Winter Mercato

Originally Posted by Maltese Charlie

Stampa portoghese, Milan all'assalto di Deco. Pronti 25 mln

11:27 del 26 luglio

Secondo quanto riferisce il giornale portoghese OJogo, il Milan starebbe facendo di tutto per assicurarsi il centrocampista del Barcellona Deco. Il giocatore sarebbe un pallino del tecnico Ancelotti che avrebbe già chiesto a Berlusconi e Galliani di provare ad intavolare una trattativa col club blaugrana. Per il giornale portoghese l'offerta al Barcellona potrebbe arrivare già in settimana e sarebbe di circa 25 milioni di euro, un terzo della clausola di rescissione di 75 mln prevista dal contratto del giocatore che scade nel 2010.

I don't know if this one is either Mr.X or Mr.Z

According a Portugese journal, Milan are after the Barcellona's midfielder DECO, and will place an offer of 25 million euros.

sorry: source calciomercato.com

I believe Deco will really leave Barcelona. Zlat , in the above post, said how Barcelona and Milan wouldn't have risked an injury of Eto'o or Dinho if they were about to leave and wouldn't have let them play the friendlies.
That's the case with Deco. Actually, he did play few minutes in the opening friendly, as a reserve, but looks like today against Dundee he won't play at all and again he isn't among the starting XI Rijkaard announced.

Deco is also a superstar and he was always Rijkaard's favorite. I don't see why is Rijkaard keeping him out of the team if the reason isn't very simple : He's leaving the team !

In this article it is said that Deco is actuallyu Ancelotti's wish and it was Carlo who asked both Berlu and Galliani to get him the Portuguesse.

25m seems high and i have doubts that if Milan buy him they'll pay this much, but i still see it as a fair price. I can't believe some of you are underestimating him. You're talking about the leading midfielder of Porto and Barcelona, when these two teams won the CL. He's not very young and he'll be 30 in a month but he's still a hell of a player, among the best 3 in his position. If you payed +40m for a 29 years old Rui Costa then ~25m for Deco is fair, imo.

These news come from O Jogo. When we're talking about players from Portugal they are very reliable. If you remember the time when he was leaving Porto.... all the Mirrors, Sunday Times, Gazzetta's etc "sold" him to Chelsea. Only O Jogo were saying he'll go to Barcelona.
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No need to hide my feelings .... i'd kill to have Deco in Juve and i'd hate it to see him in Milan. That's why i don't understand how come some of you are totally against Deco coming to Milan.

We Don't Need Deco, We Need Eto Or Sheva!!!

Originally Posted by schenko

We Don't Need Deco, We Need Eto Or Sheva!!!

thanks for that, care to explain why?

Some other news :

1. Swap Solari-Cassano may happen between Inter and Real (Marca)
Why would Inter need another attacker ?

2. Zlat this is for you : Martin Petrov signed for Manchester City
He's been my favorite since the time i watched him live in Sofia and then in Skopje.... why do my favorite players never finish in Juve ?

3. Rothen renewed his contract with PSG
Another favorite of mine. I was seeing him as Nedved's successor, but he got lost in France after the marvelous season with Monaco

4. Riquelme will probably play for Boca again, at least until the intercontinental cup finishes.

5. Reyes may sign with Lyon for 12m euro ( French papers)

6. AS is being an ass again...they say Milan may actually let Ronaldo go to USA and play there next year.

7. The deal with Simao is 99% done. He'll play for Atletico Madrid. His price is 25m euro.

Thanks Tony, for informing me about the reliability of oJobo.
To tell you the truth I never heard this name before.

As a gift, if you like, we can exchange Ba with Buffon + 10 millions.
Don't take to long to decide, as this generous offer is only valid till midnight.

also if we sign Deco will we use one striker and two AM, Kaka and Deco with seedorf,Pirlo and Rino behind as protection?

Originally Posted by Maltese Charlie

As a gift, if you like, we can exchange Ba with Buffon + 10 millions.
Don't take to long to decide, as this generous offer is only valid till midnight.

Lets make it Ba+Grimi+Kalac+2 million and you have a deal !

