Not sure how he would fit into our system,but he's a guy we used to drool about a lot..and could be handy on loan with option to buy

First of all, thanks to all of you who replied to my first post.

(Yes, “OTOH” means “on the other hand” and no, you are unlikely to gain much insight from me - grew up in the days of “Tutto il Calcio Minuto per Minuto” and moved to the US in the late ‘70s, so until recently had limited access to football.)

I find the idea of Matri or Pazzini quite distressing. AFAIAC, Matri’s finishing skills are no better than Robinho and he does not create nearly as much. Biggest plus I can think of is that he played for Max a couple of years, and that is not much of a plus (I fear this choice is largely a result of Max’s desire to regain control of the locker room). On top of that we are funding Juve’s transfer campaign, which makes it even more distressing. Pazzini is almost as bad, but at least there is (or there was) synergy with Cassano (assuming the latter stays). IMHO, keeping Lopez would have been better than either.

At this point, I would rather take a chance on Pato and spend the money to improve defense and midfield.

"AFAIAC"

As Far As I Am Concerned.

As Far As I'm Concerned.

That's how I felt as well until acid and jack shed some light on things

@ FM (can I call you that Forza Milan?), yeah, the whole Matri situation is doubly depressing for me as you know 10m would be enough to close out any negotiations they have with Arsenal for RvP. At this point I'm just hoping that Galliani wouldn't be THAT stupid as to actually buy ANYONE from Juve.

Pazzini is on the same level of mediocrity as Matri. Don't want him anywhere here.

And as you said, if the choice came down to either these 2 or staying as we are than I'd easily choose the latter option.

Get a new CB and someone creative for the midfield and be done with it. What's done is done and panic buying on these guys would match the errors of the past such as he infamous Oliveira, Huntelaar purchases after Sheva and Kaka were sold

I agree that we should stay the way we are if our only options are Matri and Pazzini. I'd rather spend those €10 million on a quality leftback instead.

Milan lose sight of Rolando


footballitalia

(Yes you can call me FM, and AFAIC = as far as I am concerned :-))

Huntelaar is not that bad (seems to be doing ok in Germany), I think we used him in the wrong role ...

(But I get your point.)

We aren't going to attract the very best any more, so no 25+ goals a season scorers or players mongst the best in Europe. If Juve can win the league with Matri as their lead guy, clearly he won't be an issue - problem is a large part of the rest of our team are an issue now.

Ah, yes. Huntelaar is pretty good, too bad we just used him like a total noob. A new player adjusting in a new league, and what better way to assist him than play him in a NEW position. Hunter at RB still gives me the shivers. And despite that, what little he played, he won us points and scored wonder goals.

I'll never forget his last one for us, the one in which that freak Borriello scored, and Huntelaar answered with a left-footed scorching volley from outside the box, minutes later. What a way to cap it all. With him still here we wouldn't be looking for a striker, and have had a quality one for a couple of millions per year.

I really wish Galliani would outline the clubs ambition level. What's our mission statement?

Agreed. However, I am not sure I would trust anything I hear right now.

Unfortunately, you have to think in business terms. I believe that recent actions (like selling key players) are the result of decisions made in the last board meeting. Galliani has been acting rather strangely in the last couple of weeks (more than usual), so I would guess he was not expecting some of these decisions. Who knows what else was decided. For all we know the team is up for sale (I have been involved in some M&A activity, and the last thing you want to do if you are selling a company is to announce it publicly). OTOH, it may just be that everyone is scrambling to figure out how to recover from the impact of recent actions. The fact that we are obviously in need of players to replace the ones we sold is not helping us (other teams know that we have some money and need players, so they will bump up the asking price). Also, (if I understand correctly) the transfer window just closed in Brazil, which limits our options further (making it more of a "sellers market").

The one thing that appears obvious to me right now is that the team is being restructured to operate without losses (possibly in preparation for a sale). Short term this will no doubt reduce our ambition level. The questions burning in my mind are (1) can we be competitive enough to qualify for CL, (2) can we make it at least past the group stages of CL, and (3) can we rebuild using young players that can turn into future stars (which includes having the guts to give them some playing time). If we can achieve all three, things should improve in future years. If we can't, I fear we are in for a rough ride ...

And who knows, maybe Berlu is just freezing spending this year because Guardiola will take over next year and rebuild the team to his liking. (One can always dream :-)).

