Summer mercato 2009

Don't worry guys, things will be fine. We're AC Milan.

Man, I wish I was the man who had to bribe referees, why do I say this? Well, because I wish they all looked like this.

Wow.

how much would Marco Motta cost? 10-15 mil? he seems like the perfect player for us...
and could we sign fredrico marcheti for Abs and ~1-2 mil? seems like a fair deal

Originally Posted by Rick

He started 18 frickin' games. At one point he started and played the full 90 minutes in six straight games. He did nothing to justify keeping him in the lineup. And if you couldn't see that Seedorf was a superior player to Gourcuff in the 2006-07 season, then I just don't know what to say to you.

2006/07? I was thinking you talked about his second season. Although Seedorf only performed in UCL that year as he left his more effective midfield position in serie A. Gorcuff was great the first games he played by the way. Starting 18 games, especially over two seasons isn't much, hardly something close to consistancy or "trust".

Please remind me when he finally got those 6 games in a row since I can't remember that.

When the team play really bad and you have a aging team you think it would be time to give a young player the chance.

Originally Posted by pirlofanusa

how much would Marco Motta cost? 10-15 mil? he seems like the perfect player for us...
and could we sign fredrico marcheti for Abs and ~1-2 mil? seems like a fair deal

Marco Motta have signed for Roma. Can't be signed by another team this year.

Originally Posted by Rick

Samir Nasri was labeled "the new Zidane." Sofiane Feghouli has been labeled "the new Zidane." Hell, the other day I was reading something about some 6-year-old who has been labeled "the new Zidane!" It all means absolutely nothing.

I can easily name a couple of more. Meghni for example. Unimportant though as media labels is pretty meaningless.

Originally Posted by kris

=
Please remind me when he finally got those 6 games in a row since I can't remember that.

I think when Sheva, Kaka', even Pato came here they did not get starting spot automatically. They have to battle with others, impressing coach with limited playing time.

Sheva came and started right away, and even before Pato came Berlu already said that he will score 50 goals.....thats pretty much means he will start, as at that time, Pippo was in and out of the lineup till March, Gila lost all confidence, RO just can't cut it and R99 was done for the season. As for Kaka, he did not start actually, he subbed a lot of games and realyl broke into the starting 11 as he was the only one who had speed and could dribble past multiple defenders in Milan's midfield at that time.

As for Gourcuff, I thought he played solid when he started for Milan not great but good enough to be part of the rotations. Then he was hit by injury the second year.

Anyway, no point talking about Gourcuff as he will almost certainly never comes back to play for Milan and unless we all become fans of French National Team, no point talking about him.
As for Motta, he will be playing for Roma and unless Roma continues to struggle, he will be there for awhile.

I'm tired argue this Gourcuff story so I won't even go there. If you want to believe 5-10 minutes at the end of a game is enough for a playmaker to win a spot then so be it. We can always continue it in his personal thread. I always said Inter need a player like him and I hope he doesn't go there eventually.

Back to Milan, reports linking us to a fullback are very encouraging as we definitely need at least one for this upcoming season, and one next season as Zambro has already started showing signs of decline. All we're missing are links to a creative CM and I think our squad would be close to complete. We also need to hope Pato plays better than he has been so far this preseason because what I've seen of him hasn't been too pretty.

Oddo need to be sold if we were to get another fullback, said Galliani. I don't understand why there are no rumors about us starting to really negotiate with Lazio about De Silvestri. I mean, we want him, he wants to go, Lotito said he is a greedy player who only thinks about money, combine it together and we get one new young fullback!

Why can't we get another fullback and then try to sell Oddo? Are we really that poor?

Originally Posted by Gabriel489

Sheva came and started right away, and even before Pato came Berlu already said that he will score 50 goals.....thats pretty much means he will start, as at that time, Pippo was in and out of the lineup till March, Gila lost all confidence, RO just can't cut it and R99 was done for the season. As for Kaka, he did not start actually, he subbed a lot of games and realyl broke into the starting 11 as he was the only one who had speed and could dribble past multiple defenders in Milan's midfield at that time.

As for Gourcuff, I thought he played solid when he started for Milan not great but good enough to be part of the rotations. Then he was hit by injury the second year.

Anyway, no point talking about Gourcuff as he will almost certainly never comes back to play for Milan and unless we all become fans of French National Team, no point talking about him.
As for Motta, he will be playing for Roma and unless Roma continues to struggle, he will be there for awhile.

Yes.

Sheva was a starter when he joined us, and in fact, was the top Serie A goalscorer of 1999/2000 (his first one).
Kakà subbed for Rui Costa during the beginning of his first season, but soon became a starter (and I recall Manuel Rui Costa stating that he accepted being benched because he was aware that Kakà was pure class).
As you said, Pato was since the beginning proclaimed to be our new starting forward. He made his debut asap, and showed his class.... as for RO, he was already loaned out to Zaragozza that season (2007/08).


