Winter Mercato

Originally Posted by mrki

Of the ‘big’ clubs only Milan made a profit at £1.6m thanks to the £30m sale of Andriy Shevchenko to Chelsea.

I find this stat incredibly disturbing. Italian football won't last much longer if the current financial status of each of the main leagues continues as it is i.e. the Premiership & La Liga in consistent mega money deals and Serie A in deals/tax laws that restrict their marketing powers.

Barca is doing smart and great job on mercato.... eventually they will end up with this defence... zambrotta-puyol-chivu-abidal

You could also add Alves as a possible right-back inclusion. The rest of their team will be

Deco/Iniesta --- Yaya Toure --- Xavi
---------- Ronaldinho/Messi --------
------ Henry ---------- Etoo -------

Should Etoo leave i wouldn't be surprised to see them try for Huntelaar or Torres. Should Ronaldinho leave i'm not sure they'll need to move for anyone as they have Messi, Deco and possibly promote Dos Santos to the first team. Good times to be a Barcelona fan.

Eto'o or Ronaldinho would be great, of course, but I guess we're treading waters on that, losing very precious time on hugely complicated deals... why not pick someone like Huntelaar, a very good and not so expensive striker? Why not get Sneijder, whose multifunctionality would certainly be of great benefit to our midfield? Let's forget deals with spanish sides, they're too goddamned complicated!

Originally Posted by Milancelotti

Chelsea are on the verge of closing the deal with Pato @ 18mill

That means after taking Pizzaro also that Sheva will probably join us. I don't Think to play Sheva, Drogba, Pizzaro, Pato, Kalou....

Barca aren't as rich as it may seem so getting Alves and Abidal and keeping Zambrotta won't happen IMO. They offered 9 mil for Abidal and got Aulas angry and the deal stalled.
If anyone is gonna move for Alves, that will probably be Real M as they are yet to splash on the market and probably won't go below 70-80 mil this summer either, especially if they appoint a new coach ... otherwise half of their fans will jump on another bandwagon in an instant and that won't go well with the shirt and scarf sales

Barca are doing well on the market getting valuable players but let's not forget that they had an excellent team this year too - and an average-performing and shaky real M side managed to pip them to the title, while Pool blew them off the field in the CL.

IMO Barca's problem was not the lack of good quality players but they had a big problem at the helm with the departure of Ten Cate.
That won't change so it would still be the good old Rijkaard trying to deal with and even more star-studded squad all by himself and last season showed that he could have his hands quite full with Barca looking lucklusture tactics-wise while the dressing room, in Zambortta's words, was in turmoil ... and that without Henry in there

Let's not forget how last summer people were stunned by CHelski's tarnsfers after adding SWP, SHeva, Ballack, Cole, you name it to an already very strong team and many here were even asking "who would beat them" ... well, I think in the end, everyone got his question answered, big time

Originally Posted by Nordahl

Eto'o or Ronaldinho would be great, of course, but I guess we're treading waters on that, losing very precious time on hugely complicated deals... why not pick someone like Huntelaar, a very good and not so expensive striker? Why not get Sneijder, whose multifunctionality would certainly be of great benefit to our midfield? Let's forget deals with spanish sides, they're too goddamned complicated!

I think Huntelaar is a player who could become of interest to Milan if they sell Gila or Pippo leaves/retires ... without one of those two leaving, there is no way we would go for another target man like Huntelaar ... and even if that were to happen, he is still unproven in a big league and at the big scene (like CL or in big games for Dutch NT) so that would always raise doubts for a Serie A team like Milan, with his price nearing 20 mil ... and at this point in time, it seems like he himself isn't sure of his being ready for top-flight football in EUrope given that he has said not once or twice that he wnats to saty at Ajax for one more season.

My guess is that, unless he moves to juve, he would stay at Ajax and we'll see first hand how good he really is in this year's CL ... after all, if he can't score there, a ton of goals in the Dutch league won't mean anything to Milan or their fans (Gila might have a thing or two to say about that last one).

I'm sure Huntelaar has CL goals. At least in qualifying anyway. He has 1 goal actually. Vs Inter. That should count for at least 5

Originally Posted by Mystik

I'm sure Huntelaar has CL goals. At least in qualifying anyway. He has 1 goal actually. Vs Inter. That should count for at least 5

so does Gila although not in CL ... that didn't save him from the fans though and he is still seen as a failure by most.

when i was writing that, i was pretty sure about that too but how valuable a goal against say Widzew Lodz or Kpenhagen (who btw eliminated Ajax last year in 3rd QF round) would be considering the teams Milan would be playing in CL ... even in the group stage let alone later on.

I just searched around and think that Huntelaar has 10 goals altogether in Europe - 3 in CL (1 vs Inter and 2 vs Kopenhagen) and 7 in UEFA Cup (2 vs Start, 2 vs Zulte Waregem, 2 vs Austria, and 1 vs Werder).

So, basically 2 out of these 10 goals were against serious teams like Inter and Werder ... the guys is good but I do thinkhe needs to prove himself a lot more to warrant a price tag close to 20 mil ... and I think he feels he isn't ready as not many players would turn down multi-million deals to stay at Ajax for one more year.

Yes, so many similarities between Huntelaar and Gila before he came to Milan.

With 19 goals for the u-21 team, Gila is all time top scorer for the Azzurini.
With 18 goals for the u-21 team, Huntelaar is all time top scorer for young oranje.

