What are you on about? Kaka wasn't sold so that a new player could be brought in...Kaka was sold so that the books could be balanced.

Secondly, once you sell a player like Kaka you don't just turn around a buy a direct replacement coz that's impossible. You devise a a)new system (leo's job), and b)buy the players to suit it (galliani's job). Notice I've omitted Silvio, since I no longer consider him as anymore than a figurehead.

Now I think considering we don't know (a)...we should wait before we pass judgement on (.

Also note Sacchi's comments:



There's another way of doing things, namely the way that Sacchi has mentioned. Now that's the path Milan has chosen, and unless and until we flounder on that path, we ought to hold judgement is what I feel.

I'll give this project 2-3 years to get off the ground.

So we're not even going to replace Kaka? that's worse!

Dinho is a risk. potentially he can replace Kaka and be even better than him. but realistically... it's better if I don't say anything on this one!

It's not like Kaka will be sold and no one will arrive.
A truly great attacker will arrive.



THAT'S what I'm talking about. we've been reduced to think that Fabiano is a truly great attacker.

*Please note I'm playing Devil's advocate here coz that's my preferred job on the forum*


And if you were to ask Galliani this question, he would respond with 'Define greatness'

We cannot necessarily confuse marquee signings with great player. Lass Diarra is hardly what meets the football fan's definition of greatness, yet he did exactly that kind of job when he was signed by Madrid.

There's no reason to assume that coz Fabiano isn't a 1 million shirts seller, he'll suck straight up. He might be very adequate for the system and even be a success.

I've never said Fabiano is awful. I'm just worried he could turn out another Oliveira. we've failed with every player we've brought from Spain... and another problem is, Fabiano will be 29 in a couple of months, and he's way too expensive. I just can't understand why they're insisting on him.

I only know one thing, Galliani said Milan would be absolutely competitive. after being in this job for more than two decades, he probably knows what he's talking about.

Milan will be absolutely competitive !!

Ah ha...but he changed that when he said we are aiming for the top 3 places.

Secondly...here's this...




That's not a lot is it?

signing a soon-to-be 30 year attacker for 20m is not rebuilding.

but then again,being ready to spend 15m on a 21 year old nobody, isnt exactly a step in the right direction either.

we\ve signed 1 young guy on defence and that was overhalf a year ago, doesnt count for this market.

recalled abate who's promising adn di gennaro who's done nothing.

so 2-3 who might help out... and that after losing big names, and more to come in next couple of years.

this is their huge plan to rebuild?!!?

i think we would be good with Fabiano and Santos but Galliani said only Fabiano but we will see.....
btw i wanted to ask you how do you guy think oddo will do with Milan this season ?

I think it's only normal that US fans would go for an English team. It's like me following an NBA team. I don't support a team from Argentina, Spain, Greece, etc. probably due to the language, I'm sure they'd just find it easier to follow a team that comes from a country that speaks their own language, same goes for me with the NBA. It's also the Worlds biggest and advertised league, so it's going to get more exposure over there. Though I think it's a bit stupid them calling you 'not a true fan' over it, that's a bit sad.

I would like to say that Fabiano is not, in anyway, the direct replacement to Kaka. I doubt there is one out there anyway.

Most importantly, I don't see what all the fuss is over Huntelaar? What is his game-to-goal scoring ratio?

Moreover, I also read that Milan was interested in two players from Sao Paolo, Hernanes and Miranda? I wonder what is going on down there

nah i don't think Hernanes is coming but i am not sure about Miranda but i think he too will not be coming

biggest difference between then and now is carlo is no longer our coach. my biggest gripe with carlo over the years was that he was unable to coach players into getting better. he was great at coaching great players.

that's why, imo, we failed with players like oli and gourcuff...hopefully leo can do a better job at that. if he does, i think we'll be a lot more competitive.

100% true

That's a valid point. I hadn't thought about it.