Personally, I feel there is a clear difference in quality between the mentioned Sheva-Kakà-Pato and Gourcuff. When bought, those three players were set to be in the first team, apart from Kakà (who made it there very quickly, albeit). Gourcuff was bought to be a mere rotation player with future potential. But competing with Kakà for the role along with Carletto's well known attitude towards squad-rotation made it difficult for him to play much. While yes, he didnt have much playing time (36 games in two seasons, roughly half starting from the bench), I feel like he doesnt have that STAR quality like Sheva, Kaka and Pato.

A real star is one who plays first team football since he is like 18. Now as said, Gorky could've had more playing time. But I just dont feel he is the next Zidane. Im not saying he is rubbish, but he isnt a star either. He will probably become a good player, but no Zidane. I also suspect he suffers a bit from the Gila-syndrome.

But, he is gone, will never come back. So who gives? Lets look at the (maybe not too bright) future.

Originally Posted by rt9

Why can't we get another fullback and then try to sell Oddo? Are we really that poor?

It's not about money, but about place. Right now we have:
- Oddo in RB
- Janku in LB
- Antonini and Zambro who could play both
- Bonera in RB who can also play as CB
- Kaladze in LB who can also play as CB
- Favalli who can play as CB, RB, and LB

It's not about they are all quality or not, but it is obvious we need to get rid some of them if our new fullback is to be given a place.

For example if we buy De Silvestri and make him starter, we have roughly 3 or 4 backups for him. That's true we can do rotation but the playing time for those backups will decrease if there are 3 or 4 backups compared to only 2 or 3 backups.

We are not Mierda who buy first then sell, we are Milan who sell then replace (or not), you may look at it positively or negatively.

EDIT: also do not forget, we have Albertazzi. That makes the fullbacks position more crowded (but not in quality, unfortunately).

Talking about 3-5-2 formation, well we played something like this when we won the title in 1998/99. It was the only way Zaccheroni could play, with 3 CBs and wing backs.

This was our first 11 back then:

Abbiati - Sala, Costacurta, Maldini - Helveg, Albertini, Ambrosini, Guglielminpietro (Ziege) – Leonardo, Bierhoff, Weah.

It actually was 3-4-3, with easy transformation into 3-4-1-2, as Leonardo could play as as supporting striker/winger and as an attacking midfielder, and it was the way to fit Boban, who was a classic AM, in that formation. For next season (1999/00) Gattuso (!) and Serginho were our new wing backs and Shevchenko replaced Weah. But we were bad that year, as we were eliminated in the first phase of CL, and we had to fight even for the 4th place in Serie A. The season after that (2000/01) was even worse.

The reason for our failure in those seasons mentioned was weak defense. For example, in 1999/00 season, we conceded 40 goals, seven teams conceded less goals. We even had the most efficient attack in the league and we were able to pick just 4th place on the table. The reason why I'm telling all this is that when you want to play in this formation you have to have 3 world-class CBs and 2 amazingly energetic wing backs. Furthermore, Albertini was a class in defense comparing him with Pirlo.

So, no 3-5-2 formation doesn't work, not just for us, but nowhere today.

Galliani has apparently confirmed that Kalac's contract will be rescinded and we'll get Flavio Roma according to goal.com

Not a particularly exciting transfer.

Originally Posted by rt9

Why can't we get another fullback and then try to sell Oddo? Are we really that poor?

Because we'd have surplus to requirements if we fail to sell Oddo. We'd also have an extra wage to pay (and Oddo's isn't a small wage) and it would make it more difficult for Leo to manage the squad (something you often hear Mou complain about).

Originally Posted by ACMILAN1983

Galliani has apparently confirmed that Kalac's contract will be rescinded and we'll get Flavio Roma according to goal.com

Not a particularly exciting transfer.

Not exciting but fine. I believe Roma is twice as good as Kalac, and btw. we're probably talking about third 'keeper so no need to make drama about it...

Originally Posted by ZvonimirBoban

It's not about they are all quality or not, but it is obvious we need to get rid some of them if our new fullback is to be given a place.

Offcourse we must first get rid of Oddo but to me bigger problem will be finding a buyer for him than to get new fullback.

And next season Favalli should go and then we might buy Zapata (next season he'll gain Italian nationality so he won't be counted as NON-EU)...

Originally Posted by Rick

Samir Nasri was labeled "the new Zidane." Sofiane Feghouli has been labeled "the new Zidane." Hell, the other day I was reading something about some 6-year-old who has been labeled "the new Zidane!" It all means absolutely nothing.

Offcourse it doesn't mean anything but Gourcuff besides his tehnical abilities is hard worker for the team.

I want to say that he would be first great addition to this new Milan and with Flamini and Gattuso would do much... But no need to talk about him anymore....