[Danny]

Never quite sure where to start a thread so 'other' always seems best.

Just wanted to get general opinion from the board as to your feelings on our summer recruits so far - do you guys think we're in the right direction?

Personally I know little of Musacchio, but as Han says, a vital cog in Spain's second best defence last season has to be a decent recruit.

Kessie seems like the powerful box to box dynamic midfielder we've lacked in a long time - while Jack sort of fills that role, he's much more of an attacking midfielder really, so Kessie is a great piece of business.

Rodriguez is a great signing - comes from a great stable, a good age, and a massive upgrade over the garbage of De Sciglio.

Then there's Silva. Meh, I'm not blown away by his record, or his attitude. He's only young, true, but we've spent a lot of money on a player who appears combustible and who doesn't have a good scoring record in a weaker league than Serie A. I defer judgement on this one but it's not a signing I'm enthralled by.

Last but not least Borini. A sh*t signing, plain and simple. Not even good enough to be a squad player, I have no idea what he's doing here.

But I can pick it up with Calhanoglu - we appear close to this one, and from what I know of him, which is not a lot in truth, he's a top class attacking midfielder who would be such an upgrade to what we have.

Overall? I'm cautiously pleased. We've signed a lot of very good players and one or two I'm a little wary of. I wanted this done in 2011, but it's better late than never. Unfortunately rather than, as it would have been in 2011, adding fine players to a world class squad, we're rebuilding really from scratch.

But for me, it appears to be closer to going to Milan as we should be rather than in a poor direction.

7/10.

13/7/17 update:

We've now got Conti, Biglia and Bonucci. A RB, a CM, and a world class CB.

Suddenly we have a top four team. We now have a top four team. Yes. I am not going to declare a Scudetto challenge but we're much closer to one than we were a few days ago. This is now looking like a Milan level team.

This post has been edited by Danny: Jul 13 2017, 10:37 PM

[Danny]

So....

--------------Donnarumma

Conti, Romagnoli, Bonucci, Rodriguez

----------------Biglia,

--------Jack, Kessie Calhanoglu

-------------Silva---Bacca

At the minute that's our strongest team. I can't think of anyone to pair Biglia with. Unless Musacchio is capable in DM. So otherwise it's a 4-1-3-2 right now.

[X-Offender]

So....

--------------Donnarumma

Conti, Romagnoli, Bonucci, Rodriguez

----------------Biglia,

--------Jack, Kessie Calhanoglu

-------------Silva---Bacca

At the minute that's our strongest team. I can't think of anyone to pair Biglia with. Unless Musacchio is capable in DM. So otherwise it's a 4-1-3-2 right now.

Why did you put Kessie behind the strikers?

It'll definitely look like this:

Donnarumma
Conti - Bonucci - Romagnoli - Rodriguez
Kessie - Biglia
Suso - Calhaonglu - Bona
Silva

Suso will be a starter and Bacca will be sold.

[Danny]

Suso will be a starter

If he stays, and is, I sincerely hope he irons out the weaknesses in his game because in the right state of mind and on form he's epic, but for the majority of last season he wasn't. I don't want selfish ineffective Suso, one footed easily marked out Suso, sh*t corner-taking Suso.

I want the one who could beat men, the one who can assist, the one who can score. And he needs to mature because following this summer's business, he is no longer the main man - and from what I saw last season being the main man is what he wants.

[han2503]

If he stays, and is, I sincerely hope he irons out the weaknesses in his game because in the right state of mind and on form he's epic, but for the majority of last season he wasn't. I don't want selfish ineffective Suso, one footed easily marked out Suso, sh*t corner-taking Suso.

I want the one who could beat men, the one who can assist, the one who can score. And he needs to mature because following this summer's business, he is no longer the main man - and from what I saw last season being the main man is what he wants.

I don't understand your harsh assessment of Suso. Yes he dropped off mid to late last season, but what do you expect really? He played in practically each game, add to that once Bona was injured he was the only focal point of the team so all teams had to do to stop us is to mark him out.

Suso is a very good player and has a lot of potential. With good players around him he will excel.

Also, I agree with d'Arc, last time out I was totally in disagreement with him that we would be playing a 3-man backline, but with Bonucci added to the mix you simply have to go there imo

[Danny]

I don't understand your harsh assessment of Suso. Yes he dropped off mid to late last season, but what do you expect really? He played in practically each game, add to that once Bona was injured he was the only focal point of the team so all teams had to do to stop us is to mark him out.

Suso is a very good player and has a lot of potential. With good players around him he will excel.

You better be right!

Also, I agree with d'Arc, last time out I was totally in disagreement with him that we would be playing a 3-man backline, but with Bonucci added to the mix you simply have to go there imo

Yeah, I have to agree too. On reflection, we didn't sign Musacchio to bench him. All three will start and we'll go 3. Which means Conte RWB and Rodriguez LWB therefore Jack, Kessie and Biglia central, Silva front and Belotti up top.

[Jack Sparrow]

Yeah, I have to agree too. On reflection, we didn't sign Musacchio to bench him. All three will start and we'll go 3. Which means Conte RWB and Rodriguez LWB therefore Jack, Kessie and Biglia central, Silva front and Belotti up top.

I think what we might see is one of Suso or Jack being SS, with Silva as playmaking CF. I have to admit I'm a bit worried about this enormous financial gamble that has been taken, with no CL in sight and the pressure it brings. Just think of Inter and the spent they did a year or two ago. We've spent more.


In fact with Bonucci's purchase I think we smash the all-time Serie A transfer spend record set by Juventus for a single season.

So at this moment in time, I can't say I'm all-on on spending another 60-70MM for a forward. Let's just sort of lay off the gas right? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

[Danny]

I think what we might see is one of Suso or Jack being SS, with Silva as playmaking CF. I have to admit I'm a bit worried about this enormous financial gamble that has been taken, with no CL in sight and the pressure it brings. Just think of Inter and the spent they did a year or two ago. We've spent more.


In fact with Bonucci's purchase I think we smash the all-time Serie A transfer spend record set by Juventus for a single season.

So at this moment in time, I can't say I'm all-on on spending another 60-70MM for a forward. Let's just sort of lay off the gas right? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/unsure.gif)

This had to happen. If we want a Milan to be proud of, we had to spend big. Very big.