Actually, he has a great goalscoring ratio, both for the clubs he's played in, and the Dutch NT. take a look for yourself http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huntelaar

At Real, he's scored 8 goals in ~13 starts (20 games overall). it's not a bad record, but I think many players couldn't play up to their real potential at Real last season, including Huntelaar. he was bought in January, when most Real players were being liabilities and couldn't play as a team. and he wasn't really trusted all that much. so 8 goals in 20 games is acceptable IMO.

sheikh muhamad bin ra$$$hid al-maktoum

I would be very interested in profitting on wenger's inability to please his fans with the big signing and go for bids on clichy and diaby who I rate extremely high arsenal/Milan maintain a great relationship my dream transfers this year are diaby, Andre Santos, klaas hunterlaar and I think these signins are doable for around 40mil-45m

i'll bet that when leo took the job he had a new system in mind (a system that had kaka in it) i just think we need a resilent Attack minded midfielder more than a striker otherwise on days when dinho doesn't ball& seedorf gets clueless as he sometimes does, we'd simply not win. i don't think fabiano can on his own make things happen up front.

For some reason I think he will play a 4-2-3-1
abbiati
Andre Santos/bonnera- nesta -thiaguninho- zambro
flamini - rino
Ronnie - pirlo - pato/abate
klaas/loo fab/ pato

We'll never spend that much for decent players. We'll only spend that much for three worldclass players.
--------





We have:

Thiago Silva
Di gennaro
Abate
Oddo
Baretta
Zigoni
Oneywu


Spent 20 million

---------------------------


Verdict: This is not enough we need more players, however we have replaced the players who left the squad.


Gourcuff
sheva
kaka
senderos
maldini
mattioni
diniz

recieved: 80 million

I dis agree we no longer are a team thAt can restrict the purchases to world class players. I think to much tome with Carlo has made us forgot that a role amongst many of a coqch is to better the players he has. If Leonardo wAs to bettter diaby Andre Santos and klaas we wod be effing scary to sAy the least.

Blue im gunna go against your prediction that we sign 7-8 players and three are world class. So far we have brought in no world class players. Onyewu is not a world class signing and neither is Abate. I will give you 1.)Abate 2.) Di Gennaro 3.) Onyewu 4.) Thiago and thats it maybe Oddo Berreta and Zigioni count as one combined thats only 5. And none are world class. I think that we will sign Fabiano because that appears to be who we are pushing for. I think with the current transfers we should get Pazzini for Borriello and cash. We should push for Criscito as a LB which would cost us about 10 million. Finally we should attempt to sign an Italian mid with some creativity. Pehaps D'agostino although he is not my first choice he could give us nice options IMAGINE:
Abbiati
Zambrotta--Nesta--Thiago--Criscito
--Gattuso--Pirlo--D'agostino
-----Ronnie-----------------
------------------Pato------
---------Pazzini---------

Looking at the 2 lists its shocking how much the level has droped when comparing the players.

Zigoni, Barretta, Di Gennaro. All don't count as actual first teamers and they'll probably only come on in the Coppa matches. Oddo and Thiago were already ours so I don't understand how they're treated as new transfers, Galliani has infected you with his mantality

And as far as 3 world class players go.

Don't hold your breath. We're aiming for Fabiano only an if that's your definition of world class then I feel sorry for you...

Its sad that we have resigned ourselves to thinking that Fabiano is World Class. Jeez are things that bad?

I rate cigarini of atalanta very highly for creative playmaking italian mids
crisito would be a dream come true. But I sort of like the way we will field a much youger squad we got darmian and the urugayans

HAHA not of Atalanta anymore now of Napoli. Smart move by Napoli Cigarini has tons of potential.I dont know much about Cardaccio but Viudez i saw play against the brazilian U-21 team and he really impressed me. I like Santacroce more than Criscito but I read somewhere that we tried to move for Criscito so thats why i have taken a liking to him. Im pulling for our Italian kids I hope at least one of them makes it big. Can anyoneshed light on Miranda there is a lot of talk about him can someone give me the details.

The old cliché that is the circle of life is the basis for the following post.........

...those that are their 30's plus will have seen this situation before...before Sacchi took the reigns the club hadn't won Lo Scudetto for nearly 20 years plus the 2 trips into Serie B as a added distraction....Gallaini said in 2 to 3 seasons we will be competitive in the transfer market..for the sake of the short to mid-term future of the club i'm happy to wait.

Many people (myself included) have longed for the glory days to happen once again but bearing in mind this was one very special time in the clubs 110 year history.

We are a prestigious club with a rich recent past..mainly in terms of Europe rather than the home championship...after the great times inevitable bad or not so successful times follow.

