[Portman]

(IMG:http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_l5sLeFIDrU0/SWhuHEp_IfI/AAAAAAAAB18/MYdQen2sqgM/s200/cissokho.jpg)

It's official. We just got another joke of player.

He's LB and plays for FC Porto. They bought him for 400.000 euros in December. Now we throw away 15.000.00 euros just for fun...

Everybody in Portugal is laughing at this transfer. Grimi v2.0.

Can't we just buy FOOTBALL PLAYERS?

[nuh]

Calcio Debate: Aly Cissokho - The Perfect Signing To Start AC Milan's Life After Kaka
Milan couldn't have asked for a better left-back to go about rebuilding their squad, writes Goal.com's Sulmaan Ahmad...


Yesterday morning, I got a call from none other than Carlo Garganese. He tells me, "Milan have signed Cissokho," and I respond with a kind of bewilderment that most Milan fans have been experiencing over the past few weeks.

Losing Ancelotti, though probably for the best and encouraged by a sizeable contingent of Rossoneri fans, still felt like being jilted, with the club having gone out of their way to stand by the coach as he sunk into insignificance, only for him to jump on the first train out of town.

Or maybe that was planned. Maybe the season-long vote of confidence from vice-president Adriano Galliani was a smokescreen while the directors readied a revolution behind the scenes. What can't have been put down to pre-planning, you'd hope, was the sale of Kaka to Real Madrid.

It wasn't enough to see the bench growing mould at San Siro, to see Giuseppe Favalli move so slowly that cobwebs started forming between his one leg and the other and to see Milan fail to perform with any kind of conviction on a consistent basis. Now, they were selling their best player, one of only two in the entire squad who can still manage a sprint without keeling over and coughing up semi-digested food last seen in 1974 afterwards, and one who had designs on seeing out his whole career with the club.

With Calcio on a continuing slide of financial deterioration, it was as though Milan had no choice. All the fans could hope for was that, like when Juventus sold Zidane to Madrid in 2001 for a world record €73m, the money was spent on the best players money could buy to restrengthen all over. The fans, having long lost faith in the higher-ups at Via Turati, were not optimistic.

It is as fitting an evaluation as you could get of the manner in which Milan have been run in the past few years, then, that when I got the call from Carlo, I heard not Cissokho, but Sissoko.

To me, this seemed much more Milan. A middle-of-the-road signing in a position they already have stocked and over-stocked that would solve about as many problems for them as a new suit would for Raymond Domenech. Being a scruff is the least of his problems.

Imagine my horror and stunned surprise, then, when I came to realise the signing was not Mohammed Sissoko from Juventus, but Aly Cissokho, from Porto. Make no mistake about it, unknown though he may be, this move will prove ingenious.

I would be loathe to credit Adriano Galliani with this signing - it's so far from his usual mark that it would honestly have been less surprising to see Roberto Carlos, at 36, donning the Rossoneri jersey next season - Cissokho, surely, was a signing inspired by Leonardo.

Whoever it was, Milan need to keep going back to them for advice for the remainder of the summer. Cissokho, still only 21, made something of a name for himself against Manchester United in the Champions League quarter-final, completely dominating the left-flank in both a defensive and offensive capacity, but he's a lot more than a one-tie wonder.

He is another in a long line of golden French-African talent, of Malian descent, and he has risen through the ranks at such speed that he provides living proof that talent - real talent - stands out at any level, in any league, in any country.

Having started his career with Guegnon, in France, he was in a side that, believe it or not, faced relegation to the third tier of French football in 2007-08 - right about the time Milan were failing to get into the Champions League. He was snapped up by Vitoria Setubal immediately after and adapted seamlessly, setting alight the Portuguese Liga in just half a season.

Porto swooped in January, and the story was set to repeat itself. His star performances attracted the attention of a handful of clubs in Europe, with Tottenham thought to have been closest to signing him before, out of nowhere, he found himself at San Siro to the tune of €15m, with Porto having only paid €300,000 six months previously. His rise has been so meteoric that you're almost expecting him to sign for Real Madrid in a €30m deal in January.

This is not a No. 9 or No. 10; Cissokho plays in a position that, in most orthodox formations, is about the least significant position there is on a pitch. From full-back, he has been able to make such a compelling case for his own brilliance in such a short space of time and command a fee as high as €15m with very little top level experience - it is testament to pure athleticism, work rate and natural ability, as well as Porto's incredible scouting network and outstanding ability to get sky-high profits on their every sale.

A player like Cissokho is a real bonus in the Italian game, where wingers are scarcely utilised and there is so much more potential for full-backs to impose themselves on games. Cissokho's ability to single-handedly dominate his flank with powerful defending and roving attacks, topped with a tremendous and underrated cross, could soon put him in the same bracket as Maicon at Inter - he has far more many years ahead of him. An ordinary and reliable full-back will usually suffice, but an explosive one can win matches.

With Thiago Silva and Cissokho in the bag, with maybe Edin Dzeko to come - certainly, Milan look like they've finally got the action to back up all that talk, and not a day too soon. The names might not be as big as Vidic, Lahm and Benzema, but we could talk about unavailable, overrated and overpriced options all day, Milan are so far making the best moves they can, and no fan could ask for any more than that.

We have to hold up our hands in recognition now and acknowledge Milan are finally getting it right. They may not quite be Pirlos, Rui Costas, Seedorfs and Shevchenkos - certainly not yet - but Leonardo might just have some of his own legends in the making, and won't they just be ready to prove it when they're inevitably drawn against Real Madrid in the Champions League next season.