(Before you ask, M&A = "mergers and acquisitions".)

Nice dream, I like that.

I'm with Kurt, Matri ain't that bad. I don't think that he's starter material but I think hes a better sub than Robinho based on Robinho's shot to goal ratio. (I think its 1 to 1million right?)

Matri isn't that bad?

The amount of chances he misses regularly should be enough to put anyone off him. Add to that that he's a target man in the mold of Gila etc, etc. And I wouldn't know the first reason as to why we'd want him anywhere near this team.

So yes, he is that bad and if it came down to it I'd rather give El Shaa time than spend money and resources on this guy

News:


-We have pulled out of the Rolando deal. He is very close to a move to Fenerbache. 15m + 3m bonus.


-We are linked with Hernanes. 16m price tag.


-Milan fans have started protesting at Via Turati. A man was seen pretending to be a milan representative asking for donations. Protests are set to continue tomorrow.



-we have identified our next target. Center back, Yanga-Mbiwa from Montpellier. price tag is @ 6m. His contract expires in 2013. He's 23 years old. (this guy is very talented. If we get him, he'll be a proper replacement for Silva if he is able to adapt to Serie A. Fast strong, tall, good technique. Much better than Rolando)


-Chelsea have bid 20m for Lewandowski. It got rejected. We were linked with him a while back but we pulled out after chelsea entered.



-We are after Bentdner. Wenger is willing to let him go for 5-7m. We are also after Diarra and Strootman, but the price tag may put us out of the competition.


Santos president: Robinho? We have had contact for a long time and the deal was being made ​​but then the sudden sale of Thiago and Ibrahimovic have complicated things. Milan no longer wish to sell him"




-The media believes that we have set forth a low spending policy. Our budget is extremely low, lower than many of us believe. This could mean either two things. Self sustaining or sale of club as forza milan pointed out.



sky/mn/fi/goal



--------



Yang-Mbwia would be a good start for us if we signed him.

Wow... Why don't we just sell the rest of the strikers, get Bendtner, Pazzini and Matri and start them in a 3 man attacking line. See if 3 mediocre players might do the trick when they combine forces, sort of like the power rangers

This is getting too depessing, can't take it anymore. I'll do my best to resist reading the rumors until August 31. it's better to be disappointed once than a few times every day.

I mean, there was a time when following the mercato used to be fun, we used to be linked with awesome/exciting players. now it's just Milan being linked with every average/nobody player available on the market who in the end turn out to be "too expensive" for us. it pains me to see even Fenerbahce can beat us to players nowadays.

As much as people have talked about FFP, I just can't accept that FPP is the only reason we are being like this.


Theres alot more going on here. How can we be this poor. I don't buy it. I mean ffs We made 40 million of the champions league, only 2m less than barca and they were in the semis.


That board meeting at milanello a few weeks ago had a huge impact on our club. In the 7 years i've observed milan (with extreme detail), I've never seen a board meeting bring about such a sudden change in club policy.



I mean we go from having a budget to selling players and having zero cash. It just doesn't make sense financially.


On top of that, Berlu and Galliani have been extremely quiet. They won't explain why or whats going on. They won't even outline what our plans are.



Thats why I believe there is something deep going on here.

Allegri: This year, it will be the year zero for milan"



It means either we will win f*ck all or its the start of a brand new (midtable) club

I'm willing to wait until August 31 to see what happens to this team, but I agree. this is not normal even for a team bracing itself for FFP. personally I hope Berlu's planning to sell the club and clearing the debts is part of the procedures. if that happens, I will have a good laugh at all the FFP talk we've had here.

Blue, as much as I love your news and I even share them with others too, I can't agree with you. Yes you are right when you say that Milan is the only club "afraid" of FFP holding themselves from big transfers while the other clubs still are spending high, but that doesn't mean it'll always be like this. I believe Milan is a big and stabil club, that's why G&B want to be precautions by balancing the books this year, in order for us not to be obligated to sell the big players in the next years.

If after this season we manage to balance the books in that way that in the end we get a positive (at least 5 million) budget and continue with this trend (of course growing from 5 million year after year) then I don't mind if this year we buy no one else. If we go by this trend of low cost mercato then in the next season we don't have to cut more wages or sell more players to pay debts, 'cos we wont be having such high wages to get us a minus budget. I know this is not a solution, but I believe/hope we get a new stadium and till then we have to use your other options more wisely.