After what was voted by UEFA.com as the greastest club side of all time (Sacchi's Milan) and the Capello riegn came the debacle of the mid to latter 90's and until Ancelotti arrived did success and stability arrive..this stability in the end proved to be a little hinderence as younger players were either over looked or shipped out on loan later to be sold

So in summary my point is this.....we are a great club going through a lean period as all clubs do but we have a future and that shouldn't be jeopardized for short term instant success...yes the facination for all thing Brazilian botheres me but when they pull on the red and black jersey i will be behind them 100%..and these hopes of 2-3 seasons time i harbour close by and waitfor the new historic chapter in this clubs rich history to arrive

I understand what you're saying. Obviously I wasn't alive/was very young back then, but the worrying thing is this: When Sacchi took over, he was given huge amounts to spend, I believe we broke the World transfer record? We spent alot and it bought us out of misery and into success. I just don't see Silvio spending big this time. I'll happily wait for him to prove me wrong, but I just don't see it.

He won't do that again while he is Prime minister (possibly never again) the issue of running a country in time of economic depression dictates that he can't be seen to be splashing money around whilst the normal everyday man is struggling to work find jobs etc.
Yes we did break the world record back then (lentini) but also Serie A was the dominate force in european football to..another thing that has changed.

Money isn't the be all and end all of a successful club yes its definately more of a factor nowadays but reading between the line of what Gallaini said perhaps more money will be invested in the youth set-up rather than big money transfers

I just hope this year is like juve's serie b stint where they played alot of their propects And the year after had one of the most significant youth mouvements on the peninsula

where does flamini fit into this? i think he was 1of the best things to have happened to milan last year, he's earned his playing time....

where does flamini fit into this? i think he was 1of the best things to have happened to milan last year, he's earned his playing time....

NOTE: WORLD CLASS STYLE POST COMING UP, I RECOMMEND A READ FOR ALL.
Ps: ignore gramatical mistakes

First of all Mishie, Brilliant posts, I agree with it all.



Secondly I think we are all taking this Milan "crisis" to another level.

Now i'm going to spend my time breaking this down for everyone so they can see exactly where we stand.

Milan accumiliated around 120 million euros of debt last season with all the transfers which took 70 million and the 50 million for reaching 5th place and playing in uefa cup.


We managed to eliminate about 60 million of that debt over the course of the year by selling merchandise from famous players (becks, ronnie), going to various places for freindlies, sending players on loans, and our 3 spot finish on the table as well as making it out of the group stages of the uefa cup.

We receive approximately 40 million euros from entering into the champions league which is usually added into the transfer fund or the owner's pocket. In our case its always entered into the transfer fund. Even if we had used this money to eliminate most our debt we would be 20 under, which concludes we still cannot do anything in the market.

Now we started this window with 60 million euro debt. Without funding from silvio there is absolutely no way we could have signed new players, so we had 2 options left. We either sell our players or get a loan from the bank.



Continuing on:

Silvio said he will no longer fund the club, so with 60 million euros of debt going into the market is unrealistic and they had to do something about this. So Galliani/piersilvio/silvio/braida etc etc.. sat around a table and decided how to tackle this problem. This probably happened in December. They all decided that in order for our club to have a realistic chance of competing in following 2-3 seasons without silvio's support was to find a way to manage milan without going into debt every season like manchester/madrid/barcelona/liverpool do.

So they came up with the best strategy that doesn't damage milan too much and enables us to solve the problem. There solution was Kaka. Yes he is one of the best 3 players in the world but he is only ONE player out of 23+ milan have. Losing 1 player will not hurt milan that much compared to losing 6 or 7 to wipe out that debt. Furthermore, Kaka was injured for the majority of the season and was like this last season as well so he could not do much in order to help the club's position in the league. Furthermore, he demanded the highest wage so also selling him would help reduce our wage bill. Its like killing 1 bird with 2 stones.

They originally wanted to sell him to city for a 100 million which could also give us 40 million to save for next season, however kaka declined city so silvio in order to save face came out and made up that bs story about how he stopped the transfer. Now they went back to the table to discuss another way to eliminate this debt. They thought maybe manchester united would pay for him since ronaldo was going to madrid. The board hit lucky when calderon resigned and it seemed likely that perez was coming back on board again. They decided that they could sell him to madrid and furthermore Kaka would accept the offer. They talked to perez probably around march for a transfer and decided it was good to go.

It seemed like things were going to go according to plan, but the reality is things went horribly wrong and here is where the mistakes happened that caused us to be in this situation:


The board had anticipated on these things happening:

Ronaldinho would continue his good form after the first half of the season and therefore the loss of kaka would not feel that big. Carlo happened and dinho flopped.

