I'd pay 7 for Monotlivo. 12 for Aquilani. I'd take Melo for 25 million. They pay me that is.

Regarding Pato, no reason to hit the panic button just yet. He's still young and tender.....plus Messi was injured a LOT between ages 18 -20. Let the duck grow and spread his wings.

The ONLY real concern is if his body possesses a CHRONIC predisposition to a (particular) injury (injury prone). If so we have to analyse his training methods, regime and intensity. The Milan lab used to be great at these analyses but they kinda suck of late tbh.

Oh...I read somewhere that Berlu discontinued Milan Lab some years ago. There's a different setup now.

He gets muscular injuries a lot. Granted right now it's on the other leg...but still. I do generally associate muscular injuries with training regimen so...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but he rarely got injured under Carlo. These long term injuries only started to crop up last season IIRC.

As for Montolivo, I personally like him, he's talented, but he gives the impression that he'll never live up to expectation or to his talent. And I agree with blue, give me Poli over him any day of the week

Poli!

What a do I need a video compilation for, when I've been seeing him play for the last 4-5 years.

Don't be silly Cap'n! Melo has been very good this season.

Agree about Montolivo. sometimes he gives you the impression he's got talent, but rarely lives up to it on a consistent basis. I would not have minded Aquilani but like usual we were beaten to a good Italian player by Juve...

erm..-back to the duck...anyone think he's going to be as special as the hype?

Personally I think he's going to be $heva good but not Ronaldo good

I think he'll be sold before he has the chance.

Personally I don't want to think of him as the next player-X. he's the first Pato.

+1

In playing style he seems to be a clone of $heva. Also in the ceiling of ability in that he might win a golden ball even a WOPY but he'll never be the unstoppable force Il Fenomeno was. He doesn't have Ron's abilities despite his massive talent.

Well, let's see if in two years time Pato will be as devastating as Sheva was in his first season at Milan. I really hope so, but somehow I'm skeptical.

I just hope Allegri plays him as a striker.I don't want to see the 4-3-3 again.Although,I can see him getting benched for Robinho whose progressing in every match.I think he can be a beast next year for us.Is their a set up where Pato,Robinho and Zlatan play together other than the 4-3-3?

If Pato can improve his decision making, and general game intelligence. Also he will need to learn to graft hard the way Robinho is doing now.

If Pato maintains his injury form, he'll soon end up neither like Ronaldo nor Shevchenko.

Sheva came as a very accomplished striker who took Dynamo very far in the CL the previous season, he was also older then Pato when he came. Pato is having these set-backs because of his physical development, something Sheva was already past when he came to Milan.

We'll see what happens, if by 24 Pato is still just a "talent" then we can say that he flopped and should be sold, but until then we really cannot compare him to Sheva or Ronaldo.

As for Robinho taking his place, the man misses 4 out of the 5 clear cut chances he gets. His movement is great, his awerness is great, but the finishing is still not what is should be before he missed 5/5 now he's putting in at least 1, Pato on the other hand is an amazing finisher. If we can somehow manage to get all 3 on the pitch at the same time and get them working as a unit that has understanding we could see great things

Yup. Front three that keeps rotating...awesomeness.

30m+ balotelli. Sound fair

Ronaldo is the greatest striker I have personally seen so it's not a disaster if Pato doesn't turn out to be as good as him.

Thing is, if you go back and look at the stats, Pato used to be quite a goalscoring machine at some parts of the previous seasons when he didn't have to deal with injuries and was played in the right position. I remember he'd even bang at least 1 goal/game for several games, before, of course, losing the momentum for which you could normally blame two things 1. injuries 2. far-from-perfect conditions in which he's supposed to become ah-mazing. remember before this very season Milan was a joke, we were a mediocre team. we couldn't even get the 4th CL spot for crying out loud! can anyone imagine Messi becoming what he is now in those conditions? I can't. that's why I get pissed off when someone compares him to Messi who, while insanely talented, is playing in the most perfect club with the best teammates imaginable. he's had Dani Alveses and Xavis around him. Pato has.. well, you know what I'm on about.

I just can't stand this obsession with making comparisons anymore.

Personally I feel the current setup doesn't suit Pato. As such our team has very few attackers now...so there's an intense focus on them. Robinho runs his guts out and grafts making him hard to mark. Zlatan's a monster so it makes no difference. Pato unfortunately struggles since he's neither.

This is an article from football-italia.

All good points. my post was based on gut feeling. $heva is pretty amazing so you won't see me crying if he becomes the next $heva. Personally (again facts extracted from the nether regions of my gluteus maximus) I believe he'll be better than $heva but not as awesome as Ronaldo- ability-wise. If he was $heva's work ethic he could FAR surpass both.

