Remember the crazy commentator, Crudelli? Well, according to him, Berlusconi has sold the club to a Lebanese group for around €1 billion. Things will advance in the summer, and the group will pay the sum in three rates of €300 million.

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As believable as a Nigerian lottery win, but just thought I'd throw it in there.

Unbelievable. But we shall see. What's he got to gain by lying, though?

Not following the way you've put this. Inter stay at San Siro, we are the ones playing in the new stadium.

Yeah, bad phrasing there.

How reliable is Crudelli anyway?

No idea.

He was made famous in UK for Ladbrokes ads.

He also attended Balo's Milan press conference.

He clearly still has some 'cred' somewhere.

Crudelli that is, not Berlusconi.

Even better than your Messi quip. Then again, Berlusconi never had any credibility, withstanding all the time and money he put into AC Milan, which I am sure all fans appreciate. But if his time here is done, I'd be very surprised a Lebanese group forked out this much cash and not those Khaleeji Arabs.

Maybe William can shed some light into this, with some of his local intelligence!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLoo3-bZG_Q...=13&list=WL

The president of the Lombardy region, Roberto Maroni (big Milan fan), had this to say today on Radio 24:

"Berlusconi has told me what he's going to do with his Milan but I am mute like a fish. You will find out at the end of the season, I think. I asked him if he's going to sell, he answered me, but I promised I wouldn't say anything."

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Well now..

No need to be sad. At least we had the privilege to witness these greats to play for Milan.

And this is the reason why I never sided with you guys who wanted so hastily to get rid of the senators. Because some of us here knew that Milan has lost it's regenerative potential (read: money and youth potential). So for me, it really does not diminish ones accomplishments with "over-staying". For example, I'd rather watch another season of the plagued and slow Nesta then a bunch of Zapatas, Yepeses, Ramis, etc. Same goes for Zambrotta compared with the likes of Mesbah, Constant...

Sad compared to how we've been reduced nowadays. And that was only ten years ago, not an eternity.

Can't agree about the senators part, though. We never expected things to crash like this. Unwilling to fork €500,000 for Rami, or going after every possible free agent on the market. Five years ago we signed Thiago Silva, Ibrahimovic, Robinho, Boateng. We (fans) thought had the resources to continue on this path, but the management betrayed us and reduced us to a mid-table team. Cos that's what we are nowadays: a sad, pathetic mid-table team...

I still see 2011's Scudetto as the moment it went wrong. Had a chance to invest 50-100M in 3 or 4 world class players to invigorate an already excellent but ageing squad, and we signed Mexes and SES.

€50-100 million has never happened with this club and was never going to happen. And frankly, we didn't need to. Mexes was a perfect signing, as we already had Thiago and Nesta. What we needed was a LB (although MDS was coming out of his shell by that time), and especially a couple of quality midfielders. In attack we were stocked with Ibra, Cassano, Robinho, Pato and El Shaarawy. If we had sold Pato to PSG for those blimey €30 million and signed Tevez even better. We would have also won the consecutive scudetto.

The degree of bad business this management has done after 2007 is mind-blowing. And there are still people who defend them...

Funniest rumor I ever heard.

A Lebanese group...Crudelli you had a plethora of actually rich countries to pick from to build your rumor.

Just what I thought, Will. Not outside the real of possibility, but come on, €1 billion to buy the club, and then further investments in players and all that? If it were any of the other rich Gulf countries, or maybe even Far East, then it would have been a slightly more plausible scenario.

Then again, the way things are heading, we may not be far off from a sale. Cheers for the confirmation, though!

Said Barca fans before they spent £75M on Suarez.



Yes we did. We rested on our laurels.



Nesta was 198 and on his way out and Thiago needed a foil. Mexes was a poor signing by those standards.



So we had one certain world class striker, one guy with talent but questionable temperament, a failed Brazilian dud, another who couldn't stay fit, and SES who was 3 years old.

Not that convincing.



I far more object to post-2011.

Who cares about Barça. If you thought we could have spent that much money you're way over your head.



Err, no, I disagree. A couple of quality midfielders would have been enough.



Nesta had one more season left in him. Mexes was signed as his eventual replacement, which at the time seemed about right. Mexes-Thiago would have been a very good pairing.



We're talking post-Scudetto summer here. Ibra, Robinho and Pato had each scored 14 goals in the league, and Cassano had been great in his first six months for us. I consider that convincing.

More buyer rumors: Carlos Sim, Mexican billionaire, second richest person in the world according to Forbes. Repubblica (Italian newspaper) claim it's a credible rumor.

