze but they are not very strong in the air, except Nesta maybe. What make it worse we have 'small' players in the midfield and attack department. Pirlo, Seedorf, Gattuso, Flamini, etc are not that tall. Of course our forwards plus Kaka are pretty tall (180-185) cm BUT they are not strong in the air. We have only Ambrosini who has that ability (strong in the air) and this is one of big reason IMO why Carlo likes him.

No wonder why we always suffered from set-pieces (corners, FKs) and rarely score goal from set-pieces. That's why I still think that Senderos could be useful for us (even he is not the strongest in the air) as backup defender (but not for 8 million pounds).

Yep, my friend...and this is a long time problem. I still remember in the last CL final against Liverpool, that I was talking to my father, and thanking God Rafa Benitez didn´t put Crouch to start the second half. Crouch in a few minutes(and in the air) give us more problem than any player of Liverpool...

Also, great point about of how our entire team is weak in the air, but Ambro. Man, thinking about it, besides Ambro goals, I can´t remember a Milan player doing anything in the air on set-pieces...

About the positition, Santa or Silva can play on fullback especially Silva that I believe can be very strong not only to defend but also to attack from the side.

If we want to add 'italian' to our squad, buy Alex and Santa. This cost us much but not that much as somone already said, Santa is only raw material (talented player not WC defender) and Alex is not Chelsea's first starter if I am not mistaken. These two players could be in range of 25 pounds (totally) and this is a very good investment for next 5 years.

Man, what really impress me on Silva is his speed. I used to think Cordoba was the fastest defender in the world, but T. Silva is even more fast, plus taller than Ivan. Amazing...But as I said before, besides the crazy hype here in Brazil, the best thing for him was this 6 months training in Italy and learning from Paolo, Nesta, Tassoti, etc...
T. Silva has the talent, and is a MAJOR upgrade for our defense, but he was really raw for European football last season. And imo Fabiano is even more raw...the talent is there(no doubt) but imo he isn´t ready to the big task that is to substitute Maldini.

Btw, from what I read in England pres and Chelsea forum, Alex will be tagged for 13 or 15 M...and remember that it ´s his final year of contract, and he´s really sad at his situation in Chelsea. Situation that lead to a 3º option in Brazil NT defense to a non-call. So, I can see we buying him for less than that, since he asked to be sold of Chelsea in January...and I have no doubt that Scolari(now gone) was the reason to Alex stay there.

About Carlo's wanted players

Alex is non-EU (right?) and so is Adebayor? We have only one free non-EU spot for next season as one has been used for Thiago Silva.

Yep, Alex is a non-EU...Adebayor? I think so...
Btw, since you said one non-Eu spot has been used for Silva, and we only have one more, what happens if a player like Sheva leaves Milan?? He free up a spot??

I dont think that if we send Sheva back we'll free a non-eu spot. We will have two spots and one will be used on Thiago.

This summer we used our two spots on two players that didnt play at all. And one of them even plays for primavera. That was the most idiotic use on non-eu spots in some big european club i have ever seen in my life. Congrats to Galliani, it was something it even hard to immagine.

I know Eto'o has a Spanish passport, but I dont see why would Eto'o ever leave Barcelona. A club that is great, where he plays brilliantly and always in the first 11. He'llsort him contract out and he'll stay there. That would be a normal thing to do. Unless he has some real fights with the club which we dont know about.

If Carlo stays again( for me its hard to even say such things...please go away this summer man if you have any selfrespect) and he really wants Adebayor as a strong forward Milan could opt for Kjaer as Carlo mentioned. But I dont see Kjaer as a mature enough player to play in our first 11 paired with Thiago.

On Thiago - Im sure we can expect even better Thiago in the start of the next year then Thiago we could see in brasil. We will grow tactically in Milanello, and his phisical attributes are there already.

On my comment of Wenger and Nasta ( for K77SH C ) :

I am sure that if Nesta gets well and he can play that we can have a great defender in him. The fact that he is 33 means nothing as NEsta is extremly powerfull player which has ability and brains to play at highest level like Cannavaro when he was 33, maybe better. If our Nesta gets well, he will again be one of the best CB's in the world, in my oppinion.

On Wenger - we spoke about rotaions and then you mentioned how Wenger has 4 forwards so he can rotate and Carlo has only one this year ( well, two tops ).

Carlo has 3 forwards actually, but one of those 3 is a traitor Ancelotti hates and he even said so on tv show where he called Shevchenko a "traditore".

Your point is good, but when we talked about rotaions and exploiting players potential I wanted to say that Wenger managed to get the most out of the players he has. While Ancelotti uses 13-14 players and the rest are ruined. As the time passes the palyers are becoming overused and the quality of their game falls down ( which is normal: Kaka' agter golden ball, C.Ronaldo after golden ball, Dinho after it etc. Overused players.).

Milan needs to play serie a with 18 player playing and rotating. With possibility to bench Seedorf and Pirlo and still play normal football. How do they even dare to publicly say we depend on Pirlo? For me its a circus to say such thing.

There are numerous great players who, when mixed, can play in different modifications and variations and noone in the world will be missed. But we dont have any of this: we have one way of playing our football and when it doesnt work - its over. ONLY irreplacible player in Milan is Kaka'. Due to the carisma and the way he builds whole game with his movement.

And I still claim Xavi is a better player then Pirlo, seeing his movement and overall influence on the pitch.

Today Braida were in Verona to watch Kajer!!