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Speaking of Leao, looks like Maldini met with Jorge Mendes. He has a couple of offers from England, namely Everton and Wolves. We value Leao at 25-30 million.

Here's to hoping.

We shouldn't low ball it. If English teams are in for him ask at least for 35m. I like Leao, and it will be sad to see him go, but he's never going to become what we need him to be imo.

Looks like we're going to be prioritising sales along with sorting out the current loan deals

@NicoSchira: Cagliari and Hellas Verona are interested in Mattia Caldara, while Andrea Conti is courted by Genoa. Udinese are monitoring Tommaso Pobega. Wolfsburg and Watford are in the race for Jens Petter Hauge.

Laxalt to Moscow pretty much official. We're actually getting money for him. 4m which is not bad considering we usually let players like him go for free

Conti is definitely out
Caldara I'd like to see us give him a chance, but if something decent comes in, he's gone
Same situation with Pobega. If a good offer comes, he's gone. Or I can see us using him in a deal. Especially if Udine are interested
It would be really sad to see Hauge go, but Pioli doesn't seem taken by him and since Brahim looks like he's staying, I can't see Hauge getting too many chances considering we're looking to buy another winger


As for the players we have on loan

Tomori is basically a done deal. 28m total
Tonali as well. We'll pay Brescia another 10m this summer and potential add-ons of 5m (really good work to reduce this to 25m total rather than the initially agreed 35m)
Brahim seems like we're close to agreeing a deal with Real. Another year loan with an option for 20m being mentioned.
It also seems like we're trying to do something similar with Dalot

Can't see anyone spending 35M for Leao. Personally speaking I'd be extremely happy with 25M.

Thing is, if we let go both Leao and Hauge we're left with only Rebic on the left.

It is still too early to say who is coming and who is leaving.

What is a certain so far, Tomari and Tonali are affirmed.

The pandemic has put pressure on all clubs, so I'm not expecting big money transfers this summer. That said, think Milan have some names in mind and will do their utmost to secure them.

What this team needs the most is some experience.

Looks like the Tonali deal might fail. Maldini had an agreement with Brescia for 15M but Elliott do not want to spend more than 10M. It is being reported by Mediaset and other outlets.

I am so disappointed with our signing campaign thus far. Not so much about the fact we have not signed anyone but rather the attitude we keep displaying. Acting like a bunch of cheapskates even for 5M. It reminds me of the last Berlusconi years?

You think clubs/managements act that way voluntarily? Berlusconi splashed money all around us when he was able to. In the last years he just run out of it. It seems to me that Milan is in a similar position. This is why a hedge fond isn't a ideal owner. I think our owners are taking COVID-19 and everything around that into considerations and want to play it financially and economically safe first. Maybe they're even willing to risk the sporting results here.

Look at what happened at Inter.

With Donna gone for 0 cash, Hakan on his way out for free as well, with Ibra maybe not returning, I must say I don't see us doing well.

Aston Villa signed a midfielder for more than 30m. EPL clubs have money. So if anyone from that league comes for any of our players we should always start high because in most likelihoods they'll be willing to pay

Unfortunately we do not have money to splash around right now.

I'm personally not worried about Tonali. We'll get it done

I'm more worried about having anything to spend for that RW and getting someone else to cover Kessie. The AFCON is going to absolutely cripple us in January if we don't find someone good

Unlike popular belief, we are in a very stable financial situation. First and foremost, we have only 104M of outstanding debt. For reference, Inter have 630M, Juventus 458M and Roma 552M. We have no problems of liquidity whatsoever and an ownership that can freely pump in capital. Since Elliott's takeover, they have injected 650M in capital. We've also reduced the wage bill considerably.

Our main issues derive from revenues, especially commercial and sponsorships. That's where management has failed thus far, but the frequent change in ownership over the last 5 years clearly has not paved an easy path for a clear plan.

Given our minimal debt, the fact that FFP for the time being has been suspended and its future implications remain uncertain, I see no reason why we should continue acting as if we have a knife by our throats when it comes to spending. Especially since we hit a milestones after the Champions League qualification, and this is the precise moment for investing and strengthening our roster. Otherwise we run the risk of not making top 4 next season again.

And since you mention Inter, let me just say that what happened to them is completely unrelated. Inter were very unlucky. Since Suning's takeover, thanks to an excellent business plan, they managed to increase commercial revenues from a mere 39M in 2015 to 145M in 2019 (source). Overall revenues in 2019 were 417M against Milan's 228M.

Why did I say unlucky? Because partly due to Covid, but especially due to the restrictions that the Chinese government imposed on foreign investments last year, Inter suddenly found themselves unable to sustain their business model. Now, I don't know all the details, but just look how commercial revenues decreased from the 145M in 2019 I mentioned earlier to 82M in 2020 (source). Net losses went from 48M in 2019 to more than double in 2020, at 102M. Add to that the accumulated debt most of which, if I'm not mistaken, was inherited since the Moratti and Tohir years, and you've got severe clash flow problems, and the need to cash-in as quickly as possible from the sale of 1-2 top players.

This post has been edited by X-Offender: Jun 15 2021, 10:55 PM

I think the goal is to remove the majority of those losses though

I don't think we're going to see any splashing of the cash. Certainly not this summer. We're most likely going to improve the squad enough to ensure we stay in the top 4, but nothing highly ambitious

Until we have a few CL seasons under our belts it's still going to be lean times at Milan

I'm personally not worried. Because I never really had any dream of making big transfers, certainly not this summer. Paolo has pulled off transfers like Theo and Bennacer out of nowhere, and that's where the focus will remain for now. Unfortunately that is all we can look forward to at this current time


Anyway, De Paul to Athletico done for 35m

Define big spending. In this day and age, 35M is not big spending. It's a relatively fair price for a very good player. But we can't even afford, or rather, are unwilling to splash any decent amount of money for key areas that need urgent spending. Hence why we were so easily beaten by Atletico who, after their first 20M offer was rejected, simply met Udinese's demands and closed the deal.

Now, I know the summer transfer campaign has only started, but the overall feeling is not good. I'm very worried, because we're getting weaker and no way we're going to make top 4 again with this squad. That is absolute.

Yes, agreed. I'm also very worried. We're not going the direction to ensure CL football for a few seasons but the opposite direction. Napoli just got stronger with a clever and able coach. Juventus should also be back on track and the way I see it, Lazio and Roma will also be stronger. Inter (because of obvious reasons) and Milan are the only two clubs that are looking to be weaker come next season.

Oh and by the way - are we all on board for signing Tonali? Would it be the end of the world if the deal does not go through? Just asking...

That wouldn't be very smart, simply because with CL and the African Cup in January, we need to have 4 quality mids in the center. And we all know how much a good mid costs these days.

At least with Tonali (who is still very young and a future investment) we'd only have to look for one more. Moreover, we've already paid "half" his value, so letting him go would be a loss if anything.

Let's not forget that his loan spell ends in two weeks, meaning if we don't finalise things by then, then he becomes a full Brescia player again.

What truly pisses me off is that we had a contract with Brescia last year: 10M loan + 25M redemption (including bonuses). They lowered their demands last week for the redemption part to 15M, yet now we're acting like little bitches and want 10M. If I was Cellino I'd tell us to f*ck off.

I keep hearing that we want to save as much money as possible, that even 1 little million can make a difference. Are we that desperate???

We've made an official offer for Amine Adli: 5M. Toulouse want 7. There's a good chance the deal will be finalised soon.

Saw a few bits of this guy on YT. Honestly he looks like one of those players that will be eaten alive by Italian defenders.

Italy are excellent this year.