I don't get the Pato-Sheva comparison at all. I think they are completely different players. Sheva was great in his own way, and Pato will be great in his own way. And maybe it will be difficult for Pato to find his place in the starting team now we have two good performing forwards in Robinho and Ibrahimovic, but that's only a good thing. With the three we can rotate our forwards without the feeling we weaker ourselves. All three are different and I believe all three possible couples should work well. Pato is still very young, so he don't have to be a definite starter already. It would be nice if he is, but it's no must.

It will be difficult to play all three at the same time and I'm not sure if we want to do that. When behind, of course, or maybe against weaker opponents. Robinho behind Pato and Ibrahimovic would makes most sense to me if we would do that. I rather go for rotation and play our 4-3-1-2 with an actual midfielder behind the two forwards.

Pato will turn out great, but let's give him the time. He's still young and developing a lot.

That's why I said in two years time, when Pato will be 23, which was when Sheva joined us.



You said it.

Alexandre Pato hopes to make his comeback against Cagliari and is enthusiastic about Antonio Cassano’s arrival at Milan.

“I am very happy and relaxed. Now I have to work hard and do my best to get back on the field as soon as possible,” said the Brazilian striker.

Pato has barely featured this season due to a recurring thigh strain, but hopes to make his comeback at the Stadio Sant’Elia on January 6.

“I still need to go through a personalised training regime to get back to full fitness. I hope to be able to play against Cagliari.”

Milan are currently in Dubai for their winter training camp and have been joined by Cassano, who will complete the transfer from Sampdoria once the window opens.

“We are happy that Cassano is here with us,” continued Pato. “He is a lovely lad and a great player. I think he can give us a big hand and help the whole team to win.”

Cassano made a good start to his Rossoneri experience, scoring in the game between ranks from a Zlatan Ibrahimovic assist.

Football-italia.com

I hope he can make it against calgari...

Can't wait to see him back in action. I hope Allegri finds the proper solution for him.

Pato: 'I'd never follow Leo to Inter':http://www.football-italia.net/jan12s.html

I luv you pato:P

Blog: Two sides of Pato
Alexandre Pato’s strike rate for Milan is immense but, as Antonio Labbate writes, deficiencies in other areas of his game have cast doubt on his San Siro future
It was in last season’s game against Bologna when Massimo Ambrosini turned to the bench and posed then Milan boss Leonardo a question. With frustration unmistakably etched into every syllable, he said: “Are you going to ask Pato when he’ll start playing?”

A campaign later and the disappointing 1-1 draw at Lecce on Sunday is remembered for two incidents. The first, Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s latest invention in front of goal and, secondly, a heated discussion between Gennaro Gattuso and Alexandre Pato.

The San Siro giants subsequently played down the confrontation between the two Milanisti. Clarence Seedorf, who took on the role as the on-the-field peacemaker, insisted the episode was simply blown out of proportion.

Gattuso added that all was fine between himself and the Brazilian, but refused to go into detail about why the youngster had grated him so much at the Via Del Mare. “What we spoke about is my business,” he noted. Understandably, nobody pushed him on the matter.

The 72 minutes Pato was afforded by boss Massimiliano Allegri were not the finest of his career. It was an evening where those who argue that the Ibra-Pato strike partnership doesn’t and won’t work could use the encounter as key evidence to such an allegation. It also, inevitably, led to questions over Pato’s long-term future at the club.

It seems inappropriate to even contemplate a Milan without Pato when you consider the boy’s astonishing scoring statistics in Italy. In 88 Serie A matches to date, he has rippled the net on 44 occasions. Before his blank at Lecce, he was averaging 0.8 goals per top-flight tie this term.

No Rossonero of the past has proved so prolific, while of the players with at least 100 Serie A goals in history, only four – legends Felice Borel, Silvio Piola, Giuseppe Meazza and Giampiero Boniperti – had scored more than Pato at his 21-years-of-age.

If football was purely a numbers game then Pato could feel secure in his role within Milan. However, the club, one hungry to return to the highest echelons of the European game, expect and require more than just a great goal scorer, they need a great player, a fuoriclasse as Italians would say.

“Pato has it all to become a champion, but he has to learn to take advantage of situations,” Ambrosini noted last November. “He has enormous potential and he must express them in an important manner. He needs to find the right mentality which will allow him to continue maturing. That’ll be difficult and it’s not to be taken for granted. He needs to learn as much and it’s our job to help him.”

Pato, as the Milan captain claimed, clearly has the technical abilities required, but is struggling to deliver in a number of other areas. His work rate, in training and in games, especially off the ball, is questionable and that’s not been lost on demanding sergeant Allegri. “He needs to start pedalling,” the Coach said publicly at the start of this month.

