Winter Mercato

Seeing as Zambrotta can play in both fullback positions, i don't see why it would be so difficult to imagine us getting him Tony. It's a little thing called rotation ... Jankulovski & Zambrotta ... Zambrotta & Oddo ... Jankulovski & Oddo ... everyone's a winner and no one gets tired.

The reason why I think Milan will go for Zambrotta, or another back, good at going forward, is that, hopefully, by now we have realized that you can't win both fronts - Serie A and CL - relying on only 1 player for the positions of attcking LB and RB (easily the most physically demanding positions in football) and hope that those players would be able to perform well in more than 60% of the games.

I personally would rather see a younger player join Milan as both Oddo and Janku are either already 30 or very close to becoming soon ... and in Oddo's case, that age is gonna be 31, I believe, next season.

Alves is the dream but he will be hard to get and Real and Barca have advantage I think given that he may very well wanna stay in Spain ... not to mention the price for his services would be at least 20 mil euros with those two high-spending teams in the mix for Alves' signature.

Zambrotta, however, has an dvantage both in price (doubt it will be higher than 10 mil) and in versatility - can play both on the left and right as a back or wing - so getting him would be a great solution for the present and near future ... and would allow the introduction of a young player like Marzoratti in the team too.

A very plausible solution to Milan's defensive issues for next season could be taking Marzoratti back as cover for Oddo at RB, Zambrotta to interchange with janku at LB (or play RB if necessary), and a capable CD (many options for this one).

As for which other team could get Zambrotta in Italy, financially speaking there are several teams that could afford him - Inter, Roma, Milan, Juve - other than that, for me he would end up either in Milan (70%), Juve (20%), or Inter (10%) ... I am putting Inter in the mix only because there were some rumours of Grosso expressing an interest in a move to Roma and should that happen, Inter could easily go for Zambrotta, although I doubt the player himself will opt to go there ... but when money talks, one never knows.

Zlat, in the original, Italian version of the article i posted above, Galliani , about Camoranesi, Buffon and Zambrotta, says none of them will join Milan and Milan will play with other players on those positions next year, not with the ex Juve trio.
For comparisson , he didn't want to comment on Ronaldinho at all, and he didn't say Milan will go or won't go after Dinho.
I wanna say he was pretty specific saying Milan won't go after Gigi, Zambro and Camo.

Jim, i know what squad rotation is and i agree Milan and every big club needs at least 2 very good players on every position.
But it's more important the team to have at least 1 top class player on every position and it's not the case with Milan.
Someone to take over Seedorf's place ( Ronaldinho ?) , a classy striker ( Pippo seems like leaving Milan, Oli may leave also and even if he won't Milan needs an attacker) , and one great Central defender should be top priorities.
Also, i can imagine many Milan players leaving this summer ( Maldini, Costacurta, Inzaghi, Cafu, Serginho, Favalli... ) and all of them will have to be replaced with some squad players which may cost Milan another 10-15 M eur.
Zambrotta may come good but he's not a necessity like he was last year, and if Milan spends around 85-90 M eur for the players that are really needed ( i'm counting Dinho, that's why i'm saying 85-90 M) then all Milan can try is making one single offer for Zambro. If another team offers more, then Galliani will give up, just like he did last year with the same player.
Milan will really need a LB but i think you'll go after someone who'll be Janku's replacement and sit on the bench, not after someone who will replace Janku in the starting line-up.

Galliani knows this. I think that's why he said what he said !

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Drucurl wasn't talking about the WC, he was talking about the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2003, when they lost the final from Mexico. Robinho was a starter on all 5 matches but he didn't score a single goal.

Brazilians sent the u-23 team there with Kaka, Diego, Robinho, Maicon, Alex, Ewerthon, Julio Baptista, Luisao, Carlos Alberto, Thiago Motta, Gomes as a keeper, etc.

You´re right , Tony...SORRY Drucurl
Robinho was one of the worse brazilian players in that tournament(if not the worse)...that tournament and the fiasco in Olympic qualy really changed Robinhos game. After that, Robinho go to the bench in Santos also. But the boy worked a lot for improve his game(at that time Robinho was only a dribller), and become a better player...

Oddo was a nice touch, but soemone else is also still needed because you can't put all your money on Oddo, especially playing both CL and league Cafu will be gone and you can't depend on Simic to be a godd replacement, but Zamp. will be a strech I think.

Originally Posted by Brasileiro

Man, sorry but I can´t stand what saw here...
Robinho was the reason for Brazil din´t win the WC??
C´mon, Drucurl...Robinho was one of the few bright spots in Brazil offense...only Robinho and Kaká delivered...

Kaka delivered against Croatia and was pretty much invisible for the rest of the tournament.

Originally Posted by BMWTaylor

Kaka delivered against Croatia and was pretty much invisible for the rest of the tournament.

May be Ronaldinho was more visible, wasn't he?
Kaka was the only Brasileiro, who played atleast quite good.
Robinho never nad a chance to shine in WC2006, the Brasilian squad was clear even before the tournament, the jersey's numbers of the players, who started every game, were from 1 to 11...

I personally don't want Robinho in Milan, cuz he is too weak phisically for Serie A, and I think we already have too many Brasilians. So when Brasil have a game somewhere, in Milanello will be left nobody

In fact, I can't see which players we have to sign in the summer.
The good players available aren't that much and they all are too expensive...

Ronaldinho invites Milan move
Saturday 24 March, 2007
Ronaldinho has spoken publicly about his hopes of joining Milan to play alongside Brazil teammate Kaka.

“I am happy at Barcelona, but in the future you never know what will happen,” said the 2005 Ballon d’Or winner.

