Summer mercato 2009

by the start of season, if we can swap luiz felipe for Dida (GK), finalize the Fabiano deal and get hernanes (if rumours are true about the 10 million price tag), I will be happy....

If Pirlo leaves, we can reinvest the cash into a solid CB. If not, there are always cheaper Brazilian options. Still, we need someone with a better repuatation than Onyewu for our weak spot (the defence).... It is not as if Lucio to Inter is a fantastic move. I would be slightly dissapointed if he arrived at Milan, but perhaps my expectations are too high for Mialn's current spending levels....

This is my last post, so i'll be back tommorow. Have a nice day everyone, and try not to get too worried about our team whilst I am gone....

Originally Posted by Saliwonczyk

Please, I am beginning to regret posting the article about Milan's woefulness. We need to think of how to improve the team with the limited resources we have instead of being too much "doom and gloom." If Hernanes coming at 10 million is true, then we can keep both him and Pirlo. However, if Pirlo leaves, we can get ourselves a nice bonus such as a CB. Dida should leave now to swap for the Corinthian GK.

thats a thing i'm not buying mate..

Originally Posted by Dutchie-Milan

Inter is really strong now,Lucio,Motta and Milito those are players that are really adding something.

You can say everything you want about D.Milito,but truth is he scores 18 goals each season,look at his scoringcharts in Spain and in Italy.....

Motta is crap.

Lucio is a beast IMO,really really solid defender,i dont know how somebody can get past him without losing the ball,he is a rock.

We are screwed,i keep seeing stuff like Hernanes is 10 million so we will keep Pirlo!Well i dont think so,Hernanes coming means Pirlo going,period,even if Hernanes cost 1 million,the MGT will sell Andrea so that they can use the money for their pockets....or books....

Calm down please.....

I am sure 80 million is quite enough to balance the books already, and that MGT is not that evil and stingy (many of you will tell me otherwise. Don't worry, I don't like them either).

In fact, lat's face it. Pirlo is a dying force, and no longer controls the game with his brilliant passing. When he doesn't do that, his lack of defensive skills deems him almost useless on the pitch. Let Chelsea pay a good 20 million or more for the man, and also provide his masisve wages....

With the money gained, what CB do you want for our defense? I am confident there are many great defenders that come arrive with that money in our pocket. MGT won't risk pocketing that as well, or I fear the Ultras might burn Milanello down.....!

Originally Posted by M.O.I.

thats a thing i'm not buying mate..

Limited is an "understatement?"

Guys, you were disciplining me when I was bagging Berlu ealrier, but now after reading ONE article from ONE naive person on Goal.com, your pessimissim has increased rapidly. A top three finish is NOT far off in the stars if we can just get Fabiano and Hernanes.... A CB and a Dida swap will actaully see us putting pressure on the likes of Juve and Inter....

You guys talk as if we should be SERIOUSLY challenging for a title next year. How can, with an old team who came third last year, Milan win the Scudetto? We can't, bcs old players just don't improve much anymore. The answer is youngsters, and they require patience.....

Originally Posted by Saliwonczyk

Limited is an "understatement?"

Guys, you were disciplining me when I was bagging Berlu ealrier, but now after reading ONE article from ONE naive person on Goal.com, your pessimissim has increased rapidly. A top three finish is NOT far off in the stars if we can just get Fabiano and Hernanes.... A CB and a Dida swap will actaully see us putting pressure on the likes of Juve and Inter....

You guys talk as if we should be SERIOUSLY challenging for a title next year. How can, with an old team who came third last year, Milan win the Scudetto? We can't, bcs old players just don't improve much anymore. The answer is youngsters, and they require patience.....

personally i have never disciplined anyone for blamming the mgt..cuase thats what i ve been doing for a while..

