Hrm. The Schick deal with the Gobbi fell through over the medical and presumed heart problems. Wonder if it's worth trying to pick him up.

For me, Auba and Belotti are much better choices than Morata and (clearly) Kalinic. With Auba and Belotti they ring of that homey type feel. Auba grew up with us and Belo is a Milan fan. Morata for me is too similar to Silva who is our future (hopefully).

Of the options, I would most like Belotti. He has the most diverse skill set of all of the options and although he isn't the most reliable having truly performed for only 1.5 seasons, he is a good mix of youth and experience. Plus he would fit the mold of a lot of what we are doing this summer. I see our actions as buying the best and most promising in the league and weaken everyone else while also strengthing yourself. Add that to his tactical fit within the team and for me, he is the right choice. The only issue is the money at this point.

Auba is an excellent player but his best fit is within a 4-3-3 that Dortmund plays. He is a player who has skill inside and outside the box but is most deadly running a counter attack. Our team - as Danny has mentioned - lacks in speed. We won't be much of a counter-attacking speed. I think we are going to be a probe and recycle possession team which in this league has shown to work. Teams bunker down here and I think speed, which is the first trait to go, being Auba's main calling card for a player of his age will give us the least value for the money. That being said, he is the most proven player and I like him far more than Morata.

Morata is a solid forward but he is always a bridesmaid. At Juve, he never established himself as the man, same at Real. He has a lot of qualities but doesn't do anything better than the two guys above do. Also, I see him as a weird fit next to Silva, while the other two I can see fitting better. Combine this with the fact that he turned us down earlier in the summer and he isn't my favorite choice. If I was calling the shots I would prefer to invest in a cheaper striker and invest the money in a different position (midfield). He has potential but if it's the choice of Morata or Kalinic and a (star) mid, I'm taking the latter choice.

Not sure. If he had problems for Juve, why would he work for us? Also, I don't think he's the answer for our striker problems.

Both F&M hinted at the fact that we may be going after other forwards as well. Wonder if that's where we are heading ...

But it would annoy the Gobbi.....

(In all seriousness, I hope Schick is healthy and if this medical caught a heart condition, then good and there's the opportunity for him to get treatment. The whole thing still seems a bit off to me though, so if he is in fact healthy and the Gobbi just got cold feet, we should look into it)

Danny? Most of the people I know both in every day life and on the net want him gone and are mostly worried about how much we're going to lose out on from the initial investment we made

It's not about being underappreciated though, I appreciate his striker's instinct, but every other aspect of his game is simply lacking. Last season it felt like we were playing with 10 men in the games he was playing in. Lapadula should have taken his spot much earlier but they were keeping him on because they knew his price would plummet even more if he lost his place to the "Serie B striker" and he's caused problems in the past when he wasn't given the starting spot as well.

He was useful in his first season sure, nothing stunning or season-altering but he was useful, last season on the other hand, he was completely useless.


I honestly don't think we've been in for him as much as the press have been saying, I think Belotti has been the target all along, the majority of the fans want him at Milan and I think the new management will do what they can to make it happen. He's younger, has more upside and won't cost as much in the long run either.

Auba and Morata imo are just way to show Cairo that we have other options.


I don't get why you're getting worked up over friendlies against the 2 best German teams who are already well drilled units and in a more advanced stage in their pre-season to us. Most of our starters didn't start today, while the rest were still travelling from Italy, we still have to make 2 to 3 more moves as well. So it's pointless getting worked up over these.

I think the EL ties will be far more indicative for us (but still I feel we won't have the finished squad by then)


He argued with Miha the season prior to last and Montella last season. The man is simply full of himself, why do you think we're struggling so much to get rid of him? He wants a CL team, high wages and to be the undisputed starter in that team.

The failed move to China has nothing to do with it either, I don't think anyone would have cried their eyes out had he left, I think people begrudge him for not taking that offer because we lost out on the big transfer fee more than any perceived betrayal to the club

In 15/16 he was good, not going to deny that, but he wasn't the Messiah either, he's simply a pure poacher, and I can't see him being part of the new Milan


He had issued with Miha as well when he took him off so the problems haven't just been isolated to Montella. I don't know if he's disruptive, don't think I've ever read that he did anything to be a negative influence in the dressing room, but he has definitely shown signs of petulance and lack of respect towards his coach and teammates when he's been substituted after doing f@ck all


Apparently Juve wanted to re-negotiate the initial agreement with Samp and take him on loan with option to buy instead of an outright sale, Samp are obviously not that stupid so the negotiations stalled. I don't know if this was the ultimate reason for why they called the move off or if it was because his health problems are more serious than initially reported

Internet people aren't real, Han, didn't you know? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) and I must say I'm surprised. I had no idea Malta had a big Milanisti presence. Well other than yourself! I would have though the majority would be Palermo or Catania-inclined.

Anyway, if we sell Bacca now and buy say Auba/Belotti/Morata - who'll be the deputy striker?

Depends on the system. Could well be Silva.

For what it's worth, Sky's reporting a bid of 60M + Paletta + Niang for Belotti.

They make it sound as a "done deal" (link)

I had earlier read...

Belotti has an agreement with Milan and want to join the Rossoneri. If Milan raise their cash offer deal can go through. A deal for Belotti can be closed for €60m+Niang and Paletta, according to Gianluca Di Marzio



However the last I read was...

Milan offered €60m+Paletta and Niang for Belotti but Torino president Cairo wanted €70m. After finding out that Milan have already reached an agreement with Belotti, Cairo now asks for €80m [La Stampa's Max Nerozzi]

This post has been edited by TriniKing_CE: Jul 19 2017, 04:06 AM

Wouldn't a heart problem be a concern for any club?

Belotti is not worth €60m and two players. I'm sorry, I know you guys like him a lot, but that's just too much Torino is asking. It's 60m + Paletta (around 5m) + Niang (around 10-15m) = almost 80m. I'd take my interest elsewhere to be quite frank.

To where exactly?

The market for top strikers is limited and to make it even worse, both us and Chelsea are on the hunt

Auba is off the market, although his and Dortmund's demands were even more ridiculous than Cairo's. Morata is the same, he's not worth the 90m Real want for him

Belotti on the other hand is do-able because we can insert players which are frankly useless to us but ones that Toro would like to have.

Problem with Niang and Paletta is that it's not that easy to sell them as their quality level is very low so only a certain level of clubs would be interested, and unless those clubs are English, they won't be able to pay what we want for them.

So this kind of deal is a win win for all imo