In regards to the coach, Montella is the main candidate for next season.

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Beat me to it, X. Things take a turn for the interesting, then!

Some people did. R7 for example.

We signed Ibra and Silva (for a €10 million fee). Robinho was, in Tennie's word "poision" and marked as "get rid" material, whereas Boateng came via Genoa which was a sign of weakness. Every other move we made was a sign that we're heading into a dark place. Finivest above all was the definitive sign.

But we stopped making big mash-ups long before. The last truly Milanesque signing campaign was about 01/02. Afterwards the Shevchenkos and Kakas of Milan were sold, and in came the Oliveiras and Ronaldinhos (past prime).

On the other hand, products like Darmian, Antonelli, Marzorati, Verdi, Paloschi, etc. struggled to get a spot in the team or showed little signs of being actually worthy of consideration. And Milan, like all great teams, had to rely on their youth. Look at all great long-lasting clubs (bar Madrid perhaps, but that's also debatable). Look at how Bayern became strong and top again: when? After they lost players like Effenberg, Kahn, Linke, Scholl etc. they had to wait and grow the likes of Müller, Schweini, Kroos, etc. No different with Barcelona, where Sergi, Guardiola, Amor, Abelardo got replaced by Puyol, Xavi, Iniesta.

So, to be great, you have to invest and to grow your own trademark talents. Milan did that in 1994 in the midst of a crisis. They did this also earlier ago when they introduced players like Albertini, Coco, Boban, etc. It was majorly important that veterans like Baresi had young players like Maldini; they could pass the torch.

Already in 2007 I was nagging about how we do not have the youngster and fresh material, players who could have "receive" the torch. MDS came to late, Silva didn't stay as long as we wished.

All in all, my point is - do you know what the last truly emotional Milan thing for me was? When Inzaghi scored his last goal in his last match. A pretty fine goal as well. Now, to have one more season (Inzaghi was really finished, like Rino, so no debate on this) with Clarence or Ambro instead of the drag queen Aquilani or God forbid Muntari/Essien...well, I wouldn't object.

I get your point, but I don't think I fully agree. You try to dismiss those signings I mentioned, but Silva cost us €10 million, Ibra cost us €24 million, Robinho cost us €18 million, Boateng cost us around €12 million if I recall correctly if not more. That's €45 million, a sum nowadays we don't even dream of spending. Then let's not forget the relatively high price we paid for El Shaarawy the following summer. We could spend, at the time it looked like it, so the senators leaving seemed more like getting rid of a burden then a problem. Who would have thought that only one year later we would completely dismantle our entire roster, sell our best players, "start from scratch" and lower our ambitions to 3rd place/EL placing? Skeptics, like R7, yes. But rationally it was a big shock for everyone.

No arguing about the youth system, though. Totally agreed there.

Meh. Usual leaks of promise then Berlu once again says NOT SELLING!

You make it sound like we splashed €45 million in one summer. Yet things are different. We signed Silva for €10 million in 2009. It was the same year that Huntelaar joined Milan for for €15 million, but we earned about €80 million by selling Kaka and Gourcuff, which puts this in another perspective entirely. Then next year we got a co-ownership with Genoa over Boateng, Ibrahimović was signed for a total of €24 million but spread around over few years. Robinho came in, as you mentioned for 18. That year we also got €10m for Borriello.

So all in all, we spent as much as we earned from big transfers like Kaka or good deals like Gourcuff and Borriello. As soon as we stopped having superstars like Kaka or Sheva who could be easily sold for a mega amount, we stopped investing bigger money. Silva and Ibra were our last big cash-ins.

R7 isn't just a skeptic, he knows the economic point of Milan better then you and I. But it was foreseeable. To put it very simple: Milan stopped producing talent and at the same time, went economically broke. So it had to happen. People naively thought that by getting rid of the senators we would get space for new players. But the problem is, those players weren't half as good as they seemed. I remember how people drooled over Montolivo, Aquilani, etc. How some of the posters here declared, in a most celebratory fashion, how things will be better when we get rid of Pirlo, Ambro, Rino, Nesta.

But the problem was always there, always evident: Milan went broke, Serie A changed and the "talented" players like Constant or Montolivo proved to be less of a success then expected. In the end, it has much to do with the fact that we easily say this or that player should come or go, while we rarely think through it or have the conscience to admit our mistake.