The Rossoneri have made absolutely no secret of their intention to make a huge summer bid for Ronaldinho, with vice-President Adriano Galliani assuring they are “in super pole position should he leave Barca.”

Fellow Selecao stars Ronaldo and Kaka have also confirmed they rang up the player to recommend a move to the San Siro.

“It was a nice gesture,” he smiled. “Playing with Kaka is absolute pure joy.”

The two players are currently together for international duty in a tour of Sweden and it is the perfect opportunity to file away the final doubts.

“We have spoken about Milan and will do so again during this tour. But do not ask me for miracles,” confessed Kaka.

“I have many wonderful things to tell him, but after that it is down to the club to enter the fray.”

Milan are stepping up their bid for Ronaldinho after rumours that Inter were trying to intervene and snatch away the superstar.

Reports suggest that Nerazzurri director Marco Branca called up agent Roberto Assis – Ronaldinho’s brother and also agent of Milan striker Ricardo Oliveira – to discuss the possibility of their own proposal.

These claims were given credence by Rossoneri President Silvio Berlusconi. “If Ronaldinho leaves Barcelona, then we are taking him. The buy-out clause in his contract is not a problem. The important thing is to snatch him away from Inter.”

It’s believed that Ronaldinho’s buy-out clause for his contract that expires in 2010 is a staggering £84m.


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from channel 4

We need young stiker huntelar or torres.....Ronnie will come to Milan for sure

Originally Posted by Hasan Rossonero

Silvio Berlusconi. “The buy-out clause in his contract is not a problem.

Ronaldinho’s buy-out clause for his contract that expires in 2010 is a staggering £84m.

Ehh, i wish i'm Silvio Berlusconi !

£84m = ~125 M eur
Is he really prepared to pay this much ?

After watching the Italy - England Under 21 match..I'm THOROUGHLY convinced that we need not pay the airfare to go all the way to SA to buy players...when we have an endless pool of talented players in Italy. Montolivo, Rosina, Chiellini, Pazzini, Lupoli, Rossi etc etc. Montolivo is currently being groomed into Italy's next deep lying playmaker.

Originally Posted by Mystik

After watching the Italy - England Under 21 match..I'm THOROUGHLY convinced that we need not pay the airfare to go all the way to SA to buy players...when we have an endless pool of talented players in Italy. Montolivo, Rosina, Chiellini, Pazzini, Lupoli, Rossi etc etc. Montolivo is currently being groomed into Italy's next deep lying playmaker.

It was a beautiful match, wasn't it ?
I was also impressed by the quality Italians have in their team, on every single position. Although they didn't win, the 3:3 draw could have easily been an Italian win at the end. And lets not forget that this England u-21 team is one of the best they had in last years.
Italy is top favourite to win the EC this summer.

Pazzini was MOM by far. Scored a hat trick and almost brought the win at the end when he missed a chance to score his 4th goal.
Italian attack is woooooow.
Pazzini (Fiorentina), Palladino ( Juventus), Rossi (ManU/Parma), Lupoli (Arsenal/Derby) and Pelle (Cesena) are all among the 15 best young strikers in Europe.
Rosina (Torino), Montolivo (Fiorentina) and Nocerino ( Juventus/Piacenza) offer so much creativity, and the defense, besides conceding 3 goals, is still the best one in Europe with Chiellini ( Juventus) who's allready a senior team material, Inter's Andreolli, Chievo's Mantovani and Juve's Criscito are all very good central defenders besides being so young.
Curci leads the new generation of world class Italian goalkeepers.

Italians didn't have stronger u-21 team since the time Pirlo was the leader of the youngsters.

Although, regarding your wish Milan to go after some of these players.. they'll be all hard to get.

7 of these players play in Juventus and Fiorentina and none of them will be keen on letting them go. Roma won't let Curci easily, just like Torino won't let Rosina for anything less than 15 M Eur, probably even more.
Inter, Manchester and Arsenal are all rich enough to let the young jewls they have go.

WOW is certainly the word to describe the performance put on today. I know it would be difficult to get some of those players (especially those owned by Juventus/Fiorentina) but I was a bit sad to see that there was not one Milan player there. Marzoratti/Pozzi will be there for the next tournament though. Di Gennaro is also talented enough to make it for the next tournament. Things are looking good for the future of Italian football.

Andreolli might be a different case though.

To be honest i dont know what your getting all excited about from todays game

Pazzini did well, particularly off the ball but really his last goal shouldve been saved and his first took a deflection. Overall England should have won too, They were still chasing goals even when winning and let Italy back into the game twice, first by slack marking on a set piece a minute after going ahead and then letting them hit them on the break for the equaliser, if Richardson had scored what was an easy volley by just placing it in instead of going for power it wouldve been 4-2 and all over

Bentley was the best player on the pitch and controlled the game, scoring a good free kick after being scythed down for the umpteemth time to cap an excellent performance. Pazzini may have scored the goals but personally i felt Rosina at least matched him for performance and is the better player overall for the italians. Rossi i felt was dissapointing, he barely got a kick against an inexperienced England defence and seems to have stagnated a bit in the last few years.

On a side note, it did get me thinking about how good a team England could send to the U-21 Championships this summer. The current squad can match Italy even whilst resting Huddlestone for most of the game and there are some top players still eligible for U-21 selection in the senior squad. Rooney, Nugent and Lennon can be added to the attack, Micah Richards to the defence and Carson in goal would make it the strongest U-21 side in Europe imho.

I know its unlikely but i would love to see them all sent to the tournament this summer because i am sure they would become favourites to win it
It may only be an U-21 tournament but psychologically it would give a huge boost to these players as if they did win it would show them they can match and surpass the best of Europe, and that experience would be extremely useful to the ones who progress to the senior squad.