[Jack Sparrow]

I don't know man. If the coach has a different tactical direction what're you going to do. And he's been angling for a move for sometime now.

And you said it yourself, in a team without service, would you continue to have him be average, or would you have a striker similar to the Pelle we saw for Italy? Who's effective for the playing XI as a hold-up man?


Besides it's all rumoured. For all you know he convinces the coach and he stays on. I no longer get excited by transfer rumours. It's like the Milan of the past 5 years has killed my joyous enthusiasm. Only us winning the CL again will bring it back. F@cking Rossoneri!

[Fillipo Simone]

Firstly, the Bacca rumors started much earlier then Montella was even on board. Secondly, unlike with De Sciglio, no one at Milan said something like "Bacca is indispensable" or at least "an important player".

Thirdly, I think Graziano Pelle is a vastly overrated player. I'd take Bacca over him or his type any day of the week. And for all we know, Milan already has support players like Niang and Menez, even Suso as you said. Pure strikers with a nose for goals are rare these days. What's the point in selling Bacca and the splashing the money strikers who "could be" the next Bacca?

[Jack Sparrow]

It makes sense to me (if the story is true at all) only on two things:

1. Bacca and his agent are making trouble. They want out unless <insert demand here>. If it's more wages I don't see it happening. I'd rather he move out.

2. We don't need a 'Bacca' type player at all. A goal poacher. Maybe we want more mobile forwards. Bacca has his weaknesses. He's singlefooted, he is not as good at taking on Serie A defenders one-on-one, he isn't physically dominant...but he is a lethal finisher. Maybe the former flaws outweigh the latter benefits for the coach and his style.

[han2503]

Apparently our bid for Sosa got rejected (don't know if we're even interested in this guy at all. But the media seem to think we want him...)

Names like this and Galliani mentioning Papu Gomez is what scares the sh!t out of me and worries me that nothing at Milan has changed.

Let's hope this preliminary signing goes through next week (everyone seems sure that it will be on the 12th), Bee coming out and declaring that Silvio shouldn't sell and that he has an offer to buy a minority shares scares me. If you read the article you would think it was something out of one of Silvio's wet dreams

I read somewhere that Galliani will take on a consultancy role for 1 to 2 years once the takeover is complete and then he'll be out. Plus he's working with Gancikoff now (as confirmed by himself yesterday in the press conference). So let's all pray that this thing FINALLY goes through next week (GdS saying that if anyone backs out after the preliminary is signed, they'll have to pay a 100m penalty)

As for the Bacca discussion. Going by what Montella said, I'm inclined to side with Jack on this one. It seems like he doesn't fit to the ideal of the type of striker Montella wants (he said he wants someone who's mobile, involved in the build-up and contributes to the game). And Bacca can't even be classified as someone who holds up the ball particularly well either. I'm thinking, if we do sell him, I'd rather stay with Adriano and Lapadula and heavily invest in the midfield. Juve won a Scudetto with Matri, Iaquinta and an over the hill Toni as strikers.

Having a great midfield and defence is what counts. And if selling Bacca means we'll invest more money into the midfield than I'm fine with it. A great striker could be a luxury signing next summer.

Also, another point, regarding Pjaca. I'm slightly worried about how much we're about to spend on this kid. Even his youtube vid doesn't look all that spectacular and I could manage to look great on a compilation... I feel like we're putting too many eggs in that basket just like we did with Bacca and Berto last summer.

@ Fillipo, I agree that the Bacca situation is strange, and you bring up a good point about how the club never denied anything about him considering the rumours have been flying about since even before the season ended. It feels like Galliani and Berlu were never all that enamoured by him, plus I do think that financially it's a good decision. His value will drop with every year, I don't think he'll be valued like Tevez or Ibra, his pace won't be the same as he ages and that will limit his effectiveness imo

[X-Offender]

Apparently our bid for Sosa got rejected (don't know if we're even interested in this guy at all. But the media seem to think we want him...)

Names like this and Galliani mentioning Papu Gomez is what scares the sh!t out of me and worries me that nothing at Milan has changed.

