Sky Italia says that Madrid accepted Napoli's €40m bid for Higuain

Read that earlier as well. Apparently all that's left is contract details.

Napoli are seriously loaded but making idiotic moves imo.

The budget they had could have easily made them Scudetto competitors along with Juve but they've pretty much wasted it on average players

Callejon, Albiol, Higuain. Basically the unwanted guys at Madrid.

I agree about Albiol, but Callejon and Higuain are good singings IMO.

They're good players, don't get me wrong, but they are certainly not worth the price Napoli have paid for them.

We got Balo for 20m, to say Higuain is worth well over 30 is just ridiculous.

Jack mentioned every Club having fodder players they don't really need on the wage bill, but here's the difference. These guys were excess at Real but they managed to make a combined amount of over 60m for them. And we couldn't sell 2 of our dead weight for nothing if need be because no one wants to take them for the kind of money they've gotten used to earning at Milan

Higuain is a goal machine. He's scored 122 goals (plus 46 assists) in 266 games for Madrid. And he's only 25. Is he worth €40 million? I don't think so. But given the prices of today, it's not that crazy.

As for Callejon, they only paid €10 million.

Yeah, but they don't have an idiot running their transfers as we do

circumstances R7...circumstances.

Balo was having trouble at City though

Let's not forget he was photographed in a physical fight with his manager just a few days prior to being sold.

And this is the thing with us.

Either we're getting misfits or over the hill players.

Teams like Napoli, PSG, City, Monaco have to pay huge fees because just their club name cannot attract these guys so they simply outbid the competition.

Us on the other hand are a club that can compete with names like Real and Bayern when it comes to history and prestige, no we can't offer the type of wages that PSG are giving their players, but unless you're Messie or Ronaldo Real, Barca, Man U etc won't give you the ridiculous sums that PSG gave Ibra and Silva for example either.

Higuain is a productive player, but is no where near the level some of the top strikers around are at. He's just a run of the mill finisher with good skills. He's worth 15 to 20m at best. The amount they paid for him is just ridiculous.

I think you're underrating him. Cavani and Falaco are also run of the mill finishers with goods skills, but they score shitloads of goals, and so does Higuain.

In theory, yes, they are made out of the same mould in terms of categorizing strikers

But you really can't put him in the same bracket as Cavani or Falcoa.

He's certainly not good enough to justify the money they're paying for him imo

He's not in the same bracket as those 2, but he went for 20m or so less and I don't think he's 20m worse than those 2 ether. He'll score 20 or so league goals and that's what they need.

And score 2 or so goals in the CL He usually did well in La liga (will have a harder time in Serie A, not sure he'll score above 20) but he really have a very poor CL record.

Well the market is inflated atm, because of the likes of PSG, City, etc.

But when you're thinking in the context of Napoli who do not have a sheik funding them than that kind of money is huge. Whereas the 60m PSG paid for Cavani is pretty much irrelevant.

So imo, Napoli made a terrible deal on this one. They could have easily gotten him for less as most of the interest in Higuain had dwindled down to basically nothing since Juve got Tevez and Arsenal are chasing Suarez shadows.


You have to consider this as well.

He's been prolific in La Liga but a bit of a failure in the CL. You have no guarantees that he'll be returning the kind of numbers he did in Spain while playing in Italy.

I just think that with the 60m Napoli paid Real to get those players they could have gotten better players had they not jumped the gun.

Yes, that is true.

And you guys are jumping the gun about his transfer. He is not a Napoli player and there is a good chance he won't become one as there are huge contract issues. All that was reported was that Real accepted €35m bid from Napoli.

Agreed, plus the player's preference is Arsenal. Economic terms are much more feasible in England than Italy.

But that usually effects the clubs rather than the player who still earns the amount of money he's agreed to rather then earning the NET amount and then having the tax deducted from that like any of the rest of us would.

So it's mostly a problem for the clubs rather than the players imo.

Sure he can't be given a ridiculous contract but I can't imagine Arsenal giving him more than the probable 4m Napoli would. Don't they have a wage cap?

I'd say Napoli have more financial resources right now than Arsenal. They've been spending like crazy. Reina is the latest signing in that regard.

And Higuain is almost official.

Yep, 37m

Real are getting away with daylight robbery if you ask me. Napoli, could get 2 great players for that kind of money. But oh well...

Is it the most expensive signing in Serie A history?

It could be...

Parma sign Munari and Acquah

While reading it, I thought for a second that they have signed Muntari. What a happy second it was..

Hahaha, me too!

Me 3!

Ah, the curse of eagle eyes. Too much writing and editing means I rarely read stuff wrong. End results? I missed out the fleeting moment of happiness. Come to think of it, I think this Muntari guy is going to be here for a fair while, unless his performance completely drops. Scary thoughts, scary thoughts!

Paloschi scored a hat trick today.

He's now on 13 goals for the season (same as Balo if I'm not mistaken).

So the question now is... Who thinks he is ready for a Milan return?

I think we should sell him while he's doing so well. If he comes to Milan it would only be to warm the bench as a rotation guy. And that would be a waste, both for the player and for us as we can make a pretty penny off him atm seeing as he's doing so well

I can't see him really making it with us tbh.

@Trini

I believe he can do well at this Milan, he faced problems with a stellar lineup here in the past, at the moment he could add to our arsenal upfront. This considering Robinho will leave and Balotelli might go looking for CL football come this summer. In which case a need for a forward would be a pressing matter, sometjing I find a chance in for Balotelli.