A friend (@MilanDiavolo on twitter) who has really connections inside Milan told me that Milan were ready to pay 16-18 million Euros for Leandro Damiao, that means that we are not that broke. But as Milan even I believe it's not necessary to pay 25 million for him when he's not worth that much. We can't let Brazilian team squize money from us.

So my point is that we're not the poorest club, we just want to make a smart mercato, get what we need.

Maybe your right, I don't know anymore. I'm just gonna wait until the end of august to judge.

But so far from what i've been seeing, its not too good. We have probably around 30m to spend on two key players. I just don't see how its feasible.


Ibra and Silva are probably top 3 in their positions in the world. any replacement we get is gonna be a lower standard and thats fine as long its not too big of a drop. Someone like Tevez or Dzeko i'd be fine with. But we are going after Matri, Lavezzi and Damaio? That is a huge drop in standard.


I mean Damaio is good and an upcoming talent, but he like the rest of brazil is unproven. So i'm not too optimistic letting go a 30 goal striker and one of the best CB in the world in his prime and replacing them with what we've been linked with.

I think Jack made already clear that that had to be done.

Ibra is 30 years old, and let's face it, with the energy he spends on the pitch it's not that he'll play for more than two or three seasons. You are forgetting that we still have a fit Pato now, who I storngly believe got after his injuries, a Cassano who did good in Euros a Robinho who has more reposonsibility now after Ibra's departure and an El Shaarawy who is one of the greatest prospects these days and I think that whoever comes, will be a backup. And I wouldn't mind Matri as a backup, he's a decent player and with Cassano next to him, the guy can score goals.

As much as people underrate Mexes, I believe he's the best defender we have for the moment and he's one of the bests in Serie A. The transfer of Arcebi was a great deal as he has the potential to be great. It's understandable and uncessesary to make an argument that Milan will go for another defender, someone in level with Arcebi. So we have 3 defenders, two of them starters and a decent backup 'cos of injuries or any other rotation. Bonera would be our 4th defender, who I wouldn't mind, especially since he had a better season last year.

It's not necessary to call them direct replacments, with a proper rotation of these players we'll still have a decent squad.

http://www.calciomercato.com/milan/ecco-pe...-vendita-699281


Calciomercato has ran an article on Milan being sold. They believe that the recent sales are because the board has decided that they no longer want to support the club and they want to offload it to investors. Hence, we are clearing the debt.

Furthermore, that 500m fine that finnivest has had made his family pressure silvio into selling so they don't have to dip into family funds to pay for it since it was silvio's fine.


Silvio is also gonna run for office so he doesn't want an expense like milan on his plate every year.

Finnivest shares



Wow they are @ 1 euro. LOL. That is shocking, no wonder his kids don't want to support milan. Thats gotta hurt.

That's not really true and stats CAN back something like this up. Ibra was great, but even he only scored 1 every 4/5 shots last season. It's also worth pointing out that this is also massively skewed by all the penalties he had which are obviously easier to score, if you take these out, then it's 1 goal every 6 or 7 shots - Matri scored 1 every 6 last season - The previous season for Cagliari/Juve Matri scored 1 every 4 shots, which is pretty lethal. So I don't think he's particularly wasteful at all.

Galliani: "The fans are unhappy? We are ready to reimburse the money for any season ticket holder who is not happy with the direction of the club in the transfer market"



What a joke. Thats a slap in the face for the people who've supported milan for so many years.

That stat alone does not say much. I have watched little of Matri but from what I've seen he's more depended on others compared to Ibra who creates much on his own. If you only take shots when they are set up for you, which most of the time means you're in better position to score especially when we're talking about a box forward, you're probably going to have a better goal to shot ratio than when you try and create on your own and end up taking a couple of bad under pressure shots here and there.

What he said:


Add to that, since you're focusing on stats, look at Ibra's assist and goals, even without the penalties. And then compare that to the mediocre number achieved by Matri and tell me how he can possibly begin to fill in for a player like Ibra.

Matri was one of the biggest reasons why Juve were so impotent in front of goal last season. You really want to bring him here. And pay Juve actual money which would fund their RvP move?


