MILANELLO - During the press conference of presentation, Adriano Galliani explained that 'Milan's transfer campaign is finished with Ronaldinho. Paloschi, Abate, and Simic might leave. But there will be no more new arrivals, absolutely.'

2008-09 Milan Squad

Goalkeepers: Dida, Kalac, Abbiati

Defenders: Maldini, Favalli, Oddo, Jankulovski, Diago, Bonera, Kaladze, Nesta, Simic, L. Antonini, Darmian, Zambrotta

Midfielders: I. Abate, Brocchi, Ambrosini, Flamini, Emerson, Pirlo, Gattuso, Seedorf

Strikers: Inzaghi, Kaka, Borriello, Ronaldinho, Paloschi, A. Pato

I was hopping for one more to come ... But even so, I think Milan had added the much needed depth in key positions. Atm, Milan have a very strong squad. This is the squad that won the 2007 CL - adding all of Ronaldinho, Zambrotta, and two high quality rotation players just made this side 10x more lethal.


So if no one comes, Milan have done something considerable in this transfer window. Better than all other in Europe to say the least. And maybe Milan might be missing a quality center back; I think Bonera has a future in this side, and it will be his chance to leave his mark, as he has impressed thus far by being a very reliable player for the team. With Nesta, Maldini and Kakha; Milan have quality cover in terms of experience, they don't get as experienced as that!


Gattuso commented on Dida, when they were at the charity Goal4Africa match in Munich. He said that he found a very motivated and reborn Dida. Many claim that Ronaldinho is a has been as is Dida, but the proof really lies in this coming season. I believe it will be an all dominating season for Milan.

I expected just one more signing. Someone from Italy or Brazil. As i said before, we need a offensive-wise defender, LB or RB.

For the next, winter transfer period I hope we'll turn our scouts to Africa (Desailly?), Brazil (Leonardo) and Croatia. If Šimić leaves, I expect Milan to get a proper replacement.

Filippo...isn't Antonini, exactly that...the offensive LB??

As for Simic replacement, I think it was Bonera. And also I really hope and pray to see more of Darmian..but I doubt it...

Oh, I didn't strictly mean a Šimić position replacement, just another player from Croatia. Ever since Milan usually has one or two around, so I would like this tradition to continue.

Antonini? Hmh..is he any good?

They said he would be replacing Serginho. I've never seen him play though.

let's hope for one defender to be added!
it's still a little more than a month to rectify this

you know...even if they don't sign anyone else...this will be the first time in awhile i can say i've been pleased with our transfer market.

I think everyone agrees on that. the signings of the last two/three transfer windows were... awful [except for Pato, of course].

Pato wasn't even a transfer, in my opinion. It was a pure snatch, just like Kaka. Milan saw some sparks in the kid and they bought him in without thinking of the ridiculous price tag. Gotta hand it to Leonardo here, for both these awesome transfers. He is the only player who has given more to the club, than what the club gave to him. Apart from Paolo, of course. All others still have some sort of a debt to pay for the fame and recognition Milan the club brought them.

By the way, if the transfer activity is closed, then that's not too good a thing. You never can tell it with Galliani, but still I'd have preferred at least a forward (Sheva?), and bringing back Ronaldo. Cheap and best solution for a couple of years at least. Next transfer season we can look into adding a CB and a goalkeeper, maybe. If it ends here, then I'd give the activity a solid 4-stars. One more signing of any sorts, would up it to a clean 5-star. But then again, judging by the last transfer periods, this one is twenty thousand leagues ahead of our last few.

I think R10, Pippo (not so much cos he's always had injuries) & Borriello are enough of a gamble with out adding those two. Ok, the Ukranian played here before but he's 2yrs older now and severely out of form, it wouldn't be as automatic as you might think for him to be like he was before he left. We don't want to be like merda - a scrap heap for once great players turned into losers & old has beens. I wish Ronie all the best with Flamengo & if he gets back to his best after a season who knows but he's best left alone for now.

I just hope us to snap up Crespo as a last transfer. He's free and a Serie A veteran...just what we need.

I would agree to that we only have Pippo and Boriello as real in box strikers, and with Pippo's injuries that will probably only leave us with Boriello who personally I don't trust.

Crespo was great for us a couple of seasons ago and getting him for free would be great

You just hit the nail on the head. couldn't agree with you more

Goal.com is not that much of a reliable source but they just explained AC Milan problems totally and that's why our transfer market needs to be open or shouldn't be clsoed...Even other soccer fans realise that these are our problems. I don't know why Galliani doesn't see this or is he blind?

Calcio Debate: Galliani And Berlusconi - Arrogant Or Simply Stupid?

Milan's complacency in declaring that their summer spending is at an end shows misguided confidence in players

who can no longer compete at the highest level, writes Sulmaan Ahmad...