That's probably true.

I just didn't want to admit it...

I've always wanted to see him return, but in reality I knew all along that it probably for the best if he moves on.

The 2012-13 thread wants to know why its peaceful sleep was interrupted. Trini, j'accuse!

...

What stellar line-up? Pippo with only one good leg left to stand on or Gila? Because that's when Palo made it through and even then he couldn't get a look in past a Coppa game

He's not the type of striker that will work in our team, look at Pazzo, even he's struggling. We don't need another poacher. A 4-2-3-1 formation with a poacher upfront is far from ideal.

Plus add to that, he'll always be viewed as the Primavera kid who got co-owned and he'll continually be overlooked. The only player who managed to break out of this is Abate. The rest like Boriello for example could never really shake off that tag.

Consider it this way, after Boriello had a similarly good season at Genoa we payed 10m for HALF of his contract (which I know is completely idiotic on Galliani's part because that means he valued him at 20m ). So I think this would be a great opportunity to earn around 10 to 12m for him if we sell him now

I think we should give him a chance back with us. Paloschi is not quite the typical poacher alla Pazzo, and the fact that Pazzo scored only 2 goals is worrying.

Pazzo has come off a long lay off and isn't getting regular football. I think it's normal that he's struggling

And if we give Palo a chance where he'll spend 95% of the season on the bench doing nothing, his value will plummet. We'd have wasted a great opportunity to make some very good profit, which we need to improve other areas of the pitch atm

Pippo?, I wasn't even thinking of him tbh ... I had Ronaldinho, Pato, Ibra, and Kaka in mind. He wouldn't be able to find space. But with this line-up, and considering we are releasing Robi, while Balo 'could' be sold, the player has a chance here (come to think of it, he has a chance even if Balo stays).

Its an opinion han, we are not dictating Seedorf's selections here are we

can we just settle this tussle in 2014, where it belongs !!

Hmm, but Palo was a part of the team while Pippo and Gila were our only options and I think Pato (IIRC) was during his first season here when he wasn't allowed to play the first part of the season due to age

I don't think Palo's time here overlapped with Ibra's and Dinho's. And really, Kaka and Dinho are AMs, they really have nothing to do with competition for a striker's place.

But they are all attacking players. And we owned palo since then, we could have played him with us, but as usual the competition upfront. How many times did he come along to a pre-season retreate or pre-season training and assessment only to be shipped of on loan.

With today's team, id like to see him here now, after gaining experience in Serie A, he would do us more good than any other striker we might get by way of a pinch of the pocket.

The thing is, I don't think Pazzo's form is exclusively linked with his long term injury. Sure, the months without training and practice took their toll. But I see him struggle in a formation that is usually very suitable for strikers of his affiliation. Look at Kanu or Kluivert with van Gaal. Or countless other examples. The systems Seedorf implements has to rely on a poacher as well. That's why I don't get why Seedorf doesn't try to give Balo the "Litmanen-Müller" position.

Ah, now I see what you're saying, but still, I don't really see any space for him in the side, don't forget we still own Matri and lost over 13m on him as I can't see anyone wanting to pay even half that for him come this summer.

I think Pazzo and Balo are good enough for the front line, I don't think he'd get any decent amounts of minutes if we brought him back even if we do not have the options you listed above. Balo and Pazzo would still be preferred ahead of him and really, we're talking about a single position here, so chances will be reduced to the off chances where both Balo and Pazzo are out.

Like I said, I think it will be a wasted opportunity to make a good profit on him, if we keep him with us for a season his value will plummet


You're looking at teams of a previous generation of football and players. These days which side that deploys a 4-2-3-1 plays with a poacher up front? All of the sides play a more technically gifted type of striker. Pazzini is the perfect example of a poacher, which is why he's struggling in the team atm imo

Paloschi isn't exactly a poacher à la Pazzini/Inzaghi. He's more technically gifted, and I really think we should bring him back, regardless of what formation we play.

I didnt notice, till you said so

Guess the lads miss Allegri already

I don't think he's that technically gifted. No, he's not Pippo levels of bad on the ball, you'd be hard pressed to find anyone that bad Pippo was barely a footballer, he was just someone who scored for fun.

But I do think he's on the same level as Pazzo, he's not going to pick the ball up in midfield and dribble, he won't rotate with the 3 behind him, sure he can make a good pass and even better see it. But that's about it. All things Pazzo can do as well.

I just think it would be a total waste to bring him back and then let him waste away on the bench while his price drops to peanuts. Especially when we have a good opportunity to sell him for good money and bring in someone for the positions that do need to improve

Let's get a poll out of this...

Should we bring back Paloschi back back or sell him?

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Btw...

I'm really sorry I resurrected this topic in the wrong thread now, look at all the out out of place discussion & debate I have caused!

Bayern? Ajax? Plenty, as far as I know. Only Barcelona tend to avoid any kind of poacher. And well, this isn't a historical system I'm mentioning, it's still quite effective.


Right.


I think it's a total waste investing into Pazzini. Don't get me wrong, I kind of like Pazzo - but he ain't getting any younger or better. While with Paloschi we have a true Milan product that should IMO get at least a chance. It's not that we're filled with stars in attack or something. One leaves (for example Balo) and another get's a month or two injury (SES) and here we are with Paloschi playing more.

And don't say that injuries are an unpredictable thing. With Milan has become traditional.

Naah, don't bother man, it's not a problem

Cheers!