Milan: Emerson e Zambrotta

So we don't need reinforcements, ZZ? We lost $hevchenko, Stam, Rui Costa and they doesn't need to be replaced? And I'm not even talking about ex-footaballers like Cafu and Costacurta...

well... for a start i never said we don't need reinforcements... i did say that there are still options open to us in the market... the suggestions/formations above are only valid should we fail to make any purchases... see the words "assume"... "considering" etc... i think that should have verified my message... and i agree we need the minimum of a RB... CB... CM & ST to strengthen our squad... but i would go for more... GK (Buffon... Amelia)... RB (Oddo... Behrami)... CB (Barzagli... Mexes)... LB (Bonera... Chivu)... CM (Masherano... Rodriguez)... ST (Suazo... Vucinic)... suddenly it doesn't seem at all that bleak... yeah for some the club might not release... but that doesn't mean it would stop us makin' an enquiry & tempt them over...

ZZ, the thing is that there will always be reasons why Milan could not get Zambrotta, Cannavaro.... but the fact is, is Milan trying and is Milan trying hard enough?

Quite franky, I am getting really tired of Milan not paying the money for quality. In any other seasons, I would be fine with what Milan is doing or not doing. But this season is different, b/c they are actually great players available. The diff is that any other seasons, great players are made available but this season they are just available b.c both the palyers and their clubs need to sell. So what is Milan doing this season, nothing. At least from my stand pt nothing. They could say all they want about competing, they are doing their best.... but at the end of the day, they did nothing. Two starters are gone from last yr and what did they do, get the GREAT FAVALLI.

Imagine this, with all the injuries that Milan had last season with a solid team, Milan got second without starting at -15. What do u think Milan will end up starting at -15 with two of the starting 11 gone and the trio of Maldini, Cafu, and Pippo a yr older.

One more thing, don't compare Zambrotta with Chivu/Bonera or Behrami, since they are not even on the same level as Zambrotta. Getting players is one thing and getting great players is another.

As of now, I can see that Milan will be force to get a panic buy, and remember the last time Milan did that, we ended up with a players who only played his first game with Milan after 2 yrs being at MIlan.

i understand what you are sayin' because i do feel that way too... however... do you not realise that all four big clubs involved in the scandal are in the process of makin' an appeal at the moment? i feel that the result (and procedure) of the appeal could be what is holdin' Milan back from makin' attempts to buy Zambrotta or any other top class players... so i will not comment again about our current effort to strengthen the squad...

so let's consider all alternatives for the appeal... regardless of opinions in regards as to whether an appeal could or could not result in a more severe punishment...

a) no difference... we keep our Serie A status with -15 points start to next season... with a possibly of playin' in the Uefa Cup...

b) keepin' our Serie A status with reduced negative points (e.g. -9) for next season... no difference to our European campaign... and the other possible variations... such as a confirmation of playin' in the Uefa Cup or CL... totally cleared of any wrong-doin'... etc...

c) we lose our Serie A status altogether & go down to Serie B with no negative points (or worse)... as well as the obvious... no European campaign...

assumin' we get option a... do you actually think Zambrotta (or any other top class player) would wanna move to Milan to play just Serie A... with just a slight possibility of playin' in the Uefa Cup... and with a risk of not qualifyin' for CL for 07/08 (since we do start with -15)... when there is an offer of playin' in a championship winnin' team... who has won 2 consecutive league titles... the current defendin' European champions... a guranteed promise of playin' next season's CL & a very likely to be part of CL for 07/08... that's virtually 2 consecutive years of challengin' for the league title & CL... as compared to Milan's 1 year of difficult challenge for the Scudetto & possibly no European football at all for 2 years (worse case scenario)...

if you consider option b... it would vary dependin' on the sentence... from totally cleared of any punishment (absolute delight & would make Milan an attractive destination for many players)... to a relatively similar situation... and with a heavily Inter-influenced judicial panel waitin' to deliver a more severe punishment... can you really be assured that the sentence would be reduced or reduced considerably? not exactly that bright if you ask me...

as for option c... i doubt there is a need to talk about it... as we would be lookin' to keep our top class players rather than temptin' others to come over...

don't forget... these top class players might not be Milan fans at all... they do not value Milan like us... it's just another top club amongst others... but with a slight difference... an unstable future in the balance...

if we do manage to get someone like Chivu/Bonera with possible competition from other top sides... i would be pleased enough... dare we even wish for the stars when we might not be able to even jump...

