Won't lie, this transfer window has gone from meh, to ok, to quite good, to suddenly, in the last day, f*cking astonishing.

Ibra, Witsel and Romagnoli in and SES out, AND we get near 20M for him?!

Somebody pinch me.

X-O is right han. You're too quick with your thinking and judgment; you pave yourself a nice road with all the possible "obvious-es" and "logical-s" and then you stick to it like it's written in stone. But in fact, it's just educated guesses you're making and (very rational) assumptions (IMG:style_emoticons/default/cool.gif)

I'd choose Witsel's left small toe over Moutinho.

HEY! I resent this! It's supposed to be ME who knee-jerk reacts to things too quickly.

I will not stand for anyone p*ssing on my territory of resident forum emotional f*ckwit.

I think Ibrahimović is a wrong turn for us, just like keeping Mexes is.

I know you guys will object, partially because you're all hungry for some titles or at least a breath of freshness and partially because I'm obviously obsolete here, but really...

Sure, Ibra will bring in instant quality? But for how long? And what does he offer? I'd say it's one-dimensional football that never excelled any team, never managed to build a complete squad or become a fundament.

Ibra bring instant success in the league, which is what we need right now.

Actually, it's not an assumption, their owner has suffered a huge financial hit, that's why they were desperate to get the likes of Falcao off the books, why they were immediately open to selling a talent like Kondogbia or Abbandenour and they've also just sold another player to Atletico as well. SES is an easy solution as he doesn't demand a high wage, is a relatively well known name and 20m compares to what they're bringing infrom other transfer fees isn't much

And I completely disagree about Moutinho, he's better than Witsel and more ideal for the system we'll be playing

Let's not forget we have zero creative outkets in our midfield unless you want to count Montolivo


They'rw titally different types of players, and while both great, I firstly disagree with your assessment and secondly Moutonho is needed more for the system we'll be playing next season


well you do it with players, I apparently do it with Galliani, but I at least have over a decade of bad business to base my argument off of


Ibra is a springboard, for me anyone against his return is someone I simply cannot understand. I think this summer has been q great lesson for us as to how important european football is. Once we get back into the CL things will become easier for us. We'll have better revenues and players won't be hesitant to join like they are now.

Ibra ensures that we get there. The other players we signed and will sign will be more long term solutions, Ibra will be the one short term solution that ensure our long term is one of success. With just the otjer players there simply are no gaurantees for us. At best we're sure to get into a EL spot, with Ibra, we're instant contenders.

Hopefully by the times Ibra leaves we'll have continued to build on the work we did this summer and the transition is smooth

This makes it sound like SES to Monaco is a "done deal". If so, pity to see him go, but OTOH he has not done much for us last couple of years, and (most likely) he would just be warming the bench. Bottom line, we are better off getting 18-20M.

Agree on Ibra. Not a long term solution, but I think we can still get a few years out of him, and he could help "jump start" the team.

FWIW, it sounds like some players are attracted by Mancini. Personally, I am not impressed by him. IMHO, the scudetti he won at Inter were more the result of Calciopoli then his ability, and he has not done much since. In particular, I feel he had a great opportunity at City and squandered it. Also, he has not done much for Inter since he has returned. But, whatever ...

Well, when you put it that way..can't say I disagree. We have simply too many forwards, and he's been incredibly underwhelming for a while now.

Yeah, really it's mind boggling. He's a known coach, but actually has done very little to show for it.

Whether we actually rate Mancini or not (I think he's just decent), he's a fairly big name in football. He's won titles and cup competitions in 2 big leagues (no matter how they came about). And let's face it, he's simply a bigger draw than Mihajlovic, who imo was a mistake. You simply do not leave an ambitious project like the one we're undertaking in the hands of someone like Mihajlovic.

The only big coach we looked at was Carlo, once that door was closed for us we appointed the first available easy target out of Serie A.

And of course this matters to players. Kondogbia just made it very clear what swayed his decision. Mancini talked to him and convinced him about Inter, simple as that.

Anyway, this is crying over spilt milk, but the fact that we don't have CL football or a renowned coach who's not even a well-liked figure has/will hurt us when trying to convince players to join

No, it wasn't only Carlo whom we went after. There was Emery(who stated recently why he rejected Napoli/Milan), and we were linked with some others.

At least we don't have a total rookie for a coach this time. Mihajlovic is still far from being a mistake IMO. He's done well with what he's been given, now is the time to see if he can emulate his work for the big clubs. I understand that there might be some bitterness because we lost a player because of not having a big name coach, but I think that's NOT always the case. Most of the time if the money is there, it's ALMOST always a done deal.

Let's not forget Galliani is a big name in the football world too, and he has convinced several of our new players to join.

Emery might have been an option, we don't know, and we might have approached him but Carlo is the one we made the real effort for imo.

Then we looked waaay down the pecking order of coaches and took the easy option with Miha. A coach who's never really achieved anything aside from one decent season with Samp, he failed with Serbia and with Fiorentina.

Yes, the fact that we don't have an amateur coaching us is an improvement, but it's still not saying much is it?

Players usually first look at the money, then CL football, then the coach/staff they'll be working with in that order. I don't know if we really have the money, we certainly don't have CL football and Mihajlovic isn't really an appealing coach like say Carlo would have been, or even Mancini.