Physically, Pato has suffered a number of injury setbacks. Having arrived on the peninsula with the body of a boy, his Christian Vieri silk-like muscles have concerned the club to such a degree that they sent him to see a specialist in America to undergo a series of tests.

Then there are also his personal problems. His marriage came to an end after less than a year, even if it’s alleged that his love for the nightlife – ala Ronaldinho? – contributed to the breakdown in his relationship with Sthefany Brito, the girl he used to dedicate every goal to with that adolescent love heart celebration of his.

Pato now rejoices in a different manner given the landscape changes in his private life, but he has to make modifications on the pitch too. Competition for a place in Allegri’s starting line-up is fierce with the surprisingly hard-working Robinho and Antonio Cassano, the January replacement for the often static Ronaldinho, challenging him for that spot alongside the untouchable Ibra.

As a result, a player who few once doubted, now has to prove himself all over again. Allegri believes that the Selecao star can play alongside the super Swede, but it’ll be up to Pato to heed his tactical advice and prove him right. Get it wrong and, with a big money offer on the table from a foreign club, we could be six or 18 months away from Pato being the latest Brazilian – after Ronaldo, Kaka, Leonardo and Dinho – to be heading through the San Siro exit.


Nice/Brief write up about Pato's problems at Milan.(Source:Football-italia)

very interesting its true he needs to step it up boyo !!

Hypothetically he continues his run of poor form and we sell him for 50m. Who then do we replace him with?

Balotelli most likely.

Balotelli might be most likely, but I was hoping along the lines of G. Rossi. I feel like he'd be a better replacement, he's on fire.

Selling Pato wil be a big mistake IMO. I think he will be maybe the best striker in the world in a few years.
We need to remember that he's only 21 y.o and we didn't see his best yet. To give up on him now when we "suffered" through his growing pains while some other team would enjoy the fruitage?
Balotelli is not worth that sacrifice. Let him grew up (mainly mentally) in some other club and maybe buy him in afew years if he's become more stable.

Agreed.

Odumandi anywone?

Oduamadi is quite mediocre.

Agreed

Gosh,I thought Pato was injured when I saw this thread on the home page. ;p

Hahaha, good one.

Grazie! 50 goals 0 Penalties!

I think he's on 51 goals right now ;p

Dang. All of his assists are basically from Dinho and Kaka. No wonder the boy went into a slump.

Injuries played most of the part.

Okay, now I don't know how accurate this is, or what its significance, but apparently there is a rift between Ibrahimovic and Pato.

Yesterday, after the match analysis on Jazeera Sports, the major discussion circulating was the issues between Pato and Ibra ... Whereby Cesare comments were along the lines of .. "you have to understand Ibrahimovic is a grand player who has won wherever he has been .. Pato is only at the beginning of his career and needs to learn from the examples that he has with him" ............ Then he was asked directly by the anchor, whether Ibrahimovic has a say on who starts with him and who doesnt, Cesare replied "Ibrahimovic scores on an average of a goal in two games, he is by essence the reference point in attack and of course he will play better if he plays around players who complement his characteristics." He was then asked if Pato does not complement his characteristics, and replied "Pato needs to learn more, he needs to take this as a lesson and sacrifice himself more for the team ... During training Allegri assesses the players who play and it is my feeling that he prefers Robinho and Cassano to play along side Ibrahimovic"


Thank God we are still in the running for 3 trophies, in which case Pato will get room to play ... Otherwise, I fear for a fate similar to that of Shevchenko/Kaka ... If not this summer, the next, unless Pato forces his way in the starting fold again.

If Pato is supported well by Robinho and Cassano,and behind him is a decent midfeild.He'll score way more goals than Ibra,he's a way better finisher.

Although no one doubts what Ibra has done for Milan,but Pato is a very important player for us.I agree that Pato should try and be more involved inside the game,and he has tried to do that against Sampdoria.But,really,we never go on counter attacks these days so we can't put his pace to good use.So what has been evident these days that Pato is a pure striker,Inzaghi like.He scores goals that's his job and that's what he does best.The problem is that we can't let go of Ibra because he adds so much to our game,and Robinho too.We can say that Pato can play instead of Cassano,but the problem the Ibra,Pato,Robinho has yet to work.The only way of that to happen is Ibra and Pato cooperate.

I can't agree really. I dislike everything around Ibra, but I must be honest and say he's the key element in our regaining the top of Serie A. Without him, or with only Pato, that would be much harder or even impossible.

But yes, I really think Ibra has Allegri in his hands.

In the beginning of the season before the injury they played well together. Maybe after we also signed Cassanoa and the improvement of Robinho, Pato feels a little bit threatenedas his place in the starting 11 isn't as sure as it was before.

Eeventually they will be fine. Few good games can resolve everytrhing. I think our attacking future is Ibra-Pato partnership that can be the most lethal out there.