Originally Posted by zZ[-_-]Zz

i understand what you are sayin' because i do feel that way too... however... do you not realise that all four big clubs involved in the scandal are in the process of makin' an appeal at the moment? i feel that the result (and procedure) of the appeal could be what is holdin' Milan back from makin' attempts to buy Zambrotta or any other top class players... so i will not comment again about our current effort to strengthen the squad...

so let's consider all alternatives for the appeal... regardless of opinions in regards as to whether an appeal could or could not result in a more severe punishment...

a) no difference... we keep our Serie A status with -15 points start to next season... with a possibly of playin' in the Uefa Cup...

b) keepin' our Serie A status with reduced negative points (e.g. -9) for next season... no difference to our European campaign... and the other possible variations... such as a confirmation of playin' in the Uefa Cup or CL... totally cleared of any wrong-doin'... etc...

c) we lose our Serie A status altogether & go down to Serie B with no negative points (or worse)... as well as the obvious... no European campaign...

assumin' we get option a... do you actually think Zambrotta (or any other top class player) would wanna move to Milan to play just Serie A... with just a slight possibility of playin' in the Uefa Cup... and with a risk of not qualifyin' for CL for 07/08 (since we do start with -15)... when there is an offer of playin' in a championship winnin' team... who has won 2 consecutive league titles... the current defendin' European champions... a guranteed promise of playin' next season's CL & a very likely to be part of CL for 07/08... that's virtually 2 consecutive years of challengin' for the league title & CL... as compared to Milan's 1 year of difficult challenge for the Scudetto & possibly no European football at all for 2 years (worse case scenario)...

if you consider option b... it would vary dependin' on the sentence... from totally cleared of any punishment (absolute delight & would make Milan an attractive destination for many players)... to a relatively similar situation... and with a heavily Inter-influenced judicial panel waitin' to deliver a more severe punishment... can you really be assured that the sentence would be reduced or reduced considerably? not exactly that bright if you ask me...

as for option c... i doubt there is a need to talk about it... as we would be lookin' to keep our top class players rather than temptin' others to come over...

don't forget... these top class players might not be Milan fans at all... they do not value Milan like us... it's just another top club amongst others... but with a slight difference... an unstable future in the balance...

if we do manage to get someone like Chivu/Bonera with possible competition from other top sides... i would be pleased enough... dare we even wish for the stars when we might not be able to even jump...

Good post. The thing im worried about is...with all this waiting we might have to rush and make a bid for certain players and because of the time constraints....the player might not only be the best option ...but we might have to spend much more thn the current asking price since most of the big name players have already left (like zambro, canna and co) leaving us with not many options. I hope we do not sign someone like ze roberto....but sign a younger and better player. Zambro wasnt expensive so he would have been a good buy and i rate him much higer thn oddo and the other players we have been linked with. I just hope we get trough this appeal process as fast as possible and sign some quality players to help improve the squad and are not forced to make some desperate attempt to sign a player 1 week before the season starts or something.

Bonera would probably be an ok option ...chivu? Roma seem to have a much better chance of winning the scudeto and champions league this season so i doubt he will move to milan....

FC Barcelona have just announced that they have bought Lilian Thuram and Gianluca Zambrotta.

ZZ, understand ur pt. The question is still the same one, is Milan try and is Milan trying hard enough.

About the CL and winning.... I agree some players might just wnat to win and get the money.... but no if a player came out openly and stated that he would love to join Milan and Milan is his #1 destination. Ofcourse u can argue, Zambrotta only did that to jack up the price for Barcelona or whomever bidding for his service. But the fact is, Milan missed out on Zambrotta. To certain extend they also missed out on Canna.

I am 100% certain that if Milan actually went out and get one of them, players will follow suit b/c it sends a message that Milan is in business and they want to win and get back to where they b4 asap. However, I really don't see Milan doing that.