At the u-21 Euro in 2004 ( when he was 22) , Gila led his team to the gold, scoring 5 goals ( 2 goals in the final and 2 in the semifinal ).
At the u-21 Euro in 2006 (when he was 22), KJH led his team to the gold, scoring 4 goals ( 2 goals in the final, 1 in the semifinal)

When he was 21 and 22 , Gila was scoring 24 goals in Serie A
When he was 21 and 22 , KJH was scoring 17 & 33 goals in Dutch League and at 23 he scored 21 goal in the same league ( at 23 Gila scored 17 goals in serie A)

For the National team Gila scored 8 goals in 23 matches (0.35 goals per match)
For the National team KJH scored 2 goals in 8 matches ( 0.25 goals per match)

Huntelaar is only 1 year younger than Gila, btw, and we can't even compare his experience at top level with Gila's !

You see, like Zlatanov already told you, numbers don't lie. There's absolutly no guarantee KJH will be better than Gila. Plus he's a not needed risk.
If Milan really wants Gila out, then he should be replaced with someone already proven (Trezeguet, Van Nistelrooy).
I don't see the logic in replacing Gila with someone who may easily turn out to be worse than him.

I still somehow hope that Gila can find his confidence again and score and play like he did with Parma and Italy U-21. I really dont want to se him playing for Juve and scoring 20 per season.

With Pato on hios way to Chelsea, we could really end up with "good" old Sheva. That would be an ultimate humiliation for Milan loyal players and fans who begged him to stay with us. Better pay 25 mil for Pato than 20 for 30 years old traitor Shevchenko who kissed Chelsea shirt on his first game.

I don't want Sheva. Let him stay in Chelsea and battle his own battles just like how we did this year with all the difficulties.

As for the other news......there are too many rummors and speculations to even guess what is going on. Galliani says that Eto'o is our number one target but a day later signs Suazo only to back off the deal and a day later say again that Eto'o is the top target. A few weeks ago he says that we will sign a striker and an attacker but after apperantly securing Suazo he says that the transfer campaign is over. Too many lies, too many speculations. I don't trust our own Galliani so how can I possibly trust the mediums. In the end we will end up with a big name and I am sure of that, who will it be only boldy knows but he lies too much for us to even believe a word he is saying.

Apperantly, Barca offered Eto'o to Arsenal but they refused him in the deal for Henry. So maybe Eto'o is available for a transfer. (this however according to tribal ) My wish is Ronaldinho, because for some weird reason I still trust our attackers. Ronaldo I think will be back to his own self next year after a promising start, Inzaghi showed that is still capable to play a few games a month whenever called up upon and I believe that Gilardino will finally shine and fulfill the potential he showed in the past as he is still very young and with potential to become one of Italy's best (if not the best) strikers.

here are some good news for the poor milan fans left without their summer present by the half-witted Milan management :
http://www.tgcom.mediaset.it/controc...lo367676.shtml

in short, it says that with no clarity on who among Sheva, Etoo, Dinho would be an easier or rather feasible target, Milan is looking at Alexandre Pato, considered by many the heir of Kaka, and Braida is said to be one of his biggest fans among Milan management.

Sweet dreams, guys - that was my way of tucking you in

* seriously though - I still don't understand why would Chelski pay 25-27 mil euros when Internacional president said several times that if a team wanst Pato, they would have to pay his buy-out clause of 15-16 mil or so.

I have no source for this, nor i have inside info, but it's a feeling Mauro German Camoranesi may be the one who'll join Milan for the midfield.

I know Juve don't want to sell to their rivals but in this case an exception can be made. Mauro will be 31 when the new season will start so we won't reinforce our rivals for the next 5-10 years like Inter did. Camo will have mostly 1 or 2 good seasons in Milan and Juve won't be a match to Inter or Milan in next 2 years anyway, with or without Camo.
Camoranesi's agent stated that only a move to Milan, Inter or Roma is acceptable while it looks like Juve don't plan to keep him ( a new improved contract will be offered to Trez but not to Camo) because Ranieri talks about the future Juve with Nedved and Trez , but he's not mentioning Camoranesi.

Camo isn't the same kind of player with Tiago but there's a similarity. Both of them are midfielders, hard workers, while Camo's plus is that he can play both in CM and as a winger. Milan is clearly looking after a Tiago-like player, so why not Camo ?
And he's not expensive at all.

Fits perfectly imo. ( especially with his age )

Edit : Oh, and my heart will be broken to see one of my favorites go to Milan. That's another reason for you to want Camo

In that link Zlat gave us it is said that Besiktas wants to buy Bonera

Originally Posted by Tony29.

I have no source for this, nor i have inside info, but it's a feeling Mauro German Camoranesi may be the one who'll join Milan for the midfield.

I know Juve don't want to sell to their rivals but in this case an exception can be made. Mauro will be 31 when the new season will start so we won't reinforce our rivals for the next 5-10 years like Inter did. Camo will have mostly 1 or 2 good seasons in Milan and Juve won't be a match to Inter or Milan in next 2 years anyway, with or without Camo.
Camoranesi's agent stated that only a move to Milan, Inter or Roma is acceptable while it looks like Juve don't plan to keep him ( a new improved contract will be offered to Trez but not to Camo) because Ranieri talks about the future Juve with Nedved and Trez , but he's not mentioning Camoranesi.

Camo isn't the same kind of player with Tiago but there's a similarity. Both of them are midfielders, hard workers, while Camo's plus is that he can play both in CM and as a winger. Milan is clearly looking after a Tiago-like player, so why not Camo ?
And he's not expensive at all.

Fits perfectly imo. ( especially with his age )

Edit : Oh, and my heart will be broken to see one of my favorites go to Milan. That's another reason for you to want Camo

I'm a bit sceptical on Camo, he has his good but also his very bad matches, bit like Seedorf.
Wasn't Camoranesi keen on a move to Lyon?


I have a feeling we are not gonna buy any Barca players at all, if we do I hope it will be someone no one will expect like Zambrotta.

Besiktas?
Doubt we'll sell Bonera, since Milan is his favourite, I don't think he'll leave either.