If I were someone who purchsed a season ticket I'd ask for this reimbursement pronto! What a ****. I guess now he's showing his true colors. No more heroic sacrifices for the fans I see. People wanted a statement of intent from the management, nothing can be more clear than this, a literal f u to the fans

Ouch! Just looked at the charts for MediaSet, they were at ~7.5 euro 5 years ago! So if you are one of Berlu's kids, spending 60-80M per year on Milan probably feels like a bad idea right now. Add to that the state of the economy (which means that the stock is unlikely to skyrocket any time soon) and higher taxes in Italy. You can see why the board was a little grumpy.

On related topics:
- I don't think we are the only team worried about FFP, but I agree that FFP is not the main factor in recent decisions
- We have *some* money to spend (not zero money). However, it is not as much as we would want, we have a lot to cover with that money, and other teams know we are in a "must buy" situation. Hence expect Galliani to keep operating in "bargain hunting" mode.

I still think we can still have a competitive team (with slightly reduced ambitions), and can build from there. Let's see what happens between now and the end of the transfer window. And let's keep in mind that other factors (injuries, Pato's performance, Allegri's choices, etc.) will also have a big impact on the outcome of the season.

Yup. Maybe Max thinks he can get him to be more productive. However, I am finding it real hard to get excited about Matri.

Who said anything about assists? Matri as we all know is a finisher and nothing else. You hae a tendancy to do this a lot han, in which to call someone crap you try and compare him with one of the most complete forwards in football.

Take away the penalties and Matri has scored more league goals than Ibra in the past 2 seasons - take into consideration Matri spent a season a Cagliari/crappy-Juve too..

He is not mediocre, that's all I'm saying. In fact he's closer to World class than mediocre, but he's neither.

And, in fact, he was being considered for the Euro squad. So, perhaps I need to keep an open mind. Still ...

You also have to consider that Allegri is the one who put Matri on the map at Cagliari. It also should be considered that the Juventus fans are not sitting outside Juve practice and chanting for him to not exit because he sucks.

If you think we sold Ibra and Silva to replace them with two people who are just as good, then you are going to be sorely disappointed. We replaced them to start a younger and more complete team as well as to clear some debts. Don't expect any big purchases until the end of august. Teams know that our fans are restless and that means the price tag will just go up and up. Once it gets to crunch time and they have a cash bid on the table the day before the market closes and prices will do down.

Are you serious? Have you even bothered looking at the names in our squad right now? We're in deep sh!t, and unless we sign 3-4 quality players in each role (CB, LB, DM and FW) until the end of August, we'll end up like Inter and finish 6th in the league.

The only positions I consider to be a priority are center back and defensive midfielder. The others are not URGENT, and we can wait till 31 August to see if there's a good player to transfer for a fair amount of cash.

We have the GK's position covered, so no need to talk about it.

We have Abate who's overally decent to start in the right flank and we have a backup for him who's already as good as him and if he gets some play time in two or three years can become better than him. We have four left backs, from whom Antonini is mature enough to start (not that we had someone better in previous seasons too) and we have Didac Vila and Taiwo to replace him, who need more time with Milan before we can judge them, and we have Mesbah who isn't not good enough, but at leaste we have someone to cover if there is a need. In the center we have Mexes who has enough experience and skills to be a starter and probably own every striker in Serie A, while we transfered Arcebi who for only 6 months achieved to enter the team of the season in Serie A and has lots of potential to improve in the future too. I admit, we need another CB to be more sure.

It's clear that Ambrosini can't play in front of the decense and we need someone there, quickly. With him as a backup and Montolivo playing on the right and Nocerino on the left, we actually have a better midfield than we had last year, knowing that Montolivo is better than Aquilani and I expect to transfer someone better than Muntari or the 35 years old Bommel. We have good players to replace the first team, the likes of Flamini, Toure and Constant are great runners who have four lungs. I know there is no creativity, that hurts and kills me, cos I'm somone who loves the type of Pirlo players, but at least we have Montolivo and Cassano to create something from nothing.

In the attack, we are still the best in Serie A. We have four great strikers, but we lack a typical finisher, who's physically better than them. I trust Pato, Cassano, Robinho and El Shaarawy will do a good job and I see a very dynamic attack with them forward. I wouldn't mind somone like Matri, but in the other hand I don't consider it to be a serious matter, to go crazy and pour lots of cash on.