Let's hope this preliminary signing goes through next week (everyone seems sure that it will be on the 12th), Bee coming out and declaring that Silvio shouldn't sell and that he has an offer to buy a minority shares scares me. If you read the article you would think it was something out of one of Silvio's wet dreams

I read somewhere that Galliani will take on a consultancy role for 1 to 2 years once the takeover is complete and then he'll be out. Plus he's working with Gancikoff now (as confirmed by himself yesterday in the press conference). So let's all pray that this thing FINALLY goes through next week (GdS saying that if anyone backs out after the preliminary is signed, they'll have to pay a 100m penalty)

As for the Bacca discussion. Going by what Montella said, I'm inclined to side with Jack on this one. It seems like he doesn't fit to the ideal of the type of striker Montella wants (he said he wants someone who's mobile, involved in the build-up and contributes to the game). And Bacca can't even be classified as someone who holds up the ball particularly well either. I'm thinking, if we do sell him, I'd rather stay with Adriano and Lapadula and heavily invest in the midfield. Juve won a Scudetto with Matri, Iaquinta and an over the hill Toni as strikers.

Having a great midfield and defence is what counts. And if selling Bacca means we'll invest more money into the midfield than I'm fine with it. A great striker could be a luxury signing next summer.

Also, another point, regarding Pjaca. I'm slightly worried about how much we're about to spend on this kid. Even his youtube vid doesn't look all that spectacular and I could manage to look great on a compilation... I feel like we're putting too many eggs in that basket just like we did with Bacca and Berto last summer.

@ Fillipo, I agree that the Bacca situation is strange, and you bring up a good point about how the club never denied anything about him considering the rumours have been flying about since even before the season ended. It feels like Galliani and Berlu were never all that enamoured by him, plus I do think that financially it's a good decision. His value will drop with every year, I don't think he'll be valued like Tevez or Ibra, his pace won't be the same as he ages and that will limit his effectiveness imo

Bacca is not just a poacher. Sure, he's not Ibra or Benzema, and he's not greater at protecting the ball like, say, Diego Costa, but he's fast, mobile and good with the ball at his feet. He knows how to dribble past opponents and has a great scoring intuition. He's very similar to Inzaghi in a way, just more technically gifted. I would hold strongly to him.

As for Pjaca, 20 million + bonuses is not that much honestly. It was a lot for Bertolacci because we'd already seen him play. The guy is 25 and it's perfectly clear he's not cut for the big stage. But Pjaca is barely 21, is considered a huge talent and many important teams are after him. It's a gamble, of course, but at least we're investing in a youngster with potential that could turn huge for us.

Anyway, I agree that our priority should be the midfield. We've stressed this enough. We need AT LEAST two creative mids who are actually good, not Montolivo or Valero level. Hopefully we get Kovacic.

[Fillipo Simone]

I get your points, but I'm not sold on the whole story. Just wait and see, Bacca will be sold and then we'll land a striker which is in the same mold but not on same level, alla Pavoletti.

And your logic is flawed han. Juventus achieved big things with Pirlo on board, with a master defense of Chiellini, Bonucci and Barzagli combined with Buffon and a few other gems. Give me that kind of players and I'll gladly take Pavoletti or any other second-rate striker.

But up until now we haven't been linked with the Buffons and Pirlos of this world, but with Pape Gomez (?), Zielinski, Badelj, Mati Fernandez, Joaquin, Valero, Kovačić (perhaps the sole exciting name), etc.

[han2503]

Bacca is not just a poacher. Sure, he's not Ibra or Benzema, and he's not greater at protecting the ball like, say, Diego Costa, but he's fast, mobile and good with the ball at his feet. He knows how to dribble past opponents and has a great scoring intuition. He's very similar to Inzaghi in a way, just more technically gifted. I would hold strongly to him.

As for Pjaca, 20 million + bonuses is not that much honestly. It was a lot for Bertolacci because we'd already seen him play. The guy is 25 and it's perfectly clear he's not cut for the big stage. But Pjaca is barely 21, is considered a huge talent and many important teams are after him. It's a gamble, of course, but at least we're investing in a youngster with potential that could turn huge for us.

Anyway, I agree that our priority should be the midfield. We've stressed this enough. We need AT LEAST two creative mids who are actually good, not Montolivo or Valero level. Hopefully we get Kovacic.

I disagree about Bacca being a good dribbler. Anytime he tried to dribble around people last season he lost the ball.