"A top three finish is NOT far off in the stars if we can just get Fabiano and Hernanes...." man i know that,but you say it like its an achievement,for the love of god!!

we were wolrd champions 2 years ago,so yes i expect us to chalenge serie a at least,but we cannot chalenge it unless serious changes take place..and i am talking about chalenging the serie a,not winning it..

if we were under ancelotti,i would predict a fight for the 3-4 place for us the next year(miles behind juve and inter),but as i ve said i dont know how the team may react under leo..

Originally Posted by Saliwonczyk

Yes, for sure Hernanes would be an immediate purchase for 10 million if everything is still NORMAL...... Keep Pirlo as well? Maybe.....

In fact, if the Hernanes we get is fine, sell Pirlo for 25 million or so, as so we can spend properly on a striker and a CB. What you said is great, but where the hell would we get the money needed for a prospect like Santacore? I prefer Italian CBs over Brazilian ones such as Miranda.... Let's face it: Hernanes is a young emerging talent who is more rounded than Pirlo in the roles he can play. pirlo, unless he can experience some kind of wonderful renaissance, is a dying force. Better cash in on him right now whilst we can..... To be honest yet harsh, perhaps it was the right time to cash in on Kaka as well.... He was injury riddled yet still massive offers were coming in. We also had the perfect replacement in Gourcuff, but of course you know what happened there..... Undertstandibly, some will diagree!

Trust me, Flamini is a man of ambition, which is why he left Arsenal. He won't put up playing in defense regularily, but atleast he is an option.....

Happy to hear about our chase for the Corinthian GK..... Hopefully, we can lift the burden of Dida off our shoulders by including him in a swap.....
Might be a bit harsh, but his masisve wages no longer match his contribution. Many other players in our squad are like that as well!

Quite honestly, despite the reports from goal.com (don't take their stuff too seriously), I think if Hernanes is available 10m then it shouldn't be unrealistic to be able to keep Pirlo. His salary is high, but there are names in our squad who I'd sell first with high wages (Dida and Kaladze come to mind immediately).

You've mentioned Pirlo is a dying force a few times lately, but are you sure this is the case? During last season he was one of our more consistent performers during the second half of the season (his form dropped mostly in the last few weeks). Tactically, he's been pinned to a single position which makes it more difficult for him and easier for opponents to stop him. For Italy, he is still one of the best performers everytime they play.

You must have seen the reports saying Santacroce is available for around 6m. I think even Milan can muster the funds for that much for a player of his calibre.

Change of tactics does miracles,i mean we dont have to see that ****ing boring X-mas formation anymore,for the love of god that was terrible to see.No more slowdorf in front with Kaka and Pato trying to score a lucky goal,no more bringing in a substitute in the final minutes to force something while we should have done that at breaktime..No more underperforming players who still keep their starting place because they are one of the favourites....

Oh and teams are interested in Viudez and Cardacio

It's funny. Lucio is 31. Diego Milito is 30. If Milan bought these players, everyone would be complaining that Milan only wants to buy 30-plus players with big names. Inter buys these players and it's a stroke of genius that signals the end for Milan.

Originally Posted by Siregar

Yes, Milan could, even now they could. But the chance is not as big as when Milan keep Kaka, buy a very good CB, a good fullback, a CF and a creative midfielder. Those are many players but that what Milan must pay for what they have been doing since Calciopoli : very bad transfers (overall).

Well, duh. Yes, if Milan had kept Kaka and brought in Fernando Torres, David Villa, Messi, Vidic, Evra, Mascherano, Casillas, the original Pele and Diego Frickin' Maradona they'd have a better chance of winning the Scudetto too. But that's not realistic in the current financial situation.

My point has never been that Milan can't get better by making some intelligent additions to the squad. My point is, has always been and will continue to be that the situation is not dire, the sky is not falling, the world is not ending and Milan will quite likely continue to be a great team in the future.

As for bad transfers since Calciopoli, yes, Milan has made a few. There's nothing we can do about that now and it serves no purpose to keep bellyaching about it. And Milan has made a few very good transfers as well, in case you hadn't noticed.

