[Zed.D]

Berlusconi Rejected Chance To Sign Buffon

Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon had a pre-contract deal to sign for Milan this summer but Rossoneri President Silvio Berlusconi pulled the plug on the deal.

According to the Gazzetta dello Sport, Buffon had agreed a four-year contract, worth €6m a season, but Berlusconi stopped the transfer from going through because it would have cost him €25m.

Instead the former Prime Minister of Italy wanted to spend this money on renewing the contract of Brazilian keeper Dida, and bringing in youngster Alexandre Pato and midfielder Emerson.

Milan fans will surely be dismayed by the news that Buffon could have signed for the club. So far this season Dida has made a number of high-profile mistakes, particularly during the week three draw against Siena, while 31-year-old Emerson looks a shadow of the once great player he was.

The Milan hierarchy have been criticised enormously for their transfer policy over the summer, with the failure to bring in a top-class striker and a decent back-up goalkeeper the main points of condemnation.

These latest reports that Berlusconi turned down the chance to sign the undisputed number-one goalkeeper in the world, will certainly not go down well with the supporters.

goal.com

[Jack Sparrow]

Look over here, at this point in time, we can all speak with the benefit of hindsight.

But if Buffon was skipped, because we could buy Emerson AND Pato. I can't fault it too much. In that case, nobody should complain about getting R10 for a zillion dollars since we can get someone else with that money.

And honestly Dida ended last season pretty well. In fact since winter, he was pretty solid. I even remember the forum moaning about Kalac, wishing we had Nelson back. We'd put it down to poor form.

We've got trouble scoring, we've got no depth in mid-field and we've got a declining GK. Berlusconi had to choose between plugging two of the three holes or plugging one. And no he had no way of knowing that Dida would have this horrible patch this season OR that Ronaldo would be injured this long. You wanna talk of injure prone, there was a certain Pippo Inzaghi who'd had worse injuries than Ronnie, and now plays like he's Gila's age(ahhh Gila...(IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) ).

I'll tell you what he did know though, that Milan with all their great run last season, and winning the CL et al and finishing 4th in Serie A, made a profit of 1 mill Euro. (Inter were at -120). While Porty's favourite English club l'Arsenal just published profits of 51 mill. And don't even compare our two seasons 2006-07.

Look he made an economic decision, if last year in the summer transfer window (80% of this forum was going duck-hunting I remember!), you'd been told Buffon or Emerson+Pato, I know what the forum would have said. Option B, we can always buy <insert hot new talent here> later; Dida can still cut it for now.

The only criticism that you could pull, is to say he shoulda done an Abramovich and splashed a lot of money left and right. But isn't that one reason why a lot of us had a hidden smirk when Chelsea(chelski) got kicked out , since WE didn't need money to win gold, while Chelski could spend like hell and get f@ck-all.

Look, I'm not saying we are not in a mess right now. I'm not saying it was unavoidable either. But to put yourself in the board's shoes and claim every single move they made had no basis in reason is pushing it slightly(only slightly).

[bigmacmtl]

And honestly Dida ended last season pretty well. In fact since winter, he was pretty solid. I even remember the forum moaning about Kalac, wishing we had Nelson back. We'd put it down to poor form.

of course we want dida over kalac because he is worse. of course dida had some good form last season, who doesnt??!?! the point is he's bad form heavily outweighs his good and the only reason dida had a chance to have some good games was because the players in front of him, we almost wonnothing because of his blunders in the CL. he put our whole season in jeopardy on numerous occasions.

We've got trouble scoring, we've got no depth in mid-field and we've got a declining GK. Berlusconi had to choose between plugging two of the three holes or plugging one. And no he had no way of knowing that Dida would have this horrible patch this season OR that Ronaldo would be injured this long. You wanna talk of injure prone, there was a certain Pippo Inzaghi who'd had worse injuries than Ronnie, and now plays like he's Gila's age(ahhh Gila...(IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/cry.gif) ).

No one gave berlusconi an ultimatum, buffon or emerson and pato. he decided that he wanted to neglected several problems.

I'll tell you what he did know though, that Milan with all their great run last season, and winning the CL et al and finishing 4th in Serie A, made a profit of 1 mill Euro. (Inter were at -120). While Porty's favourite English club l'Arsenal just published profits of 51 mill. And don't even compare our two seasons 2006-07.

if had the choice between a boring team that isnt winning but in good economic shape (+1m) or a more exciting team that with several of our problems solved but with a defecit or 19-24m i would pick option B every single time because in the long run it's better for everyone. You gotta spend some to make some, dont think that spending an extra 25 m on a couple of good players like toni ( 9 m) + sumone else would hurt us that much. of course that gonna add more excitement which in turn brings in more money from the fans.

The only criticism that you could pull, is to say he shoulda done an Abramovich and splashed a lot of money left and right. But isn't that one reason why a lot of us had a hidden smirk when Chelsea(chelski) got kicked out , since WE didn't need money to win gold, while Chelski could spend like hell and get f@ck-all.

we spent what 26m during the summer.. theres around 10 teams in the prem that spent more money than us... (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif) ... so if we spent an extra 25 which would have appeased the fans. ur saying that spending 50m in one transfer market (which is 40% of what real and barca spent) is abromovich type spending!?!?! plz 50m is below average for any big club in europe nowadays.

This post has been edited by bigmacmtl: Oct 4 2007, 06:54 PM