I think you're under playing the negative contribution that keeping those senators had on our bottom line. Their exorbinate contracts were a crucial contributing factor in the economic decline we experienced. Obviously there were other structural and national economic issues that also contributed but the fact is that there were many senators who were making large sums and not producing on the field. Were we not stuck with those large contracts there could have been more money available to go after truly great players and we wouldn't have been reduced to the Constants of the world. This is easier to see in hindsite but Galliani made a massive blunder when he doubled down on aging stars whose on field contributions cratered not long after their paydays.

You're right about Silva, I forgot we signed him the prior summer.

Again, I get your point, but personally speaking I would have never, ever thought things would degrade to such pitiful levels. The summer we signed Aquilani we were aiming to get Hamsik. Remember the notorious Mister X? Obviously De Laurentiis wanted big cash, so in the end we lied and said our target had been Aqua all along. But we had still an ounce of ambition. We were Italian champions, had a pretty good team and were fighting for the Scudetto.

And in all honesty, I don't think anyone ever wanted Pirlo or Nesta out of this team. I only criticized Rino for his last season, which was by all means terrible. Then guys like Ambro and Seedorf were cutting 37. They weren't producing enough anymore, so it's understandable why some people didn't consider them vital or important. It's easy to talk in hindsight, but I repeat, before that diabolic 2012 summer, not one rational Milan fan would have guessed we would succumb to where we are nowadays. At least that's my take on it.

He's Lebanese btw.(hence that older rumor perhaps..)

Ha, good catch.

At the time those were good signings. One was to shore up an already top class CB area, the other a move for the future.

No one would have expected that just a few months later the management would turn around and sell off all our best assets.

Exactly.

Gazzetta on the front page today:

- Many players will be leaving at the end of the season. Only Bonera, Abbiati and Abate's contracts will be renewed;
- Bocchetti and Destro will be signed permanently, although the fate of the latter will also depend on his performances;
- Baselli should be the first new signing;
- Defense and midfield will undergo a complete overhaul: in defense, only Lopez, Paletta, Antonelli and De Sciglio will be confirmed; in midfield, Montolivo, Honda, Poli and Bonaventura; in attack Menez, Cerci and Destro;
- Alex ( ), Rami, Zapata and El Shaarawy will be be sold;
- The various Nocerino, Niang, Matri, Saponara and Gabriel will have to be placed somewhere;
- Inzaghi will be let go. Montella, Spalletti and Klopp as the possible substitutes.

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It's funny how we're keeping Bonera, Bocchetti and Paletta, arguably our worst CBs, and getting rid of Mexes, Alex, Rami and Zapata, who are better players overall. Huh...

Hmh, no I don't see it that way. Bonera is an old routine who surely won't cost much and can cover all areas, sometimes with horrible mistakes, sometimes good. Paletta and Bocchetti probably cost us less then the others, so they're more then suitable to be subs and backups. This is what I've been talking all along. Mexes is finished any which way you look, Alex, Rami and Zapata have pretty much all the same problem, especially Zapata and Rami: they're too good to be backups but they cannot be defense leaders and don't suit our ambitions. Classic Valencia and Udinese level players. As soon as they sing for such teams, they'll flourish again. Alex? Not sure. Maybe his time is over, don't see any viable reason to prefer Bocchetti or Paletta over him? How is his salary?

By that logic, we're only keeping Bonera, Paletta and Bocchetti as subs, and getting rid of the others to sign two quality CBs. Because otherwise it makes no sense.

Yes. This would be logical. Get rid of quantity (Alex, Mexes, Rami, Zapata), get more quality. And in the end we have 5 CBs (two of which can play a fullback) - the ideal number.

Sounds good, if it happens.

By that logic, I'd rather keep Zapata and Rami as the backups instead of the horribly bad Bocchetti and the underwhelming Paletta. Add to that giving Bonera another needless extension.

He can play all areas? No, he's terrible at LB and an absolute nightmare in the centre. The only position he can pull off decent performances in is at RB. This guy is simply finished

Mexes and Alex imo are both good players, better than any of the others. But if them leaving means someone really good actually comes in, I'm all for it. I just don't see that happening. If we're letting both go just to sign players of Paletta level, than I'd rather just keep one of them

Well, Bocchetti and Paletta have been recently signed and should be given a chance. I'm not sure how much they earn, but my guess is below Rami and somewhere around Zapata (1,6M).

I'd keep Alex. Mexes is our biggest earner, and for that (along with Montolivo) he hasn't shown much. He may be our best defender, but that only speaks of our defense.

