I mean if we are gonna gut the team might as well make as much from it as possible is the way I see it... Ibra's value as well as that of Cassano will only be heading south after this year. Thiago's would have probably gone up. Would much rather have sold Ibra and Cassano than him.

In my opinion, attacking gems are much less rare than defensive ones, and with Nesta gone Thiago would have been the defensive rock to support the team. With the sale of Ibra and Cassano, we could have promoted internally and had some young guns try to fill the void (El Sha in particular). On top of that with the numbers that have been floating around lately, we could have made 50+ for those two and gotten rid of two hot heads.

I can only hope with the loss of these guys the management sees that we should replace with young prospects, then at least we have an excuse looking like a cheap pathetic team.

I don't understand how teams like PSG and Man C and Real can afford to spend recklessly like this, dont they have any bottom line? How can they survive with FFP coming out?

.....Then again I wasn't born to see the Milan of old when Berlu reigned supreme...

Edit: Glad to see you back Blue, like acid I look forward to your expertise come the transfer market. And I appreciate the way you stay on top of things and give a bit of insight

Why don't we keep Thiago, Ibra and everyone else and sell our name and history? That's even more worth, I'm sure.

RMC Sport: "PSG will offer €77 million for both Silva and Ibrahimovic".

Link

They can offer all the money they want. In the end, what matters is that not even 1/4 of that amount will be spent on signing quality players. Man oh man, what will become of AC Milan?

Berlusconi: "We have to sell thiago silva"

Ibra's staff: "the sale of thiago Silva could push ibra to look for other options"


-CDS

Where do you read Silvio's comments? None of Mediaset, Gazzetta and TMW are reporting them.

corrierre dello sport

Pedulla (market specialist) has said that we've signed a CB.

Vlad Chiricheș (21 years old, CB) from Steaua Bucarest for a price of 4m Euros.




Sport italia

At least we have 4 million. It's good that they are making the moves now, because the prices could very well skyrocket not just because of the Euro tournament, but also if we do sell Silva (and other players), clubs will most probably inflate their asking prices.

We're saved!!!

so most news sources in italy are now saying that the deal for Thiago Silva has pissed off quite a few people.


Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Cassano have not been quiet about their opinions on the deal and will most likely want a departure as well if Silva leaves.


Boateng and Robinho are thought to be considering their options as well as they value Thiago silva as an important member to achieving success.

---

Either way if Silva leaves we will see more players head for the exit as well.

Soo true...

Suddenly the Al-Maktum meeting makes more sense. some things are going on beneath the surface.

news:

The ukranian player we've been linked with is yarmolenko.

Details:

Striker
23 years old
talented
likes sheva and likes milan, wants to copy sheva
we've had a bid of 20m already rejected for him in the past



--


Aquilani has come to a mutual contract termination with liverpool. He is now a free agent.

Sources are saying that he will sign a permanent deal with milan.



tmw/cds

Update:

Corrierre dello sport' paper has a big section on milan today and i'll try and summarize it for you guys:


They say that Milan had started looked for potential buyers for silva about 2 months ago.

Barbara had a meeting with silvio and asked that the club not sell ibra or silva and look for other financial measures to deal with the club debt, but silvio responded saying that things are going really badly and they don't have much choice but to sell players.

As well as offloading Thiago Silva, we are doing everything in our power to offload Ibrahimovic as well. They say that selling Ibra could potentially save us 65m euros.


They report that Silva to PSG is already a done deal. Milan will 42m recieve Euros + bonuses bringing it to around the 47m mark. Its reported that Galliani has already booked his ticket back to milan.


They report that Acerbi will most likely to arrive along with Dede or Silvestre as replacements.

-------


They also have Maldini's interview regarding whether he was involved in the deal or not:


Maldini:

"I've never received any offers from PSG, in fact I've been there only once in order to make a surprise to Ancelotti. Yes, I met with their president, but I've never been offered any position in the club."
Convincing Silva?

"To be honest,I don't even have his cell phone number.I'm a Milan fan and I hope Thiago will remain with us"

There goes any chance of signing a quality midfielder out of the window.

More mediocrity yet, if the reports that Silva will be replaced with some random Brazilian and Romanian players are to be believed.

It's baffling to think that a self-owned stadium could save us a bit from this financial mess but even that does not seem to be an option for the incompetent fools that are our management/owner.

Montolivo for free. Aquilani for free. Traore for free... absolutely no quality signings, let alone quality purchases. I was optimistic about this transfer window until a few days ago, but I guess that's because I hadn't realized how deeply we're sunk in ****.

Can't wait to start the new season with he likes of Dede, random Romanian dude, Auilani, Bendtner, Zigoni, etc.

/rant over

I find it very hard to understand what is happening. I understand the small details and nuances, but not the context. Why does it look like Milan is the only big club in the world who's financial security is in danger? How does Inter deal with all the problems, which frankly could/should be of the same latitude? Does it in the end mean that Milan was managed badly after all?

We need Jack Sparrow or R7 to answer that...