They were sweating until gourcuff decided to become amazing. So they thought, yes hes 23 and a perfect replacement for Kaka. No problem, the fans won't be too mad. Gourcuff rejected us and stayed at bordeaux. So both of their anticipations of a replacement for Kaka went out the window.

They anticipated Nesta would return in February and could help us in our struggles in the league. He didn't return. They thought borriello could return from injury and do like-wise, that didn't happen either.

Plus our struggles in the league and carlo's poor decision making all stacked onto the board's decisions and thats when everything exploded and sh*t hit the fan, which is the siutation we are currently in right now with everyone pissed off.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So lets go the present now and take a look at the future:

We sold/lost:

Maldini (40)
Senderos (23)
Sheva (32)
Mattioni (19)
Kaka (27)
Gourcuff (23)

We recieved 80 million, which eliminated our debt entirely and gave us about 22 million cash to spend. We lost approximately 20 million off our wage bill, which is another huge bonus this season.

So lets look at how much money we've got:

We have 22+40 million cash to spend= 62 million roughly. Also by releasing the loans of sheva/senderos/mattioni we receive approximately another 8 million we could shift from out wage budget to our transfer budget, which i'm sure has already been done.

So we should have about 70 million to spend for the year roughly. I don't know the exact figures but its close to around there.


Now lets ask ourself this question, how do we get milan competitive for the next 5 years without spending 500 million? The answer is simple you look to the youth team and younger players, which cost much less than established players. So the board decided it was best to invest this money towards youth and will probably continue to do so for the next 4-5 transfer windows.


So lets look at where this money has gone to :

Baretta (17)
Zigoini (18)
Thiago Silva (24)
Di gennaro (20)
Abate (21)
Oneywu (27)


Baretta and zigoni cost us 2 million together. Thiago silva cost us 10 million. Abate cost us 4 million and Di gennaro cost us 6 million( we had to buy di gennaro straight up, we don't co own him, he belonged to genoa). Oneywu was free.

Thats about 20 million spent we've spent roughly estimating. We have about 50 million left to spend for the rest of summer and January.


So lets look at the future. Its july 8 as i'm typing this and we have signed 6 players for 20 million. That is amazing! Not only is it 6 players but 6 players with worldclass potential, which I think Galliani is a genius for locating. Futhermore a third and final amazing, we did not sign this many players on July 6 last season, so we have done great so far in my opinion.


We have these objectives this summer:

Sign a great foreward and a good defender and a decent mid. We have done only 1/3 and its july 8th so we still have plenty of time.

Our CF will be Fabiano next season and our midfielder will be determined on if pirlo is sold. If he is sold, then we will sign sign hernanes or another brazillian. If Pirlo doens't go I expect a young italian midfielder, perhaps cigarini? Maybe younger than him, we'll have to wait and see.

Now my predictions:

We'll sign approximatly 7-8 senior team players, we have signed 5 right now who will play for the first team. We still have lots of time to sign the remaining players. We will sign fabiano and we will sign another youth player and a CM or DM.




So in conclusion, we need to have some faith in our team. Galliani is expected to run this window only 50 million, which is not too much when everyone demands 30 million a player. So far he has done a worldclass job and I think deserves some credit. We owe him some patience and should be patient a little bit and wait for the prices to decrease. Would you guys pay 30 million for one player or pay 30 million for 2-3?

So relax and enjoy your summers, we will be absolutely competitive. We have time on our side and with 50 million in our pockets for 2-4 players, we are ahead of the game. So do not worry too much people, Milan will start winning soon. Lets put our faith behind Galliani and Leo

Top post Blue not sure i agree 100% on everything but a well considered and balanced arguement none the less.

I for1 hope the youth system will be given more time and attention

i think we have much less then 50 million cuz if we did then we would of had much more better players here and this time last year we got 2 great players better then ones we got now

Imagine this: Mcdonald's big mac meal during july costs 20$ but during august it costs 10$. You plan to eat at mcdonalds somtime this summer. When would it be a smarter choice to go to mcdonalds, july or august?


Just cause we can spend the money doesn't mean we will. Its not smart. If we paid to sevilla's 30 million demand we would only have 20 million for now and January, which would crash our entire plans of signings another 2-3 more players.


