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Toni: I signed for Milan
Friday 4 January, 2008

Azzurri striking star Luca Toni has revealed that he put pen to paper with Milan last summer before joining Bayern Munich.

The towering 31-year-old left Fiorentina for the Bundesliga for around £7m, but he had been contacted by a number of Serie A clubs during his time in Tuscany.

While interest from Inter and Juventus never developed into concrete offers, it now seems that Toni had practically signed for the world champions.

“Everyone knows that I nearly joined Inter two years ago and that Juventus were interested in signing me,” the ex-Brescia man told Il Giornale.

“However, with Milan it went a lot further – I had already signed a contract. I could also have been a Roma player as they nearly signed me when I was playing for Cisco Roma.”

Toni has impressed in the Bundesliga, despite Bayern’s recent woes, but he is still following Serie A with interest.

“Inter are the strongest side and they have a bit more than Roma and Milan,” he stated.

“The Nerazzurri are certainly a better side than the Rossoneri and it isn’t just the derby that shows us that.”

The Modena native’s thoughts then turned to Euro 2008 and Italy’s Group of death with France, Holland and Romania.

“I’m raring to go, but we can feel the responsibility on our shoulders,” he explained.

“It’s not a Group of iron as much as a Group of steel and we can get through. The important thing is to get to the game against France with qualification already assured.”

Toni concluded by giving the peninsula’s giants his tip for the winter transfer window.

“Sign Diego from Werder Bremen,” he commanded. “He is a very, very good player and one of the few fantasistas still around who can decide a game.”


::channel4::

Why not Silvio?? (IMG:http://cyrus.medialayer.net/~m1ke/milanfan.com/forums/style_emoticons/default/sleep.gif)

[han2503]

I've been trying to stay out of discussion as long as possible but,...

Pippo and Gila should not be compared. Those are two characters, two different type of players.

(IMG:http://barnux.files.wordpress.com/2007/02/gilardino.jpg) (IMG:http://www.sergiodellatti.it/images/01inzaghi.jpg)

Pippo shouldn't be criticized at all IMO. He's a 35 year old striker who did everything right in his career. He's Italy's top scorer in European competitions (CL) and he's nothing to proof. IMO we should be happy that he plays with us.

The fact that he didn't score against Lecce, Messina, or whatever team in the Serie A is not his problem and it isn't up to him. After his big injury we all considered him gone, but he came back and scored 2 in Athens. That's what matters. To score against Messina, sure, why not,..but it should not be up to him. All the pressure should be set on a new striker, someone who can handle that pressure. That means not Pato, and obviously not Gilardino.

I treat both Ronaldo and Pippo as bonus players. We cannot expect from them to be our leading attackers, they should represent that X-factor.
As for Gilardino. On one side we have the obvious stats, that tell us he's our best striker for the last 2 years (without Andrej). On the other side, Pippo can play 5 matches without scoring in a row, but steps out in Athens and makes the 2 crucial goals and a day to remember. Which Gila day can we remember? Which match? For me,..there is a blank field. Another problem is that Gila does not show any improvement, or any particular situation which he can handle. As a sub he's pretty useless, except when we allready have the lead and only make a refreshemnt-sub (ManUtd. game). If he plays deeper in our field he's to far away to score and surrounded by defenders, if he play up front he's stuck and stays frozen. If he get's a chance, the odd's are in favour that he'll miss.

But, the thing is Gilardino has only 26 years. So, there is still time for him to shine. If he can accept his position on the bench, that's great. I presonally have faith in him, still. I saw him play for Parma more then once and I know that he can do it. I'd suggest that we bring up a new striker who could suit to Gila's characteristic's. Or we loan him out for one season and see if he can do it still, under different circumstances.

Yes and I agree with all of that. But why does a striker that isn't even half what he used to be stay on and play when he's not being of use to the club in a certain competition.

Now lets leave Gila out of this. If Pippo doesn't retire by the end of this season he will most likely be out for the rest of next season through injury or won't live up to his standards because by then he would be 36 and not as half as effective as we all know him to be.

Imo a great player should retire at his heights and Pippo is well past that. He should bow down gracefully.

And plaese don't get Gila involved, even though I do defend him at times when he plays badly I criticise him. It's not rose tinted glasses I'm just saying give the guy a chance because he's shown us glimpses and if he could ever return to his own then he would be great for us.

If the club affords to keep players like Pippo and Ronaldo who will most likely be out for 3/4 of the season then there is no reason for us to complain about giving Gila chances.

Or even worse, stay behind Dida who's mistakes cost us match after match and not support Gila

[Fillipo Simone]

Yes and I agree with all of that. But why does a striker that isn't even half what he used to be stay on and play when he's not being of use to the club in a certain competition.

Now lets leave Gila out of this. If Pippo doesn't retire by the end of this season he will most likely be out for the rest of next season through injury or won't live up to his standards because by then he would be 36 and not as half as effective as we all know him to be.

Imo a great player should retire at his heights and Pippo is well past that. He should bow down gracefully.

And plaese don't get Gila involved, even though I do defend him at times when he plays badly I criticise him. It's not rose tinted glasses I'm just saying give the guy a chance because he's shown us glimpses and if he could ever return to his own then he would be great for us.

If the club affords to keep players like Pippo and Ronaldo who will most likely be out for 3/4 of the season then there is no reason for us to complain about giving Gila chances.

Or even worse, stay behind Dida who's mistakes cost us match after match and not support Gila

I agree with you, mostly.

I'm a Gila defender and I respect him, and I also, just like you, criticise him.

But to compare Pippo and Ronaldo is also wrong. Pippo is fit and Ronaldo has a recurring problem that makes him out for months.

Milan, as it seems has a policy that is different to the Juve policy. We keep our players even after they are past or behind their best cause we have a unique team and cohesion. Everything you said about Pippo could also go on Maldini, or Cafu, or,...they all could have retired on star highs. But, if Pippo says I'll stay for one more, I won't be against it. I'll respect his decision, cause for all that he has done for us in the past, he deserved that respect and such a solution.

It's simple:

1) I don't wan't certain players to retire, I just want new players join (as soon as possible)
2) I stay behind every Milan player from the starting 11, even behind Dida cause I respect them all. But that does not mean that I'm not critical when needed