[milanbuf88]

I'm not sure about Jackson, like I said, last I read he was making it difficult for Porto because Atletico's offer was lower than ours. Not going to contradict you on this as I didn't continue to follow the story once it was clear he was going there.

He's still not worth that imo, especially for a player who has never played in a top league, at least Bacca was producing in Spain, which makes the money we paid look better spent.

And I disagree about who we needed most being a striker. A striker like Bacca or Jackson especially who both rely on service. If we can't get a proper team behind Bacca he'll fail, just like all the strikers who've played for us since Ibra. Making the signing entirely useless

With Pazzini out of contract and Destro returning to Roma we would have been left with Menez, El Shaarawy, Matri, and Niang. Would you really have gone into the season with that strike force? If not, who would you have gotten at better value than we got for Bacca?

[han2503]

With Pazzini out of contract and Destro returning to Roma we would have been left with Menez, El Shaarawy, Matri, and Niang. Would you really have gone into the season with that strike force? If not, who would you have gotten at better value than we got for Bacca?

I personally would have rather gone into the season with that strike force but with a top notch midfield behind them and a good CB added to the defence

Also, strikers like Dzeko and Mandzukic went for much less. So we could have still made a smart purchase in attack but held the big money for midfield and a CB.

I think that would have been the smarter thing to do

As for how I'd spend the 60m we spent on just strikers and Berto, I'd go, Witsel (30m), Moutinho (~24m according to reports) and still get Mauri for free.

And since you're making the striker issue a bigger one than it is imo, Mandzkuic went for 16m if I'm not mistaken so if you add all 3 up that's 70m and the quality in our midfield has already jumped about 10 notches from what it currently is while also having a deadly striker upfront for much cheaper. But the 2 mids would be first priority.

[Forza Milan!]

Like others, I am a bit concerned about how things have turned out so far in the transfer season, and I have serious questions about this Romagnoli dude (with what we are willing to pay for him, he better be the next Nesta!).

OTOH, it may just be possible that our recent embarrassments against Bayern and the Spurs have woken someone up, as a couple of articles seem to indicate that midfield has become our priority now (for example, this and this). Of course, some of the names we are being linked with worry me (KPB, really? Soriano? sounds like another Miha obsession), but others may hold promise (Maher and Biglia).

In other news, this makes it sound like we may have dodged a bullet with Kondogbia. Though, if correct, it makes me wonder how we pick players we go after.

Also, apparently Marotta believes Milan and Inter are going to be more serious challengers for Juve than Roma this year. Have to wonder what he is smoking ...

[han2503]

Sky and MilanNews both reporting that tomorrow is the day for Romagnoli, Galliani and Sabatini will meet in Forte dei Marmi to finalize the deal, they're also saying that we've already agreed terms with the player, so things could move really quick tomorrow should Galliani get the okay from Sabatini

[milanbuf88]

I personally would have rather gone into the season with that strike force but with a top notch midfield behind them and a good CB added to the defence

Also, strikers like Dzeko and Mandzukic went for much less. So we could have still made a smart purchase in attack but held the big money for midfield and a CB.

I think that would have been the smarter thing to do

As for how I'd spend the 60m we spent on just strikers and Berto, I'd go, Witsel (30m), Moutinho (~24m according to reports) and still get Mauri for free.

And since you're making the striker issue a bigger one than it is imo, Mandzkuic went for 16m if I'm not mistaken so if you add all 3 up that's 70m and the quality in our midfield has already jumped about 10 notches from what it currently is while also having a deadly striker upfront for much cheaper. But the 2 mids would be first priority.

I don't think we could have convinced either one of those players to come to Milan over where they went. Both of the other teams have a more complete project where they could be the "final piece of the puzzle."

I'm also uncovinced by Moutinho and that he would be available for that price. I like Bertolacci even if the price was a bit steep. I'm hoping it's offset somewhat by pushing out Nocerino and Montolivo or Poli for 10-15m total.

This post has been edited by milanbuf88: Aug 8 2015, 06:20 PM

[X-Offender]

Bacca used to be very efficient with Sevilla. I know our midfield is very bad, but then again, is Sevilla really that creative? That strong in the service department?

Sevilla functions as a team. Whether they have a more creative midfield or not doesn't matter if they can still produce assists for their strikers.

I personally would have rather gone into the season with that strike force but with a top notch midfield behind them and a good CB added to the defence

Also, strikers like Dzeko and Mandzukic went for much less. So we could have still made a smart purchase in attack but held the big money for midfield and a CB.

I think that would have been the smarter thing to do

As for how I'd spend the 60m we spent on just strikers and Berto, I'd go, Witsel (30m), Moutinho (~24m according to reports) and still get Mauri for free.

