[Fillipo Simone]

All summer transfer talk here (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[Rossoneri7]

Would be interesting to find out what really happened. My guess is that Perez was eager to get rid of an expensive bench-warmer, but selling Kaka back to Milan for a huge loss would have not gone down well with fans, hence Perez and Galliani came up with the "loan deal" (which fell apart once the tax experts looked at it). But 18M is still a huge loss, so I am not sure if my theory holds water. Also, I am not sure why we did not go for the 18M, as we paid more for Balo (perhaps the difference is that we pay Balo over a number of years - I think).

I don't think the length of payment was the difference. Balotelli is a far better buy at 20 million than Kaka at 18. We refused to pay 18 million because he isn't worth that much. He's injury prone, not getting any younger, and not the same player he was back in 07.

What milanbuf88 said ... @Forza Milan, We will never find out the details, just that Kaka was probably the 2nd choice transfer in case Balotelli never materialized. Everything that happened pre-transfer window and during the transfer window was a means to negotiate better terms for Balotelli. Everything from Silvio calling Balo a bad apple, to Galliani stating we are fine as we are to all the comments that was fed to the media by our upper management was a direct attempt to ensure Balotelli arrives at the terms and conditions suitable for Milan.

In other words, all that we heard streaming from the media was the tip of an iceberg, beneath it was a mammoth of details. Without it, we can never know what was meant, just that the intentions were to get the player at our terms. And it worked.

[Forza Milan!]

What milanbuf88 said ... @Forza Milan, We will never find out the details, just that Kaka was probably the 2nd choice transfer in case Balotelli never materialized. Everything that happened pre-transfer window and during the transfer window was a means to negotiate better terms for Balotelli. Everything from Silvio calling Balo a bad apple, to Galliani stating we are fine as we are to all the comments that was fed to the media by our upper management was a direct attempt to ensure Balotelli arrives at the terms and conditions suitable for Milan.

In other words, all that we heard streaming from the media was the tip of an iceberg, beneath it was a mammoth of details. Without it, we can never know what was meant, just that the intentions were to get the player at our terms. And it worked.

Yup, I tried to make similar points about the reason behind public statements in some of my posts. However, I believe we were serious about Kaka, at least up to the point when the "loan deal" collapsed.

There is a general negativity on this forum against Milan management that IMHO is not fully justified. Yes, they have made their share of mistakes (as other clubs have), but they are far from a bunch of cretins as they are made to be. Berlu in particular has been extremely successful in business and politics (I don't necessarily like what he has done there, but one cannot argue against success), and you don't achieve that by surrounding yourself with fools. The decisions that have led to running the team on a more solid financial basis were painful but IMHO necessary (regardless of FFP). Successful teams (like ManU and Bayern) are run that way, and the first step for Milan was to control spending (and no, this is not about draining money out of the club, as it has been said or implied). Building a team around young players seems to me like the right direction (as long as we keep some balance by having more experienced players as well). And yes, it would have been much better if we started years ago, but hindsight is always 20-20, and the financial conditions have changed in recent years (in particular, the redistribution of TV revenue has hurt us more than people realize). Berlu's selection of players is often driven by personal or political ambitions, we all know that. OTOH, it is his money, and in most cases his choices have helped the team. Finally, if I look across other Italian clubs, we are still one of the better managed teams (for example, I would not trade places with Inter or Roma - or Palermo).

Back to Balo, high level negotiations are harder than people realize, and posturing is a big part of it. With this one in particular, the general consensus on this forum was that Man City would never agree to sell Balo at lower price (for example, see below). Yet Galliani has accomplished that. I think he deserves a little credit.

Why do people have this misconception that City will sell for a cut price? They will absolutely not. City wanted 40m for Tevez, they got a 40m offer from Santos, but because it was in too many installments they said no. They will set a price for Balo and stick to it, that price will be something we can't afford.

This post has been edited by Forza Milan!: Feb 6 2013, 09:45 PM