We'll wait and sign Fabiano for under 20 million and have 30+ to sign 2-3 players which is more realistic. We are also ahead of the game because we paid zero for our defender.


You guys have to stop thinking that our transfer plans are just for the summer and we plan on spending all the money. We have built a transfer fund and budget and how much we think we should spend for the next 4 windows. If we spend more than we should we lose in the january window or next summer.

galliani is only looking for a cf he said it today and i could see him saying it for the hole summer but after we get fabiano we wont get anyone else i could hardly see us getting fabiano either galliani is not stalling cuz he wants to act smart he is stalling because he is cheap and he wants to hold on to as much money as he can i bet you anything that 90% of the kaka money went to berlu's pocket how much do you want to bet we are not even thinking about sining a player in January......this year its all about keeping the money thats why we singed Oneywu instead of a big named player thats why we won't see another player other then fabiano thats why we didn't sign any other player come on man are you really telling me that a player that trained for the past 6 months is a new singing this is just desprate come on i am not bashing the team or anything but we only signed 1 player and that will soon change to 2

Lol you believe far too much what galliani says:


He lies every window. Last season he said our window was closed with the Ronaldinho transfer, but he signed 4 players after that. This is a a top european club and if we are sitting here in a forum seeing the mistakes you bet your @ss they have predicted this 6 months ago. You seem down because of Kaka's sale and our lack of signing big players, but dont lose hope.

Money doesn't run football, smart choices do. But wait until sept 1, I have no doubt that Galliani has good plans just readying to spring into action. After Fabiano we will start moving more. Sevilla want 20 million for him and yes If galliani knows he can get a lower price he will be stingy and wait for a lower price. IF he think sevilla will not lower it no matter what then he'll pay the 20 million.

i am not worrying but i honestly think that we will only buy fabiano now and if he does good next year then he will spend big money on other places which is week rht now....we are rebuilding this team but we don't have the money so it will take us a while to shape it rht
i know he lies but after ronaldinho we didn't sign anyone good senderos i think is only one that stood out in my head but not cuz he is good but cuz he was too bad...sheva bad ......cardacio didn't do much last year....viduez only played 1 min last yea....
when galliani says the transfer market is over he doesn't mean its really over it means he is out of ideas !

You gotta remember everytime galliani mentions the name of a player, there value increases. If milan is interested in a player than that player is all of a sudden important. Look at Oneywu, during the confed most people might have heard of him but then brushed him off, but now he is a big deal. He all of a sudden stands out.


I'm willing to bet you Fabiano will not be our last transfer. He will be our biggest transfer but nowhere near the last. Galliani never finishes signing players till august 30th, he has been like that for the past 5 years and I doubt he'll change now.

There have been rumours here in belgium that viudez and cardaccio will be loaned out to Standard Liege

we gotta personally thank carlo for this one. Another 2 kids hes ruined lols.

I knew it! I knew the 13 million bid was bs. 17 million was our last offer. Hmm it seems sevilla want 20-25, which is fair because he is good but I think we can use that to spend in a younger striker than a 28 year old.

If Fabiano is happy to stay, it makes it difficult for us, Sevilla can ask for whatever they want. If he wanted to leave, they'd have to reluctantly accept something more favourable for us, but unfortunately that's not the case.

Man united will probably sign huntelaar pretty soon too. They are in madrid talking right now. Its reported 23 million is what madrid want.


IF we don't sign Fabiano our only option left will be the worst one, Adebayor

Nice post Blue, but i think the above statement is other way around .

I agree with most of the things u have said. and im happy we are investing more in youth. But i dont think we would be competitive enough considering the inexperienced youth. But i will wait and see how they do. Hope Milan will be Great again

Great posts Blue. The one thing missing in your math is you have to subtract the wages of the players we just signed from our total available budget. So I reckon it's the amount you mentioned -10 million. So we have another 40 million to spend, which to me indicates enough for one striker and either a LB or a mid-fielder (depending on whether Pirlo goes or not).

Also I do believe that Fabiano will be our last signing for the summer. Mainly because we might want to test out the options we have, like playing Silva at RB maybe, or seeing if Oddo is back to his best. I mean think of this.


---Oddo/Silva/Zambrotta---Silva/Onyewu---Nesta--Zambrotta/Janku

with Favster, Darmian as backups is a pretty damn good setup, if the players are at their best. Now getting them to their best is where the backroom staff come into play, and we shouldn't just assume it's Mission Impossible.