Bonera? It's practical to have him around. I think he's a overall bad player, but I get why we still want to keep him. For a 4th choice LB and a 2/3rd choice RB and a 3/4th choice CB he's more then good and cheap.

I think we've probably seen enough to assess that both simply don't cut it. I didn't know Bocchetti before but after seeing him with us, I can't see what value he'd bring, even as a backup and at a lower wage, btw, 1.6m for someone of their level is sill too much imo. Paletta I knew before hand that he wasn't good enough after seeing him with Italy. What drove us to actually buy him is beyond me. Btw, Bocchetti is on loan last I heard, so we can still get rid of him without much hassle, if we do offer him a permanent contract, expect a saga along the lines of Mesbah, Constant and Traore the summer after this one when we're trying to offload him but he doesn't want to leave and clubs don't want him because of his big wage

Mexes' contract is about to expire, so the wage issue isn't one at all. If we decide to renew it would certainly be for something much smaller, less than half of what he's currently earning.

No, I simply do not agree about Bonera, what point is there of keeping him? He's no better than Zaccardo. He's not even good captain material as someone who's a stable force in the dressing room. Yes he is our most senior outfield player, but that alone is a ridiculous reason to give him an extension

I know people will disagree, but if it were up to me I would renew Mexes' contract and make him and Rami our starting CB pairing. They work well together, have shown it under both Seedorf and Inzaghi. I would focus all our financial resources into signing two quality midfielders: one to replace De Jong (even though if we were to hire a new capable coach, like Montella or Klopp, perhaps they might manage to change his mind?) and a playmaker (Witsel, Gundogan etc.). I feel confident that with these signings and an experienced coach we could easily fight for the 3rd spot.

So one match made you decide on Paletta? Again, I don't think it's enough. And once more, if Paletta stays, acceptable would be to keep him as a backup.

But I think you're pretty much biased to your own forgone conclusions. For example, some players get to be marked as "good" and you say they should be doing much much better but it's the toxic Milan environment that makes them look out of shape and bad. But then you don't cut some slack for the new signings, but you still advocate Cerci, who's been so far our worst signing (which is the opposite of his potential).

So let's be honest and put the "toxic environment" argument for one second aside. What has Paletta so far done so bad with us that Zapata or Rami haven't already done? In fact, why do you think both Rami and Zapata are better then Paletta? Because, from my perspective it's like this: I've seen much more of Zapata and Rami over these years. My assessment is that they're useless, too good to be backups, to bad to be starters. They're very prone to mistakes and suitable candidates for a midtable club. Now, maybe Paletta will fit right into this description, but why is it that you already made up your mind on Paletta but still somehow rate Zapata and Rami who pretty much have a terrible season (especially Rami)?


I think you're the only person around Milan who try to ignore the elephant in the room. Firstly, you make this sound like it's a piece of cake, like Mexes would agree on a lower wage in a blink of an eye, whereas potentially lucrative offers from the various US-teams, Monaco or PSG or who knows which team wouldn't count.

Secondly, you disregard his behavior. I think he's a "rotten apple" and it's better to part ways with him. He may be our best defender, but the guy isn't getting any younger while mentally he's still a rookie hothead. He's impulsive and unpredictable, and coaches seem to try to avoid him, which makes me question his influence on the team overall. I think everyone knows that...


Well, in fact, IMO he is better then Zaccardo and always was. But as I said, for me it makes sense to have 1 such player who covers all the areas needed to be covered in a dire situation. Such situations usually happen 2-3 times in a season. And I'm positive Bonera could make a solid outing against the various Chievo's and Bologna's. He's better then all the other potential 3rd choices we have or could have (Zaccardo, Albertazzi...).

I don't know man. We haven many problems.

Firstly, I think Rami is by no means starter material. Mexes or no Mexes, he's a very average and mistake-prone player. So, I think we do need at least one very good defender. I'd release Mexes and spare his wage bill, sell Zapata and Rami (potentially even someone else in defense) and get one really good defender for the money.

In midfield we agree, but I think there's no way de Jong will be staying. It seems to me Milan and NDJ made up their minds. So yes, we need a quality destroyer/tactical player and a creator. Gundogan is a bit overrated IMO and would hardly join Milan, maybe only if Klopp would really come (which seems far fetched to me).

Now I do think we have a problem in attack. Your XI projection has Cerci and Destro, but may I remind you that they're on loan and it's really questionable if the two will stay? If they go, we have a problem in that department as well.