LOL. So you still don't get it? Milan did very bad transfer campaig since Calciopoli especially after they won CL 2007. The difference between Juve and Milan in that time : Juve tried to keep their best player and improve the team. In the other hand Milan always think they are full of champions (read : arrogant). They just make the team weaker by having many problems.

Okay, you keep harping on these bad transfer campaigns since winning the Champions League in 2007. Okay, so who were the bad acquisitions? Emerson? Yes, Milan should have left him alone. But it's not as though his meager 5 million euro transfer fee broke the bank. Ronaldo? Yes, he was a gamble, even at 7.5 million euros. And despite the fact that Ronaldo actually scored 9 goals in 20 games (a pretty good rate), he wasn't able to stay healthy. So I'll give you that one, even though, again, the transfer fee was pretty meager for a guy of his ability. But who else? What other bad acquisitions has Milan made? And what bad acquisition cost Milan so much money that it caused financial hardship?

On the other hand, Milan brought in Pato (a pretty fair acquisition if you ask me). They brought in Flamini, who I think is going to be a wonderful player for Milan. The added a solid veteran fullback in Zambrotta who played very well last year and was a big part of Milan's improvement in the table. They brought in Ronaldinho, who is younger than Barcelona's Xavi and will prove to you this year that he was a smart acquisition. They brought back Borriello after a marvelous season at Genoa and he will be a valuable player this year now that he's healthy again. They've signed Thiago Silva, a very promising Brazilian defender. They picked up Onyewu on a free transfer. And Milan is now doing something that all of you have been b1tching about for years -- signing talented youngsters (Zigoni, Berretta, Abate, etc.) for the future instead of 30-plus players on the downside of their careers.

So while Milan certainly could have done a better job in the transfer market in recent years, the situation is not as dire as some of you make it out to be. Milan is in a period of transition, but these things take time. It can't be done overnight, especially under the current economic constraints that are affecting almost all clubs.

Remember that patience is a virtue.

Originally Posted by Rick

It's funny. Lucio is 31. Diego Milito is 30. If Milan bought these players, everyone would be complaining that Milan only wants to buy 30-plus players with big names. Inter buys these players and it's a stroke of genius that signals the end for Milan.

just like i predected..

rick you keep forgetting one thing,they've been the champions for 3 years in a row while he had 2 bad years..we are the ones that have to reinforce,we are the ones that shouldnt sell our best players,as we are the ones that should close the gap..and personally i would be more than happy to get lucio and milito..as we too,needed them no matter what people may say..

age is not a big factor for me..we were the best team in europe and everyone was talking about how old was our average,honestly i never cared..i never cared that maldini(or cafu lets say) was 35,36 etc he was still one of the best,the same goes now for nesta..

and actually milito is 30(not that old),and lucio is 31 not that old too,especcially for a defender..

Originally Posted by M.O.I.

just like i predected..

rick you keep forgetting one thing,they've been the champions for 3 years in a row while he had 2 bad years..we are the ones that have to reinforce,we are the ones that shouldnt sell our best players,as we are the ones that should close the gap..and personally i would be more than happy to get lucio and milito..as we too,needed them no matter what people may say..

age is not a big factor for me..we were the best team in europe and everyone was talking about how old was our average,honestly i never cared..i never cared that maldini(or cafu lets say) was 35,36 etc he was still one of the best,the same goes now for nesta..

and actually milito is 30(not that old),and lucio is 31 not that old too,especcially for a defender..

So you want Milan to go back to the old strategy that everyone has been b1tching about for so long and continue to buy players who are 30 or older? Okay, fine. But is that really a long-term solution, or is it just the same old stop-gap measures that got Milan into the situation everyone seems to be ready to jump off a bridge over in the first place? You pay big money for Lucio and Milito, they have a couple of decent years, they start going downhill and then where are you? You're in the same situation of needing to overhaul an aging squad.