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Some other news :

1. Swap Solari-Cassano may happen between Inter and Real (Marca)
Why would Inter need another attacker ?

duhhh, since when does Inter need a good reason to add another player to the collection

2. Zlat this is for you : Martin Petrov signed for Manchester City
He's been my favorite since the time i watched him live in Sofia and then in Skopje.... why do my favorite players never finish in Juve ?

rest assured, Tony, Petrov was never a player for a team like Milan, Juve etc ... he had the talent and the skill, probably, but not the character to make it into such teams. Man City is just the team he would be comfortable with - a midtable one

3. Rothen renewed his contract with PSG
Another favorite of mine. I was seeing him as Nedved's successor, but he got lost in France after the marvelous season with Monaco

I liked the player a lot but he made the unbelieveble mistake to tranfer to a struggling PSG side from a CL-final-playing Monaco team and all that at a tme when he was one of the hottest new faces on the european market
but I believe that things happen for a reason and everyone gets what he's worth in the end, so ...

As for Deco, I can't say I am fond of him as a character but as a player I can't deny his worth and importance to this Barca side ... something that Rijkaard is obviously not valuing much and is ready to possibly destabilize the team by playing the 4 superstars together or letting Deco go and replace him with a useless beanbag like Lampard - how I would love to see Rijkaard's face when he realizes that Lamps is all about shooting, shooting, and shooting from long range and his play making "skills" are limited to getting the ball to his teammates only for them to pass it back so that he can ... shoot from 35 meters out

Still, 25 mil for a 30 yo, player who his club sees as "surplus" are way too much and I wouldn't use Rui's transfer as a reference given that that one took place in a time when the transfer market was going crazy and money was the only way to convince the other team (La Viola) to sell ... here, in Deco's case, the player is more or less openly free to go, so that brings his price down a lot.

Also, if Milan are unwilling to break the bank for a 31 yo Sheva with all his ties to Milan and SIlvio, I don't see them doing it for a 30 yo Deco who might fit in Milan and Italy but might also fail to do so ... and that's the same player, who Barca bought as a 26 yo, fresh CL-winner for 20 mil. when he was the most wanted player in Europe ... now, he is a 30 yo player, who has left his best behind and is surplus to requirements, and I don't see how his price could be more than say 12-15 mil tops.

And I think Milan see in Deco a player who can take Pirlo's role and Seedorf's and kaka's role when needed - kind of what Rui Costa was after Kaka's arrival although he would be played more often, of course. All in all, I doubt Milan sees in a 30 yo Deco a player around whom they can or should build the team's future (which would have been the case with Ribery), so paying an amount as large as 25 mil for Deco is out of the question, IMO.

Furthermore, they don't have much advantage when it comes to taxes, as Italy's and England's tax rate is virtually the same.

Hasan im not sure if even this is true now. Im trying to find the article now but i read last week a break down of Cristiano Ronaldo's wages and how a loophole in British law on earnings abroad means he actually pays the basic rate of 10% tax instead of 40%

the gist of it was that pay is broken down into 3 areas, the first of which (domestic games) is fully taxed but he is only paid a nominal fee, the 2nd and 3rd areas cover games played abroad which as he is a foreign national are somehow exempt. The bulk of his wages are paid into these areas.

Ronaldo was used as an example but it was apparently common practise for all foreign players in England.

We could get Roque Santa Cruz on the cheap, I think. Bayern want to offload him. He was voted 'sexiest man of 2006 world cup'! Definitely a possibility to replace Maldini?!
Robben would be a good addition for me, I've always thought that a winger would do well for us. He is questionable character, but having the dutch connection might help settle him. Then, we wouldn't have to watch Janku blazing down the left side and booting his crosses into the nets by the curva. And, I think Gila could really do well with some consistent service from the outside. But in reality, Robben is not going to come to Milan.
Where did anyone see that Drenthe went? Nothing on the Feyenoord website.
Someone mentioned Diego awhile back, I always have liked him and he showed alot of character by becoming what he is at Bremen-aka, the Kaka' of Bremen. But maybe I don't see him fitting in, and he'd certainly not relish the chance to ride pine behind Kaka'.
If Deco were cheaper, I'd say go for it. Then I can make my "Art Deco" jokes to my wife all Sunday and Wednesday. He seems to fill that deeper role well, if Kaka is playing as a forward it could be something like this:
Ronaldo-----Kaka'
Robben-----Deco-----Pirlo-----Gattusso
whoever else....
Dida

Milan have missed the boat this summer, but oh well. Ribery looked absolutely blinding in the games for the ligapokal already-his goal was tits and he was all over the midfield.
Does anyone know if they'll televise the tournament from Moscow?

