I agree with Fillipo, but honestly I'd rather take Ganso than stay the way we are. His talent is undeniable.

Oh, and we've been linked with PSV's Strootman as van Bommel's replacement. Anyone knows if he's any good?

He's supposed to be very good and highly rated at least by the fine ppl at r&b

According to wikipedia:


Kevin Strootman made his international debut in the friendly against Austria on February 9, 2011, replacing Theo Janssen. The coach of the national team, Bert van Marwijk, is known to be a great admirer of Strootman, stating his "vision" as one of his best assets. He scored his first international goal against Finland on September 7, 2011.

Any midfielder with vision would be good. Especially someone who's young and still has a lot to improve.

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/7850531...y-espn-magazine

We are the 5th highest paying football club in the world
seriously,where the hell all this money goes?

Wait what? Villa have moved UP 10 spots from last year?

We surely have to be the worst value for money team (int erms of wages) in the World of sport!?

Saw a clip of him earlier, looked impressive (although we all now video compilations can be deceiving). Still, in Holland they give him as the natural heir of van Bommel, and many European teams are after him. I read that his cost is about €11 million, so not too much.

Yes, he is one of the rare players who posses footballing vision. If we can do better and secure someone better than him, then I'll jump, but if we can't, then Ganso could turn out to be rather magical. But for that players like Boateng and Nocerino will have to protect him with their lives, if we want to get the best from him.

A bit like the Pirlo situation (with Gattuso and Ambrosini protecting him). Let's see.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNChcH3EkWA...be_gdata_player
Sell Pato & Buy this guy!!

What's the use?

He'll just end up on the injury table like the previous Brazilian sensation.

Yeah if our reaction to the pato signing was introducing bovine growth stimulants in him water bottle and make him pump iron till he can't walk, then i can't see Neymar being given any escape from our approach to skinnier players.

1:25 - WOW!

Yeah there's, no doubting the kid's talent; its unreal, but we don't appeal to those with that kind of skill.

They prefer the Bara and the Reals, Man Citys & Chelseas!

And to be fair he doesn't fall into our main area of concern at this time.

Neymar could be a success in a league like La Liga, but I don't think he could play like that in Serie A. his game is very dependent on his dribbling abilities and that'll be a problem for him once he faces world class defenders (not jokes like this).

Well, it won't matter anyway as he will end up either at Madrid or Barca (probably Madrid) and toy with those defenders like Messi and Ronaldo do on a weekly basis and be a star as predicted.

That video..

It's shameful that these guys make a living by playing such a low standard of football. It's basically criminal.

Neymar is quite good but his price tag is most likely over our whole transfer budget..

I could not think of a more annoying player to buy than this guy! He's a dud

We don't know that yet, han.

I'm not willing to pay 30 million plus to find out. What are we??!! Real Madrid?!

Dream mode: If Spurs miss out on top 4 - Modric.

You can smell his kind from a mile away. Doing party tricks in the Brazilian league means absolutely nothing. Only that the player is an annoying little pr!ck who likes to show off. I'd rather find someone in Brazil with substance, a player who can offer us something once he steps into the real world where defenders aren't just pin heads who stand around to show off their cool gelled hair


Now he's a player of true class and quality. Could easily solve our midfield problems. But seeing as we're not even willing to shell out 6m for Aqui. I doubt we'd be willing to pay the huge sum Spurs would want for him

Nope, you're probably talking around £35m for him.

Ah, but close. Last time I checked we were the top 5 club in the world in terms of popularity, reach, marketing potential and sponsorships, these kinds of stuff. Which is massive once you think of it. Better than any and all clubs in Italy. I mean, you of all people know how famous AC Milan is in the Middle East, Far East, China, etc.

It's another thing we aren't harnessing that popularity, thanks to our pathetically shortsighted management.

He's pretty much annoying, and we don't need that around. Our team is filled with such characters.


But Aquilani is just about average, and I think this summer Milan will be stingy with the average kinds (snap up some freebies like Monty) to make a big move.

I wouldn't call Aqui average. He was doing some great stuff for us before the injury and now for some reason Allegri won't even let him get a look in because he wants his love child playing at all times.