I would be perfectly fine with your solution. I just went along with the Mexes and Rami one because it's simpler and I truly think our main problems lie in midfield, which needs the utmost attention this summer.



Isn't Cerci staying for another year with Torres in Madrid? Wasn't that the deal? As for Destro, yeah, we have to fork €16 million for him, part of which we should make up by reducing the roster to 23-24 players.

Investments are needed this summer, absolutely. This time around we'll really see what the ambitions of this so-called management will be. Another summer of loans, rejects and free agents and we can kiss goodbye to our hopes. Here's to wishing a new buyer takes over...

A new buyer. That's probably the only solution....

And by the way, I think €16 million for Destro is too much. I don't value him that high, but let's give him a proper chance.

Funny, barely 3 appearances for either and they don't cut it, when you dismissed the Alex & Mexes partnership failure based on one appearance.

Why is it few appearances is relevant for certain players, but not enough to judge for others?

Count me as one of them. I don't want Mexes in our shirt ever again. That goes for Montoc*ntio too.

I knew you'd be the first.

I also knew you were slightly baiting me

Would be an insult not to bite

Agreed


I did mention that I've seen Paletta with Italy as well right? Not to mention having witnessed him with Parma in the past. I said this before we even signed him because I HAD seen him before enough times to see the type of player he is. And he's just not good enough. Certainly no better than Rami or Zapata.

And I do concede that both of them are mistake prone, especially when they don't have someone to hold their hands and lead the line. But they're both good when they do have that type of partner, both have shown this when playing next to Alex or Mexes imo

Bocchetti? You talk about honesty, so tell me, have you honestly seen anything from this guy that shows he's a better option than either Rami or Zapata? Because he's played over 5 games now and so far what I've seen hasn't been anything to write home about, after his first game Danny had already made up his mind about him, and I myself told him to give him more of a chance than that, but really, can you honestly tell me that he's a viable option to keep as backup and give him a permanent deal for probably big money

Also, might I remind you that I was equally against the deals for Paletta, Destro and Cerci, for various different reasons. I want to give all of them a fair chance, but with Paletta I know for a fact that he's just not that good and we have about another gagillion defenders, so with him there's no need to force any hope for him to succeed, unlike with the other 2


I forgot to add a disclaimer to that. Basically if Mexes does not agree to the term we simply tell him goodbye. So yes, it is THAT simple for me. Offer him a 1 year deal for 1.5m. If he accepts good, if not, then no hard feelings.

And yes, he is our most naturally gifted defender, I simply don't care that he at times loses his head. Just like I couldn't care less with Ibra and Balo. At this point are we really still trying to sell the Milan class BS and that players wearing our shirt should conduct themselves in a certain manner? Because this thing was thrown away years ago, first by how our management acted and by the players they brought into this team, and this did not start with Mexes.


For me all we need is 4 FBs and 4 CBs. Anything else when we're only playing in essentially one competition is ridiculous. Our fitness levels and terrible physical shape is the reason why our players get injured so much imo. And this is something that a proper coach with a proper training regimen would fix imo


Bocchetti has played more than that, and IIRC I was the one who told you that we shouldn't jump the gun on him when you had already written him off after one game. But having seen him some more, I know now that you were right, so take that and run with it

As for Paletta, as I told Filippo, I've seen him enough times (and not in a Milan shirt) to know him enough as a player to make my own assessments about him, and he's simply not that good. At least not better than either Zapata or Rami.

For me seeing someone enough times in a consecutive amount of games is what I base my opinion on a player on. With Paletta I saw him before (both with Italy and Parma) as I already said and with Bocchetti he's been starting regularly for the last few weeks now so I think I've seen enough from him to garner a basic idea of the type of player he is.

Han in 'Danny was right' shocker. I'll frame that

As for Paletta, I don't deny he's not impressed me hugely since joining, but then central defence relies on the right two players, the right kind of partner, and NONE of our defenders are being given that privilege.

I think it relies more on consistency, I don't think it matters much who the players are. I personally don't believe that there's a rule like you do that one has to be a leader the other the foil.

I think it mostly relies on the chemistry of the 2 players and that can only be built through consistent playing time, and none of our players have gotten it. Mostly as a pairing, but also as individuals. It's, imo, the major reason why we're such a mess back there. They don't have an understanding, they don't really trust each other, they don't communicate at the same level, and this has nothing to do with the spoken tongue.

With Paletta, I've just personally never been impressed by him. I scratched my head several times when Prandelli called him up for the WC, even more so when he started him...