Milan are a club steeped in tradition and fiercely proud, but not as historically dominant as many may at first

presume. When the iconic Silvio Berlusconi first became president of the club in 1986, they had won 10 Scudetti and

two European Cups, yet under his leadership they have superceded the likes of Juventus and city rivals Internazionale to become the most recognised Italian club on the continent and most successful in Europe.

Success has come at a price, as there have been intervening periods of embarrassing failure. The loyalty shown to key players plummeting from their prime may just as easily be construed as arrogance; an unfounded belief that great players will always remain as such that has been symptomatic of the Berlusconi era. Class, after all, is not permanent - not even Fabio Capello's Milan that went the went from May 1991 to March 1993 without losing a game were truly invincible.

All good things come to an end, and seeing the Milan team that took the field on Sunday against Chelsea in the Russian Railways Cup, the game was over before it began, it was just a matter of what margin of victory the Blues would manage. With a Milan starting line-up in which Massimo Ambrosini was acting as the attacking focal point, few would have expected any Rossoneri goals - and indeed they failed to score any - but to concede five was beyond humiliation.

It was, of course, a pre-season friendly and there were injuries and absentees to take into consideration, but that only moves to strengthen the point that it is Milan's second string that will continue to be their Achilles' heel all season. Several have tipped a vengeful and resurgent Milan to win the league this coming season, but they do not, in any way, shape or form, have what it takes to compete over 38 games, unless they prove to be extremely fortunate and avoid any injuries to key players, which is as good as an impossibility when considering the intensity and frequency of competition at the highest level.

There have been calls for a revolution since the Champion League defeat to Arsenal, but they have been unanswered by the Milan hierarchy, who are running the detrimental risk of severely damaging their reputation and even tainting their past glories. Might Milan end up scrapping for fourth once more, and otherwise relying on a first ever UEFA Cup triumph to validate their misguided antics in the transfer market?

The loss against Chelsea may not be conclusive proof of Milan's failings, but it is somewhat ominous of what may be to come and indicative of the same philosophy that preceded the club's dismal showing last season, as Carlo Ancelotti's pitiful post-match comments would attest. “I don’t think the absence of a few players will affect us that much, and for this reason we will not be returning to the transfer market,” the coach told Il Corriere Dello Sport. “Our attack cannot be judged, we have no-one up there and so it cannot be criticised.” No one up there, quite right. There has been no overhaul. Star player Kaka went as far as suggesting that, without naming any individuals, it was time for some of the old guard to step aside for a new generation to be ushered in, just as they were at the top of the decade when Carlo Ancelotti took charge. Alas, not even the new prodical son had the pulling power to prise open president Berlusconi's 9.4 billion dollar wallet.

Signing Mathieu Flamini for free may prove the coup of the summer, as he is a natural successor to Gennaro Gattuso and Massimo Ambrosini, but while recalling Marco Borriello from Genoa offers the Rossoneri another option up front, of which they were desperately in need, there is a hint of Alberto Gilardino about this signing, and there remain question marks over whether this is a player capable of producing consistently at the highest level. Gianluca Zambrotta's acquisition almost signals what is already wrong with the club; this is a player that was once world class but has been on a consistent slide since the World Cup triumph of 2006 and does not have time on his side to turn things around, though being back in Italy may reawaken the confidence and consistency lost within the former Juventus man. The signing of the summer, Ronaldinho, is a monumental gamble. We may well witness a Zinedine Zidane-like resurgence and successful swansong as he had at Real Madrid, but he may conversely go the way of Ronaldo and find himself humiliated and written off in what would be a tragic end to a legendary career.

The convention wisdom is that while something has been done, it is not enough. Filippo Inzaghi cannot be relied upon to remain fit for an entire season, which puts an unreasonable amount of pressure on a relatively unproven striker in Borriello. The midfield collective is strong, though there is still an over-reliance on Andrea Pirlo, but it is in defence where the Rossoneri look like being undone. Their best goalkeeper on current form looks like being Christian Abbiati, who has recently proven with Atletico Madrid that he will offer a chance for every save he makes. No centre-backs were signed and Galliani has gone as far as to suggest Ambrosini will be deputising at the back to make up the numbers. Alessandro Nesta is the only member of the defence who can still perform at the highest level on a consistent basis, and even he has constant worries over his fitness. Milan are deteriorating from the inside while the men at the top sit idly by and, as if to add insult to injury, continue to promise greatness to the fans. Are they arrogant, or simply stupid?

I think they are a bit of both. Mr. B prides on his money, while Galliani on his awesome uber-classiness. So in a way, they think they can do and get away with anything.

Simply stupid

I didn't even care to read much into that article ... Because goal.com are notorious for spurring controversy ...