I remember when we sold Kaka, it was a good deal because it meant we'd not be in the red anymore and how well the club was being managed and how in a few years Milan would have the last laugh not free spending big clubs who simply could not see further than the end of their noses, etc etc blah blah.

Look how it's turned out. 4 years later and we again have to sell another star to balance the books.

Surely, either only the management of Milan are wise men and understand what's going on and the rest are morons, or vice versa.

even the year we sold kaka the final figure in the income statement was 8.9m loss... in 2010 the loss was over 70 million.. I have not been able to fin any other official figures after 2010 but i think that the loss per year is around 70m...

Looks like there won't be much of anything to support come a few days time for this club.

I'm basically speechless. This is the result of the bad management we've seen from the club directors over the years.

I really hope the fans show their worth come next season. I wouldn't cough up another penny for this Club. B & G are basically betraying the fans with the sale of Silva.

I wouldn't blame guys like Ibra and Cassano if they were to decide to leave. The management are turning this team into a mid-table quality side. And the repurcussions here could be endless. No quality means no CL for next season which means even more financial losses. It will become a vicious cycle

What's even more frightening is that no quality IMO does not mean no CL as the competitive level of Serie A drops rapidly.

each year it keeps becoming more and more depressing..

Everything now points at a broken ship being abandoned. I hope Belusconi's intentions are made clear soon enough to save so many passionate fans so much heartache. One day Milan will rise again. Till that day, we must unite in the knowledge that Milan has now become bigger than the sum of its parts(personnel). Milan is all of us. Rebuilding takes time and patience. But it will happen. Because it must. Because a burning fire like this never just dies away. From the ashes rises the Phoenix and the disgruntled lion worn on the hearts of our past heroes will roar once again.

As this chapter nears its last few pages, I'm less and less interested in player A or player B and bracing myself to look at the bigger picture and see myself through this transition without getting entangled in the bolts and gears of an obviously broken machine. Who can be the fixer(as Berlusconi once was) remains to be seen. I won't hold my breath though and I won't be too upset. Everything works in cycles and this one seems to be coming to an end. Until the new one, I will follow the events carefully from a far and observe my beloved Milan as it goes through changes and turmoils. Forza Milan!

Milan Channel aired today a still image of Thiago and Silvio, which wrote the following: "President, we beg of you. Please keep him!!!".

After the last day or so of incredible horrors with Rangers, I hadn't heard about this.

Great news to come on and read. Our best player being sold. And quite possibly Ibra too.

This just shows Galliani to be the liar he always was - and yet another footballer bullshits his fans by saying he's staying.

I have to say, the move is surely about money - PSG or Milan.

This is horrible news, I agree, but I assume Cassano's little homophobic outburst was posted on here yesterday?

Silva himself was, tbh, a 'random Brazilian' when we signed him.

by the looks of it Zed could be right as it is being that that the final decison will depend on Silvio

This is basically another Kaka to City bullshit, and I find it incredibly pathetic; "SILVIO, PLEASE, WE BEG OF YOU!" coupled with a "good-heart" picture of him

This just gets more and more depressing. what's happened to this club?



And he turned out world class, and that's not a given. that's why we should avoid going down that road again. too much of a gamble.

And can we sign this Dede dude for the same amount we signed Silva, only 10 million? I bet his owners have other ideas.



Well, so far it's gone exactly as I'd thought. we now only need Silvio to block it so we can have Silva for another season or so. but I'm afraid his departure is inevitable. rich teams will come knocking for him again and [to paraphrase Galliani] "we cannot afford to miss out on so much money"!

There is a philospohical question in all of this...would leaving now make one a gloryhunter? At the absolute core of it that VAST majority of us are actually glory hunters. When you break down the term glory - success ; hunter - searcher.

But I contend that like me, most of us here aren't particularly upset about our lack of success. We have been spoiled to 2 CL's in the previous decade and a scudetto last year. That more than satisfies me personally. But GLORY is not the reason I decided to plant my roots as a rossonero in 2002. I became a fan for the ATMOSPHERE and family mentality here. If you read any of my posts here or at the first forum I ever joined (soccerage (now goal.com) and milanmania) you would see that I didn't care too much about our aging squad. Back in 2002 I was impressed about the way we treated Albertini (as pointed out to me by another Milan fan), the family atmosphere and the commitment to accacking football, breaking any stereotype of Calcio teams.

However now this Milan doesn't seem like anything I used to support back in '02. The gentlemanly cameraderie has been replaced by iBra's over the top aggression and our philosophies of play have been butchered by $h!tlegri. But all fingers should be aimed at Berlusconi, who decidely has no real interest in us anymore and instead of doing the honourable and graceful and most wise thing i.e sell the club seems intent on dragging us to the hell that he's going to.

It sort of puzzles me in that Milan can no longer give him the popularity or the political mileage that he once had and if indeed they are telling the truth about losses, is actually a financial liability. Surely this much pride can't exist to the point where it is now a consuming and snowballling cancer which can be gracefully removed with the aforementioned pride kept intact.