Sure Aqui is no Maestro, but he's a good player to have on the team, and surely he's worth the 6m. We've paid twice that much for bigger duds in the past

This. Just keep Aquilani on the offensive duties, and he'll come out good, most of the time.

+1

Agreed, and even if we were to get a superior creative MF in summer (altough I'm not holding my breath on that), Aquilani can make a pretty decent backup / rotation player for us.

I think Montolivo will be our starting creative MF for next season. But we must also have a back-up/rotation player, and that's why we must not let Aquilani go. I don't expect us to sign any Ganso's or Eriksen's, we're simply too poor.

I think we got Aquilani on loan so we could wait another year for Monto's contract to run out, get him on a free and then send Aqui back to Liverpool. that could also justify why he isn't playing much.

I'm OK with that as long as we do sign a quality midfielder - XI material. Monto is never good enough to be in our XI regularly.

I think we'll sign someone. Maybe not so flashy as Eriksen or Ganso, but we'll get another player. And to be honest, I don't see much point in keeping Aquilani as a backup. Especially as a backup he can't do anything, he isn't the player to come in and change things fast. I'd rather try out Merkel as sort-of a backup then Aqui. If we get him cheap, I won't be against it (6 million is cheap IMO), but I'm sure we can manage to find a sub if he stays away.

Of course... yeah, this has to be it. Aquilani obviously is not staying, and is benched for this same reason.

Eriksen promised the Ajax fans he is staying, so he is off the market this Summer.

I don't get why people are complaining about Aquilani's "defensive" work. You think that if we brought in a top class CM such as Modric or the even more ridiculous suggestion of Fabregas from last season, that they would do any better in the defensive department?

These types of players are not made for tackling, winning the ball or harrying the opposition, Aquilani is in the same mold. This is the problem with Allegri, he expects every player to do this, and sometimes a midfield needs at least that one luxury player where his defensive incapability is more than made up for by the other qualities he brings on the pitch.

It's why Allegri couldn't handle someone like Pirlo or Ronaldinho

You wanna know why? Because Modrić and Pirlo and Ronaldinho can play a classic AM. Modrić is sometimes more comfortable playing a CM, but he can be a great AM as well. Aquilani failed miserably in 2 occasions, and Allegri pushed him back to play the left or right CM. And in Allegri's system this position means also substantial defensive work, especially if Nocerino is on the other side. This is why his defensive work caught my eye. He isn't exactly at fault for it - it's Allegri's system, but anyway.

Modric has actually excelled for Spurs when he's had that role. He started very disappointing for Spurs, but when VdV came in and Modric was pushed back to CM, he became outstanding.

But who? We failed to sign Witsel last summer, and he turned out pretty good for Benfica. I just don't see anyone of quality that we can afford. Modric is obviously out of our reach. Sahin?

I'm not talking about the AM position. I'm talking about a pure central midfielder. A creator if you will. Pirlo was never an AM and when he played as the deep lying playmaker he had other players covering him as his defensive work was nothing to boast about. Can you imagine Ronaldinho in a CM position without someone constantly covering his @ss. You think a flashy player like Cesc would be happy playing the role of a hard man?

No! These types of players want freedom to express themselves, and that cannot be achieved if they're shackled by defensive duties.

In our system the only creative area in midfield is that on the side of the midfield 3. Not behind the strikers. There is no point in talking about the AM position as we all know Allegri won't give up the runner in that area. Having 3 muscle men in midfield should be more than enough to let at least just that one player to have licence to do as he pleases.

You think it's worth it to spend a ridiculous sum on a classy player like Modric and than have Allegri play him as some sort psuedo defensive midfielder?


That's not the point that I'm making though. I'm not talking about the position on the pitch. As we all know that an AM is useless for us under Allegri, we need a top class CM. Someone who can control the tempo on the game from deep and be allowed the freedom to do this.

My point is that unless Allegri allows this player to do this than there is no point in spending big money if Allegri is going to turn him into a runner who has to defend more than anything else.