Originally Posted by Stezagud

Hasan im not sure if even this is true now. Im trying to find the article now but i read last week a break down of Cristiano Ronaldo's wages and how a loophole in British law on earnings abroad means he actually pays the basic rate of 10% tax instead of 40%

the gist of it was that pay is broken down into 3 areas, the first of which (domestic games) is fully taxed but he is only paid a nominal fee, the 2nd and 3rd areas cover games played abroad which as he is a foreign national are somehow exempt. The bulk of his wages are paid into these areas.

Ronaldo was used as an example but it was apparently common practise for all foreign players in England.

Hmm...not according to uefa.com, bbc, soccernet, and the guardian. Could be but I seriously doubt it, as English managers have also moaned about this in the past.

But who knows...

Losing a player like Ribery was a mistake. I am not talking about these 2 Liga Pokal matches. He was really brilliant on these matches but we shouldn't judge him on 180 minutes only. But the great season in Marselle prior the world cup, the starting place in vice-champion squad and great matches at the WC plus another great season in Marselle was enough to conclude that the 24 years old is an amazing player with great talent and future who is needed in every team in the world.

Carlo Ancelotti liked Ribery, he phone called him and asked him to join Milan. I really can't imagine why did Berlu interfere and vetoed the transfer ? According to Ribery , Berlu's veto was because Milan didn't need a midfielder but they needed a forward.....then why did Milan go after Tiago ?

Now you can forget about him. Just like buying from Milan (even more than in Milan) it's impossible to buy a player from Bayern unless they don't need him. Bayern never sells the star players !

Tony, trust me I wasn't creaming over Ribery just from his Pokey matches...he had the chance to go large after the WC and didn't, stayed with Marseille. I think that shows a major amount of good character. We'll see him again, prolly in the 1/8 finals of CL in 2 years time, when we knock them out again!

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Losing a player like Ribery was a mistake. I am not talking about these 2 Liga Pokal matches. He was really brilliant on these matches but we shouldn't judge him on 180 minutes only. But the great season in Marselle prior the world cup, the starting place in vice-champion squad and great matches at the WC plus another great season in Marselle was enough to conclude that the 24 years old is an amazing player with great talent and future who is needed in every team in the world.

Carlo Ancelotti liked Ribery, he phone called him and asked him to join Milan. I really can't imagine why did Berlu interfere and vetoed the transfer ? According to Ribery , Berlu's veto was because Milan didn't need a midfielder but they needed a forward.....then why did Milan go after Tiago ?

Now you can forget about him. Just like buying from Milan (even more than in Milan) it's impossible to buy a player from Bayern unless they don't need him. Bayern never sells the star players !

Tiago and Ribery are completely dif midfielders, Tony ... saying that if Milan doesn't go for one should mean not going for the other is like saying that if Milan doesn't need a Gattuso, then they shouldn't go for a Kaka.

I agree that Ribery was one of the best attacking mids out there although I do bleieve that 25 mil for him was a bit too much.
Still, I can't say that Milan missed on him simply because Milan, with kaka and Gourcuff already here, doesn't need a player like Ribery meaning Milan doesn't need an attacking mid as expensive, as high profile and as young as Ribery.

Ribery is the type of player Milan would have needed if they didn;t have Kaka as the Frenchman is a player who needs to be a starter in his team, he needs to be at the heart of the attack and if Milan switches back to playing with 2 tsrikers, which is obviously the case given out transfer targets, then one of Kaka and Ribery would have been surplus ... that would NOT have been the case if Milan's primary system was with two attacking mids like last year (Kaka and Seedorf) but last year was more of an exception, trying to fit the system to the players Carlo had available and wasn't an example of how Milan intends to play from now on.

So, all in all, Milan should be looking for an older player who wouldn't mind sitting on the bench now and then - like Deco/Rui/JP (Lyon)/Ze Roberto - but getting a 24 yo player who is brimming with energy and with his whole career before him, would have been a bit too much, not at 25 mil, not with a Gourcuff and a Kaka (only a year older than Ribery) already on the team.

Ribery was perfect for someone like Bayern - a team that was starting a new cycle and they needed a player like Ribery to build their midfield around him and basically make him the heart of their new team, not an occasional starter, which is what he would have been at Milan.

In Italy, a team I can say that missed on Ribery is namely Juve as they need someone to replace Nedved and Del Piero BIG TIME given their age, and the Frenchman would have been perfect for that ... a bit like a second coming of Zidane ... a much better alternative IMO than say van der Vaart, who Juve seem to be very keen on.

Originally Posted by Tony29.

Some other news :

1. Swap Solari-Cassano may happen between Inter and Real (Marca)
Why would Inter need another attacker ?

They want him so that we and fiorentina dont have him..