You just wait and see, half way through the season, if Milan are in first place with Kaka' and Ronaldinho causing turbulence throughout the opposition's defenses .. I bet you goal.com will revert to the opposite opinion.

Even though its a stupid article it has some points that cannot be ignored. By not returning to the market is simply arrogant and stupid as we are in need of one more player but im not judging till 31.

The thing is , we are actually in a very dangerous position ... There is no guarantee we will win the scudetto or Uefa cup and from what I've seen last season there is a big chance we will end up even lower.

I will support Milan all the way , but it would be very shameful if Milan would get into another black period just because they didnt want to spend a "little" bit more on players that can eventually take over for the ones who are getting closer to retirement.

But with ronaldinho , kaka & pato its hard to believe we wont be able to at least make it into the champions league. Lets just hope the defence will hold


forza Milan !!


btw , i just saw a rerun of Milan-Juventus in HD , damn !!!

Well it's kinda both. Silvio is arrogant, but I don't consider him stupid (In a footballing sense). Galliani is both stupid and arrogant.

You're the one I mostly agree with this on this matter. I think its an incredibly stupid article and I think our players lacked fitness for the Russian Railway cup because training started later. And we were lacking quite a few players. But... our transfer season has been quite good so far. I, like many I assume on here, would like to see one more defender nonetheless.

There is another interim measure we could take... bring some youth players out of the primavera team, like Matteo Darmian.

ive seen you on goal.com, glad that you've joined up.

I'm not Galliani's biggest fan, but stupid?... I don't think we can say that about someone who's managed a club like Milan for more than two decades (and I'm not mentioning the success Milan's had in this period - just managing to stay as Milan's GM for twenty something years). they both may be arrogant, but not stupid.

The other issue I have with goal.com they publish articles like this one, and then they publish all these rumors about Milan looking for all these players... and furthermore saying in another article that our transfer season is not closed.

They are rubbish. The article is rubbish and the assertion that Galliani or Berlusconi are stupid or arrogant is wrong. These two have led Milan to glory numerous times. There have been a few difficult years... because every team has their difficult times. We had a difficult time just a few years ago when we lost to Deportivo in the CL. But to say we are falling apart... no that's wrong.

And this is why I generally don't bother even looking at goal.com. It's not worth my while to get upset at nonsense articles written by rumormongers.

True. Though I wouldn't mind Alex Silva (defender from Sao Paolo I believe) coming to Milan, on a recent one they wrote.

But still, it's all contradictory. Authors often contradict themselves... look at the rumors leading up to Ronaldinho's signing. Many on that site claimed his move to Man City was imminent.

Yep. I have a hard enough time keeping up with the sometimes equally contradictory Italian press. There are times when they're no better than goal.com -- though some sources are generally more reliable than others.

Yes, you have to be very careful when reading Italian news sources... some are Juve supporters, or Inter supporters to such a degree it's obvious. There are a few out there that are decent...

Calciomercato is generally considered as a reliable source for example...

They are also reporting that we are after Alex Silva...

http://www.calciomercato.com/index.php?c=12&a=90861

And that we may selling Dario Simic to Espanyol... suits him better... he's a so-so defender and he would get more playing time there:

http://www.calciomercato.com/index.php?c=12&a=91006

Anyways, I'm starting to hear that by selling Simic to Espanyol, we could finance the move to buy a defender Alex Silva. I'm also hearing that we are also waiting for Thiago Silva (Fluminense) for his contract to run out so we can get him as a free agent.

There's a thread discussing news sources in various countries HERE

I don't like the calciomercato webpage much; the interface is just icky to me. I generally will go first to tuttomercatoweb and backtrack their stuff to the original source (and that's the tricky part. stuff sourced to gazzetta is generally more reliable, for example, than stuff sourced to corriere or tuttosport). There's really not a lot of difference between the two.

FYI, the Simic article you posted a link to says that Espanyol aren't interested - that he doesn't have the characteristics the Espanyol coach wants.

That's odd that article said something different when I posted it, I just went back to that saw it. Strange. I guess they aren't. I really think we have to off load him nonetheless...

- Thiago Silva from Flu? Hmh, I'd rather have the other Thiago, Thiago Neves. He's really good. But Silva...I'm not sure. I watched some Fluminense games this season and didn't really mention him. But their defense, except of keeper Henrique, was the worst part allways.

- No reports in Croatia about any possible Šimić transfer. No one is mentioning Espanyol.

- There are some reports suggesting a swap between Laziale Stendardo and Milanese Brocchi. I'd gladfully sign that one. Stendardo at least can try do something.

I think Thiago Silva would be a great defender. We have enough attacking midfielders so Thiago Neves would be surplus... Viudez was another attacking midfielder we just got... Thiago Silva is mentioned as a solid defender... Alex Silva plays for Sao Paolo and he's a bit cheaper, so we'll probably get him instead.