I agree that he's similar to Pippo but more technically gifted (who isn't? Pippo could barely classify as a footballer imo). I just think that if we don't sell now the opportunity could be lost to get decent cash for him. That being said, I'm mostly trying to play devil's advocate here. I wouldn't mind keeping Bacca. I think he'd easily score double what he did last season with a proper midfield behind him, I'm mostly just trying to understand the logic. But like I said, it does mostly feel like Galliani and Berlu never really were all that into him, he was the second choice for them, and Bacca doesn't seem all that keen on staying either, let's be honest here.

As for Pjaca. I'm mostly worried about splurging so much from our budget on one players that's a complete gamble. I'd rather spend 30m on a great creative mid tbh.

Also, how can you even compare Valero with Monto? Valero imo is one of the best mids in the league and is exactly the type of "instant fix" player we need.

I get your points, but I'm not sold on the whole story. Just wait and see, Bacca will be sold and then we'll land a striker which is in the same mold but not on same level, alla Pavoletti.

And your logic is flawed han. Juventus achieved big things with Pirlo on board, with a master defense of Chiellini, Bonucci and Barzagli combined with Buffon and a few other gems. Give me that kind of players and I'll gladly take Pavoletti or any other second-rate striker.

But up until now we haven't been linked with the Buffons and Pirlos of this world, but with Pape Gomez (?), Zielinski, Badelj, Mati Fernandez, Joaquin, Valero, Kovačić (perhaps the sole exciting name), etc.

Like I said, I'm mostly trying to be the devil's advocate here and trying to understand the logic behind selling him and putting my thoughts here. I don't know why they seem so eager to sell him tbh, I have no answer for you on that one.

Also, isn't that what I said about Juve? They had a terrible attack and built their success on having a great defence and a very strong midfield which they later continued to improve on. They later bought their attackers as luxury buys after they had established such a dominant midfield and defence. Sure they based all this on having a top notch coach which I don't think we have but having a strong defence and midfield is always the key. A concept that our management (Silvio mostly) can't seem to grasp as we always go about purchasing a whole new attack practically each summer

[Forza Milan!]

Agreed, but I can't see how Musacchio and Romagnoli could work. Younger players is okay, as long as you have a good/solid defensive leader and one player with class. We lack both. And I don't think we're so bad we cannot attract at least someone in that range.

Point taken (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) . I agree we need someone to "anchor" the back line.

[littlechris]

Point taken (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) . I agree we need someone to "anchor" the back line.

For CB: Nevan Subotic on my mind or Nicolas Otamendi who could be surplus at City
For Midfield: M. Kovacic is almost a must and one of Sissoko and Kante
Pjaca heading to Juve according to multiple reports (bring to mind last summer Kondogbia battle with Inter)
For attack: Lapadula, Niang, Adriano & outstanding winger if Bacca leave. Can we bring back Aumbumeyang?

[X-Offender]

Montella will play with 4-3-3 according to Mediaset.

We need 2-3 quality wingers for that to work. Pjaca, Mr. X and personally I'd bring back Suso.

I wonder whether Montella will consider Montolivo a starter or not, otherwise we're gonna need a quality DM as well.

Lot of work to be done.

[X-Offender]

Sorry, I was wrong before. Suso already returned from Genoa and is training with us, and apparently he's convincing Montella, even though I just read on TMW that Genoa want him back again.

[Fillipo Simone]

Suso is completely inadequate. I wonder what you see in him. He'll most probably be shipped to Genoa where he belongs.

I also see that Milan has interest in Cuadrado. Now this is a player that could work well in Montella's system. Also, we need to try get Valero, who could do the trick much better then Monto.

[X-Offender]

Suso is completely inadequate. I wonder what you see in him. He'll most probably be shipped to Genoa where he belongs.

I clearly see in him that which you fail to see: talent.

This post has been edited by X-Offender: Jul 9 2016, 03:10 PM

[X-Offender]

Apparently Juve are close to signing Pjaca, so we're after Cuadrado.

Source: Mediaset

Don't know how to feel about it.

[han2503]

Apparently Juve are close to signing Pjaca, so we're after Cuadrado.

Source: Mediaset

Don't know how to feel about it.

I think all news outlets atm are reporting out of their @sses they know nothing about the player's decision. His mother spoke to the media and has said he hasn't decided yet.

Honestly, I don't know how to feel about it either. I think Cuadrado would be a smarter signing tbh. He's played under Montella before and fits perfectly in his system and comes with a much lower risk factor.

Also, I think at this particular moment for the club, it's important that we use the money we have wisely rather than taking big risks which could be big set-backs for us