The fact that Milan has had two sub-par years (although, again, I can't stress enough that Milan actually improved significantly this past year over the previous one) is exactly why Milan should focus on bringing in younger talent and building a good foundation for the future, rather than continuing to plug gaps with expensive, established and aging stars. Milan needs to take a page from Alex Ferguson's book, not Jose Mourinho's.

Originally Posted by Dutchie-Milan

You can say everything you want about D.Milito,but truth is he scores 18 goals each season,look at his scoringcharts in Spain and in Italy.....

We bought Gilardino thinking he could score 23 goals per season because he did that in his last two seasons at Parma... Just kidding, Milito is an ok player.

Originally Posted by Dutchie-Milan

Oh and teams are interested in Viudez and Cardacio

If Leonardo rotates the squad even a little this year then other teams will see some of our other players and may become interested in buying/swapping them. ancelotti didnt rotate enough. Im talking about the players who we dont desperatly rely on. If we sold/ terminated the following contracts surely we would have made more than selling Pirlo and Gourcuff.

Favalli, Kaladze, Bonera, Antonini, Oddo, Dida, Abate, Cardacio, Vuidez,

By my reckoning we must be paying these guys at least 25m in wages and that is probably less than the actual figure. Lets not even talk about their resale value or trade potential.

Without the above players we would have:
3 goalkeepers
Abbiati, Kalac and Storari
6 defenders
Nesta, Zambrotta, Thiago, Oneywu, Jankulovski, Darmian
7 midfielders
Ronaldhinio, Pirlo, Seedorf, Ambrosini, Gatusso, Flamini, Di Ginaro
3 Strikers
Pato, Boriello, Inzaghi

That is a squad of 19 players, the maximum we can have for any Seria A game is 18 by the way. So by selling and saving on the wages of those above 9 players we would have an extra 25ish million to play with. With that and the 20m Milan are supposedly willing to spend we could make the following kinds of purchases:

Zapatta or Santacrocce (18m), Cissokho (12m) and Hernanes (15m) and TRUST Boriello.

The following summer, we could look to make further savings having already reinforced by selling and saving on the wages of:

Jankulovski and Seedorf.

For once, I would actually be happy if Milan signed Lucio and Milito.
As I still think Santacroce and Zapata are still one to two years away from ready to make the big jump to a big club. And Milan need short term solution in CB as NEsta was injured all of last season while T. Silva is still an unknown. It would make sense to get Lucio now and then sign Santa or Zapata 2-3 yrs down the line.

As for Milito, he will just add depth to the strikers unit. To me not a bad 3rd or 4th options.

I think Cardaccio and Viudez are looking at loan deals, which is a good idea. I'm not sure it would be good for Milan to just give up on them so soon.

I'm not sure why you would want to get rid of Abate or Antonini.

Originally Posted by Rick

So it's all about Kaka then?

And who is this dead wood you're talking about? Of the players who are actually likely to play significant roles for Milan, who is it that you think is incapable of contributing? And it's not like all the Barcelona players are all 25 and under, you know. Henry will soon be 32. Puyol is 31. Abidal will soon be 30. Marquez is already 30. Some other key Barcelona players are in their late 20s. Did you know that Xavi is actually older than Ronaldinho?

I do agree that Barcelona is capable of winning the Champions League and La Liga again with the squad they have, but I also think Milan is capable of winning Serie A with the squad they have (as Milan has no Real Madrid to deal with, only fairly mediocre Inter and Juventus).

isnt the sale of kaka a valid point for wanting some decent signings? we've just lost the player who handed us our last CL! it was a one man show. and he's gone now. I think we need a really good mercato to make up for the loss of kaka.

yes we have many (expensive!!) deadwood in our squad. dida, kalac, kaladze, favalli, oddo, seedorf. expensive players who add nothing to the team and should be replaced in a perfect world, but it aint gonna happen.

BTW barca just signed maxwell, an excellent transfer if you ask me