U can argue all u want about players want to win and play for a team in Europe competition....But the fact is that if Milan is really serious about winning and competing with the BIG BOYS. They could easily get Buffon and Zam maybe even Canna from Juve if they were willing to give out money. Like 50M for all three of them. Yes, it might be abit expensive and over price. But the message Milan will be sending out to everyone is, "We are winners nomatter what. Who cares if we start at -15, we will still dominate and we believe in ourselves to do so, especially with the new players." Instead, what I see Milan doing is taking the wait and see approach and hope for the best. And sending the message, "We have faith in ourselves, and we will qualify CL next season." What the heck is that.

For the scandal, they should just accept it and build on it, b/c this is the golden time to send message out and change the image(scandal) of the club, but once again Milan is very close on blewing it. The only way I see them redeming themselves is by
1. Getting great players to Milan, but who?
2. Winning the Series A, which is very hard considering the current squad. Milan Lab must be amazing if not, if guys like Pirlo, Gilardino, Nesta and Kaka goes down with injury or have a bad spell on the field, which is normal for players after WC, Milan is in huge trouble with the depth they have.

dont think its Galliani, he isnt supposed to be working for us "hence" why he wasnt at the shirt thing yesterday... maybe milan have faith in jankulovski, but its still a big loss for us....

Have Milan given up signing the best players available? I can't believe this. Ancelotti is aiming at winning the Serie A next season, but I don't see how we can do that with our current squad and -15 points...

I'm very disappointed we didn't try harder to get Zambrotta. Only a couple of days ago we were the club he wanted to move to, now he's on a plane to Spain. I don't believe that the appeal had anything to do with it as if Milan were Zambrotta's favoured destination, he would have waited for the result of the appeal before deciding where to go.

It's all very very disappointing.

if abbiati just went to juve we would have signed him..... what a joke..

if that indeed is the reason why we didn't get Zambrotta and possibly Buffon then the people in charge of Milan's transfer dealings need to be replaced. That would amount to a monumental mistake in transfer terms.

This is a big loss for Milan and for the Serie A. I can understand not wanting to sell your best players to your biggest rivals. But what Juve have decided is that if they are going down, none of the thier players are going to other Serie A teams.
After the scandal penalties were handed down, I mentioned that the sanctions would have a major negative effect on the quality of the Italian game and the Serie A. Now my we are seeing everything come to fruition. Losing players like Cannavaro and Zambrotta to La Liga is truly going to buttress Madrid and Barca.
For example, now look at Barcelona's core players; Gaucho, Eto'o, Xavi, Deco, Puyol, Messi, Marquez, and now Zambrotta. After last season's CL, I personally thought this is team would be battling Milan for European dominance for the next few years. After this scandal ****, it will take time to reignite our European dominance.
Like most of you, I believe Milan should have tried harder for Zambrotta, this guy is quality, but on the other hand, you never know a player's private wishes.

Hasan, to say I told you so would not make me feel a teeny bit better unfortunately. Please dont tell me im a pessimist, because im not, im a realist.

Guys here better start facing facts rather than just keep hoping for the best. Zambrotta 2 days ago said he prefers Milan over any other club, now he signs for Barca because Milan could not make any action. I dont give a flying fk if we are busy in a scandal, we have a director who's job is ONLY to do with transfers, and with a multi-billionaire behind us we should have had no problem getting him.

For a few weeks Buffon seemed to be wanting to come to Milan and even Juve were all set to give us Gigi, but guess what? Our pathetic management decides to sell Abbiati to Torino, their rivals and make everything a HELL lot harder.

We lost one of the best players in the world already, a player who could have been DEVASTATINGLY useful to us as he plays RB, RM, LM, LB. And now we seem to be set to get Buffon. Even if we get Buffon, dont you come telling me "see hitmann, u are a pessimist, u should have waited" cause that wont do any good, we still FAILED in signing Buffon and Zambrotta which really was our main objective. Not even trying to get Canna was a crime itself, but now losing Zambrotta and Gigi is just too much.

Really pathetic. Braida and Galliani need to be replaced and I dont care what they did for us before.

i dont know what there doing, if i was belusconi i would have fired Gallani just for getting us into the calciopoli mess... No champ league and -15 points must be hard for him to take in... we need to clean the air and get back to being the best...