And since you're making the striker issue a bigger one than it is imo, Mandzkuic went for 16m if I'm not mistaken so if you add all 3 up that's 70m and the quality in our midfield has already jumped about 10 notches from what it currently is while also having a deadly striker upfront for much cheaper. But the 2 mids would be first priority.

You're looking at it the wrong way, Han. I'm not saying that we needed a striker more than a CB and a CM, but rather, we need all of them. If we had signed Romagnoli, Witsel, Moutinho and Mauri first we'd have still been left threadbare in attack, with no main striker to score those goals you win games with. The point is that going for strikers doesn't exclude the others. They're all equally important for us to reach success.

[han2503]

I don't think we could have convinced either one of those players to come to Milan over where they went. Both of the other teams have a more complete project where they could be the "final piece of the puzzle."

I'm also uncovinced by Moutinho and that he would be available for that price. I like Bertolacci even if the price was a bit steep. I'm hoping it's offset somewhat by pushing out Nocerino and Montolivo or Poli for 10-15m total.

Dzeko is a documented Milan fan, I'm sure he would have loved to join. But we never really looked at him this summer

Moutinho has been a consistently very good midfielder for a while now. I've had my eye on him since his Sporting days, and bottom line is that's he's a much better player than Bertolacci, he has characteristics that would have been a lot more useful for our team than Bertolacci's and has had experience with bigger teams and in the CL.

Last I read 24m was the going price. Monaco are basically open to selling anyone atm as their owner is no longer invested in the project as he was before. Also with them wanting SES and us doing them a solid by accepting the loan with option offer we could have used that to our advantage in any negotiations we entered

You're looking at it the wrong way, Han. I'm not saying that we needed a striker more than a CB and a CM, but rather, we need all of them. If we had signed Romagnoli, Witsel, Moutinho and Mauri first we'd have still been left threadbare in attack, with no main striker to score those goals you win games with. The point is that going for strikers doesn't exclude the others. They're all equally important for us to reach success.

It's not about how I'm looking at it, but prioritising. And imo, even though the striker position was also important it would have come in as my last priority compared to midfield, which was and still is at a critical point, and then the defence as second.

Look at Juve for example when they took the title right out from under us.

They had the shittiest strike force of probably any title winning side in quite some time. But they had a very solid defensive set-up with good players and an awesome midfield trio that Conte had drilled like a machine.

That defence and that midfield is why they remained unbeaten that season, and sure they drew a good few games but they were such a well oiled machine that they managed to win the league even with the flaws in attack

[Danny]

Look at Juve for example when they took the title right out from under us.

They had the shittiest strike force of probably any title winning side in quite some time. But they had a very solid defensive set-up with good players and an awesome midfield trio that Conte had drilled like a machine.

That defence and that midfield is why they remained unbeaten that season, and sure they drew a good few games but they were such a well oiled machine that they managed to win the league even with the flaws in attack

Probably as close to 'I was wrong' as we'll ever get on that topic from you (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[X-Offender]

It's not about how I'm looking at it, but prioritising. And imo, even though the striker position was also important it would have come in as my last priority compared to midfield, which was and still is at a critical point, and then the defence as second.

Look at Juve for example when they took the title right out from under us.

They had the shittiest strike force of probably any title winning side in quite some time. But they had a very solid defensive set-up with good players and an awesome midfield trio that Conte had drilled like a machine.

That defence and that midfield is why they remained unbeaten that season, and sure they drew a good few games but they were such a well oiled machine that they managed to win the league even with the flaws in attack

But does it matter whether we sign the striker first or last? The order isn't important, what's important is that we sign all the players we need. That's what I'm trying to say.

[CrazyMilanFan]

Romagnoli was official few days back.. Nothing else big happened since then I suppose

[Fillipo Simone]

Mostly rumors about Soriano. Depressingly usual.

[Danny]

There have been developments:

Witsel's representatives are being met in about a week to discuss something - we want to offer 25M but Zenit want 35M.

Ibra has said he either wants an extension or to leave now - and we're far from the favourites to land him if he does quit.

There was a crazy link pitting us with Kovacic but he looks like he's Madrid bound.

So...we've ended up bidding for another mediocre Serie A midfielder but I forget who it was.

Oh, and Paletta and Alex are on their way out.

Oh, and Miha would need to persaude Silvio about Soriano.

That's what happens when the forum is down for more than two minutes.

[Fillipo Simone]

So virtually nothing? Witsel is on hold for weeks, Ibra is a pipe dream, mediocre players going out (Zapata linked with Everton), mediocre names mentioned as links. But nothing concrete as far as I know.

[X-Offender]

We're playing a waiting game with both Witsel and Ibra. Not sure if it'll work.

[Danny]

So virtually nothing? Witsel is on hold for weeks, Ibra is a pipe dream, mediocre players going out (Zapata linked with Everton), mediocre names mentioned as links. But nothing concrete as far as I know.

Zapata was only as a replacement for Stones. But they're holding onto him for now.