Selling Silva doesn't bother me as $heva or Kaka's departure. Truth be told, he didn't usher in the successes that these guys got us. But his sale after the now laughable assurances from Galliani makes me wonder if we have any sporting ambition whatsoever. Granted this is all against the backdrop of harsh economic times throughout Europe....but if it's one thing my 29 years on this planet has taught me is that the rich are always spared from the worst of these things......If that weren't the case, France's 70% tax would have factored somewhere into this whole equation.

It's not a case of anyone asking him to go crazy and re-create the all star squads we had of yesteryear. That would be insensitive to the jobless and economically oppressed.....especially given that stadium tickets would most likely increase, which is always undesirable....With this present team...all we needed was a leftback and ONE f**king good midfielder and we were set to run with the rest of them.

Personally it's going to take a lot more for me to turn my back on Milan. But even Maldini is reduced to a howling voice in the wind....now resorting to the uncharacteristically low tactic of appealing to Berlu's ubiquitous ego and insisting that Milan is showing weakness by the sale. If one left now he could hardly be accused of hunting glory....just peace of mind I suppose

Galliani has returned to Milan.

i believe he will avoid the press until he meets with silvio..

Great post, man. Greatest I've read in quite a while here!

Problem is it's full of immature insults against those he dislikes. If he makes any good points, they're undermined by really childish namecalling.

True, but that's what one gets with him, obviously. It's just part of the Dru package!

Well I side with him regarding his opinion of Pirlo these days. Sadly, I find a lot of his other comments hard to get to amidst all the slurs.

This Silva thing could turn out to be the usual gimmick played by our management that zeddie has been talking about.

Given the expected revolt from the fans and players alike should Silva be sold, I think the management won't sell him at the end of the day.

The talk about clearing depts doesn't make much sense, because we all know that we'll be faced with the next problem come next year and the one after that. If Silvio wants to sell up, the new guys coming in would have to be like what City and PSG have. An endless amount of funds.

Best option would be for Silvio to sell at least 50% of the company at this point. Wouldn't that mean that the losses are shared equally among the parties? I'm no financial connoisseur, but surely there are more solutions that can be taken rather than selling our last real jewel. It's only a quick fix for this summer anyway, it's not something that would wipe out all our problems indefinately

I can understand that. I usually filter out what he says and get to the underlying message. Because a lot of the points Dru makes are pretty much valid, it's just his way of saying that I can see causing trouble. But all in all, there is no doubting his love for the club and a lot of our traditional values. Which sadly seem to have been sidelined.

.

Like I said, the usual "pull the rug from under you BS" from the management

Silva will be our new signing this summer so we better all be happy that we managed to keep him if no one else comes in. Such a BS tactic. It looks like we're about to burn more bridges with clubs like we did with City.

Slurs?

Wow Dude just say your piece and get on with it! You offered nothing but criticism of me. Instead of looking down on me from your most elevated and virtuous perch, it would be more constructive to offer an actual opinion if you are capable of so doing.
I am exhausted most dealing with your type...always searching for something insignificant to be (butt) hurt about, while the LARGER ISSUES loom menacingly . Telling another poster who I’m friends with, not to like my contribution because it contains my intentionally childish names is about as pathetic as it gets….meanwhile Milan is going to the dogs (apologies in advance for any dogs I may have offended)

Point form summary:
iBra = VIOLENT, overrated mercenary who demands all teams be built to suit him
Response : “oh dru why do you have to call him silly names”

$h!tlegri = No respect for our senators, traditions, ideals, philosophy
Response: “what childish immature names”

Grow a pair or block me. Or you could take the most butt hurt route of all and report me as your type seems to relish

You are only now seeing my words of Pirlo coming to pass because you are so taken up by my playful silly (injected mainly for my mischievous sens of humor) comments which is another tragedy and speaks volumes about your understanding.

Well I think this time is different from the $heva, and Kaka sagas:

1) World Record fee for silva - we all know how Silvio likes to brag about the profit he makes (as if he f**king scouted them in the first place )
2) I believe with the Italian economy in such an embattled state that there is (some truth) to the whining
3)He honestly doesn't care about anything Milan related so the quickest, most expedient route is Silva's sale
4)With question marks over whether he could actually be behind bars this time next year I wouldn't be surprised if he was trying to scoop up as much loose ca$h as possible

I don't think we're doing this as a getaway tactic from committing to this summer's signing campaign. The ugly truth is that we are poor and sunk in debts every year. As such, if someone offers €50 million for one of our players, we have to at least take it into consideration and see where it could go. It's only logical. That said, I don't have any false hope of Silva staying. Berlusconi doesn't really care about this club anymore. Balancing the accounts is clearly more important to him.

Silva gone or not, this is a low, low point.

No question about it. But looking at our history, we have been in much much darker places in the past, I have no doubt it's only temporary. Superclubs like Milan always find a way back eventually.

Fixed. Times, undoubtedly, have (and are) changing. I won't be 100% sure unless things in Italy improve.