My main point was that Aquilani, as the sole creative player in that midfield should not be shackled into having to defend. We have VB and Nocerino who do that in there, yes he should be covering his space, but he's not a player that you'd expect to be defending like you would Nocerino or what Rino used to do in the past. It's just stupid to expect that. And if we do get in another CM, expect Allegri to want him to deliver that sort of performance, something that very few purely creative midfielders know how to do

According to TMW, only three players will renew: Ambro, Gattuso and Yepes.

Link

OMG!!

The worst of the f@cking lot!!

WTF happened with Nesta? Wasn't he favourite to renew?

Out of those two I'd say GTFO Gattuso. Keep the other two, along with Nesta and Bommel if he can spare another season. But from the way I see it, it's going to be another disappointing one, unless we sign some quality reinforcements in key areas. If not, then we'll probably finish 2nd or 3rd again.

And that's more of a surety if Juventus splash some cash, and bring in some good players too.

Things keep getting from bad to worse right now

Well we'll sign Muntari the answer to every one of our prayers

I think Nesta isn't renewing cos he doesn't want to. Expect a diplomatic answer though, saying he wants less stress. So we can never really say if the rumours about the dissent in the ranks are true. In a way I'm glad. Even if it was true, it would be embarassing if it came out.

If he's not renewing because of some internal dispute than it's complete BS!

Nesta is vital for us, we still need him atm.

We need to stop the Aquilani debate. He's mediocre any way you look at it. At Roma anc sometimes for Italy we all thought he was going to be something special but his brain, touch and technique aren't even on the Pirlo level - let alone Ronaldinho's.

I understand that with our starvation budget that also-rans like Montolivo and Aqua look like football gods compared to the Nocerinos and the Muntari's but really Aqua is simply a decent, creative CM with technique. Nothing more imho

Actually, Zambrotta, Gattuso and Inzaghi would be the worst of the f@cking lot. Ambrosini is our captain, and given we sign a quality DM for next season, I'd have no problem keeping him for another year. And Yepes isn't that bad, though personally I wouldn't renew his contract, especially if Acerbi is coming.

Isn't Abbiati's contract coming to an end too?

No, I think it ends in 2013.

Han, you're missing the point. Allegri tried Aquilani as an AM, or if you like in Boateng's position. It wasn't for a long time, but he did. And we all agreed he was bad in this position, I remember you saying it at season start and suggesting to drop him as LCM or RCM. Allegri did just that - but in his system, those positions must also cover some defensive work. So I think Aquilani is the prototype of the player Allegri struggles with.


It's sad. Nesta, Bommel and Zambro could have had another good year with us, the first to being regular starters.


Oh, it feels so sad. What's left of our Milan??

+1. I still hope we can somehow tie in and hold the first two at least for another season.

Zambro and Pippo were moot points as we were all certain that they would go. But from the ones left, those 3 are certainly the worst of the lot


And I think you're missing mine.

I know where Aquilani has been tried, I watched every game of the season just like the majority here. He was first started a LCM than Allegri tried him for 2 games behind the strikers and then shifted him to the right of midfield. And that was when things started to somewhat click for us, the only time they clicked for us this season in all honesty

My point was, that in Allegri's system the only midfield position that allows a creative player is at either side of the midfield 3, we have a midfield full of muscle men and runners, so at least one player in that midfield should be given creative liberty, Nocerino was given more licence to advance forward than Aquilani FFS. That's how lopsided we've been throughout this season.

And after making that point. Do you really think that any top AM is good at doing the defensive work Allegri demands of his mids. You think had we brought Cesc than he would have done a better job than Aqui at trying to defend? Highly unlikely

Naah, you're right with this one. Problem is, Aquilani isn't that good. If you have Cesc or Pirlo you say heck, they don't defend much but they're brilliant organizers - players who give the team rhythm. It's a sacrifice sane coaches are willing to make. But Aquilani is just Roma class; sometimes good, sometimes bad, never a winner, never the one who gives the team rhythm.

But my point is - in Allegri's system you have to be either able to play as a pure AM or do some considerable defensive work on the LCM/RCM. If you can't do that, then you're out - just like Pirlo and the others. He should have signed his precious Lazzari