First team: Abbiati, Abate, Mexes, Arcebi, Antonini, Montolivo, ??? , Nocerino, Boateng, Cassano and Pato.
Second team: Amelia, De Sciglio, Bonera, ???, Didac Villa, Flamini, Amborsini, Toure, Emanuelson, El Shaarawy, Robinho.
Others: Gabriel, Yepes, Taiwo, Mesbah, Constant, Valoti, Ganz.

EDIT:

I forgot to add, I think that this team is strong enough to get us to the 3rd place and get over this crysis, if Allegri forgets about ChampionsLeague and concentrates on Serie A.

+1 Can't understand the optimism guys.

Quite frankly, at this point in the current proceedings, I'll be surprised if we qualify for the Europa League next year. Unless we go out and start making deals, we are about as screwed as the Argentine National side would be without Lionel Messi. I say the lads in the offices should call up Arsene Wenger's boss, offer to match whatever Man U offer for RvP plus we throw in Mesbah, and shell out whatever cash we have left and see if we can't pick up someone like Sergio Ramos, who I've wanted to see in a red and black uniform for some time now. Trying to follow up what Ibra did for Milan would make Matri and Pazzini look even worse than I do on the pitch, and we'd still have to worry about Juve getting RvP and ripping us to shreds with him 2+ times a year. I'd like to see Bendtner here, but for the love of God, Galliani, grow some balls and spend some money! I do NOT want to watch us fail this year.

Very nice .. Will you be going down with it? Or will you jump ship?

+1 (for the entire post), though I am still hoping we can get through the group stage in CL.

Also agree 100% with Dracoris "If you think we sold Ibra and Silva to replace them with two people who are just as good, then you are going to be sorely disappointed. We replaced them to start a younger and more complete team as well as to clear some debts. Don't expect any big purchases until the end of august. Teams know that our fans are restless and that means the price tag will just go up and up. Once it gets to crunch time and they have a cash bid on the table the day before the market closes and prices will do down."

(Sorry, still need to figure out how to include multiple quotes.)

I am still not fully convinced about Matri, though (I have seen some "Robinho-like" misses from him, he is not that young, I don't want us to give money to Juve right now, plus I believe we need a quality mid more, and probably a decent CB as well).

You're being very optimistic, but I don't see it the same way. I must admit, that if we at least sign one quality CB and DM, and if we have as few injuries as possible, then we might field a decent enough starting eleven. However, our back-ups stink, to say the least, and our coach has proven to be an absolute n00b in these past two years. So, yeah, unless we get lucky and only play our best men day in and day out, we might actually grab that 3rd place. That's me being optimistic.



LOL, Galliani has got nothing to do with this. He only operates on what budget the club provides to him.



He already mentioned a few days ago that he'd follow Milan to Serie C1 if it came down to that, so you already have your answer. We're all pledged milanisti here.

That was Fillipo I think(or my memory sucks)

How's that for a milanisti X-Off, eh?

A very rational post, I like and believe we are three or four signings away from competing again (given the team as is). Sure we miss stars like Ibra, Silva, Kaka, Seedorf, etc ..

As MF said, we will be focusing on a younger team, building the foundations of the team again. We can not go on operating the way we used to - We will need Juve, inter and Roma in contention for Europe. Italy looses a lot with just three seats for the CL. Hence lesser funds to Serie A's most competitive teams. A younger team for us, build a new core and start targeting titles two/three seasons down the line .. This is the most difficult test Milan will have to face under the Berlusconi era, that is for sure.

Hm, I'm pretty sure I read that somewhere. Maybe it wasn't Blue, oops.

Since when is it our business to what degree someone supports a team?

-

As for Galliani, he acts and talks like a girl who's having her period these days. I think something is bothering him. seeing Milan in this state, maybe. he knows we will struggle in the league for a top 3 finish and get humiliated in the CL.

Well said....I wouldn't even label you a gloryhunter either....if everything you know to be Milan or the club you've come to know and love has changed then all you'd be holding on to are random colours that signify an organization you feel nothing for....I felt this way when Kaka left....because it effectively meant the "family atmosphere" thing was coming to an end.

The way the Curva treated Maldini and the way supposed Milan fans boo Seedorf were just more nails in the coffin. But since then I've become a stubborn c**t and it's going to take (a little) more to throw me off the rossonero bus