Stendardo is a name I heard. Stendardo is a defender which is what we need. I also hear Lazio is interested in Brocchi now that we have put him in part of the deal. I could never stand Brocchi... he's not a very good player for a top level team.

Stendardo in some cases reminds me of Stam... he has a very powerful build and is one strong defender...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stendardo

Stendardo stalling Zlatan:

http://www.mcalcio.com/wordpress/wp-conten...n_stendardo.jpg

The Brocchi swap rumor has more or less been quashed by Brocchi's agent according to tuttomercatoweb. (link) He does add that Brocchi would be willing to listen to interesting offers.

Stendardo is a decent enough defender but...well, do we want someone who doesn't seem able to hold down a starting position either at Juve or Lazio? There are better options.

Edited to add link to article.

Ultimately it is up to Milan, and personally I'm sick and tired of all the half hearted performances he gives Milan. If we can trade him for Stendardo I say do it... it's ultimately up to Milan. Brocchi doesn't have space in Milan though, because of the arrival of Cardaccio and Viudez though. So he may be on his way out.

I think Stendardo if given the chance could do very well. He had a falling out with the Lazio manager I heard... I know there are better options. But we have to add depth to the defense

That's what we think. But, unfortunately, Carletto digs Brocchi. Hence, I think he gets to stay.

I don't really agree with that. I mean if he digs him so much why did he go on loan for a year?

Well, if Carlo didn't like Brochhi so much why hasn't he been sold all this while? Everyone can see how crap he plays. Okay, I guess I answered my question myself there

There are rumors he will be sold soon... but we shall see. But he's not a regular. He usually is a substitute or back-up utility player. And with the pressure giving Cardaccio and Viudez playing time, I think they'll be used instead.

Can you provide sources and links for the rumors regarding Brocchi, Giancarlo? Also, why do you think there's pressure for Cardacio and Viudez to be played?

Yes, but the thing is that Gourcuff is a better player than Brocchi is but still Brocchi was brought on as a sub more often than Gourcuff was. I'm sure had Gourcuff been made to play on a more regular basis he would have been an asset to the Milan side.

Yes, because they are new players and I think they'll be given playing time.

It was a while since I've heard some things about Brocchi... so I concede it's more me wanting him to leave.

I mean we have many new players coming in that will play in midfield... Cardaccio, Flamini, Ronaldinho, Viudez... I think there will be pressure on Ancelotti to switch the line-up if the usual faces do not perform.

As regards to Gourcuff, he played well the first season and suffered an injury I believe that kept him on the side-lines. He's not competing with Brocchi though... he was competing with Kaka and Seedorf at the time. And now, he'd be competing with Kaka and Ronaldinho...

Because Carlo is not Mr. B. Nor Galliani.

Duh.

I think Berlusconi and Galliani... will sell him to finance a move for another player... as we did with Gilardino and Oliveira (we really got a good deal out of that one from Zaragoza).

This is digressing, but I'm not convinced Gourcuff is as good as others seem to think he is. It's the little things that bug me about him: things like taking a free kick and placing the ball /just/ outside the area, things like going down if there's an opposing player within a foot of him, things like his first touch being good and his second..not. I saw the kid play twice in person (v. Messina in Nov 2006 and v. Udinese in May 2007) and he was all right but not spectacular. In the Udinese game, I was actually more impressed by the effort put in by both Di Gennaro (a couple of very nice runs) and Borriello than I was with little Yoann.

As for the possibility of rotation in the midfield: yes, there's almost certainly going to be rotation of some kind. Just what that is, I'm not sure anyone can guess. If they're healthy, Kaka, Pirlo and Ronaldinho will most likely play. The rest is anyone's guess.

We paid 18m euros+ Vogel for Oliveira and got 10m euros for him from Zaragoza.

Well that's a good return for a failure of a player.

I would have thought at most Zaragoza would pay 5 million, considering their financial situation.

Zaragoza had a clause in the loan deal which allowed them to buy up Olivera for 12m Euros, they did and will probably sell him for more considering the decent impact he made with them

I made a mistake earlier when I said there was nothing on Brocchi leaving. In fact there were rumors, but Brocchi's agent recently denied it.

http://www.tuttomercatoweb.com/?action=read&id=116863

There was rumor that he was going to be traded for Stendardo (who I happen to like as a defender)... it's ultimately Milan's call I think though.

But he did have a good season at Zaragoza so I think we managed to sell him for a good price.


I was watching Chelsea TV the other day and there was this guy talking on their post match show, I can't remember his name atm, but he is very involved in Chelsea's transfers and he said that Milan were trying to sell Brocchi he mentioned this during the Russion railways tournament.

I still can't believe that we didn't sell him to Fiorentina when we had the chance 2 seasons ago