Very well said. Not only we are inflating our wage bill with useless players, we are also reducing the potential of our youth players.

So we're getting stuck with Biabiany AND Taraabt??!! WTF?

Getting stuck isn't right because both are on loan, no? It's giving Seedorf some space for his tactics. What would you expect us to do in a winter period?

Well, technically, it is getting stuck. Both turn out to be dud, and we send them back, and we are not only back to zero, but maybe even minus zero. We'll get no where at this rate, not that we are getting anywhere in the first place. But I can clearly see how this shtick is disappointing. Because it is.

I don't follow. They return and we have all summer long to contemplate our moves.

Taarabt? God it gets even worse.

And for the record I was always upbeat on KPB when everyone else wasn't but this one? No, not at all.

But that's the point. We keep on doing this again and again, contemplating one move after another. Stop gap solutions, hoping they will work, instead of setting sights on a real target and getting him in. I know, I know, this is the winter window, but we pull moves like these all the time.

It has not been a total waste with Honda arriving and all that, but boy do we need streamlining of not just the squad, but also our approach to the market. Buying freebies, loaning them in, and then sending them back? Where's the chemistry in that? Not everyone considers Aqulani an AAA talent, and neither do I.

But he could easily have found his place in this lineup. Instead we loan him, suck him dry with 24.5 appearances, and then pack him up. These new signings could potentially be the same (unless we have a stoke of luck) and then back to the drawing board once again. Same with Boban. And a bunch of other such moves.


You can say that again. I'll give him a fair chance, but boy tactics like these can leave one speechless!

Taarabt is only 24 - could Seedorf be the one who makes him reach his full potential on a consistent basis? I would like to think so.

We will see.

I think he will suit Serie A more then the EPL.

So, good news and bad news. The good news is that Biabany won't be coming, since Parma wanted Saponara and he didn't wanna go there/we didn't wanna give him up (not quite sure which one, maybe both). The bad news is that we're stuck with Zaccardo, again.

Link

24 or not, he is a hit or miss kind of a player (more hit, usually) with a bad attitude. Now where have I seen a player similar to him? Oh yeah, Milan, with "Mr. Practice Celebrations Before Scoring". Sure, Seedorf can make him come good, but before that he has to come good himself.

Still, it's a clean slate, and one can only hope for the best, now that things have changed. There'll be plenty of time to do otherwise, if things don't go our way, that's for sure.

This whole transfer market has been bitter sweet

Boban? How is he connected to all this.

Naah, I get what you're saying, but there's little to no choice now. Things just permanently changed.

There's this kid Mario Pašalić from Hajduk Split with great talent. He spoke to Milan and Lazio, was on the verge of signing with the Roman side, but then Abramovich stepped in and signed him for Chelsea. Rarely do those kids want history or a "love story", they want fast track money and Mourinho, and that's what Milan cannot give you anymore.

But you are right. We're not changing are strategy. The core of this has to be in the developmental and scouting section. We have to give more emphasis on our own youth system and we have to get better scouting jobs. That's an old story dating from the 1990's.

Constant refused Napoli because his wife didn't want to live there.

Link

Unbelievable.

Sneaky loan, then sending the player back. Sure he didn't exactly set the world on fire with his time here, not that he got all that many chances either. We all would like a player rated 100 or near, and the kid only got average marks in the 60 range, but he was still better than the duds we have now.


Sadly, yes, you leave no room for disagreement. This is a change with permanentness. Now we need another one, just in the positive direction. It may still come now, but I'd be more confident if we signed a coach's coach. Not another experiment, even if Seedorf knows the game inside out, and is a club legend.

Pile of perfectly polished pots! This just hit me, I meant Bojan, not Boban. Idiota!

Now I know why you call him Krkić, Fillipo, easy in, easy out. Little room for error.

Oh. Now I'm relieved! I thought I'm crazy or something. Especially since Boban really was sent to a one-year loan to Bari. But that's a different example.

I think Seedorf is the best we can get. I'd rather try this experiment then settle with names like Spalletti.

A change will come the moment Milan gets sold to another owner who'll be fresh and willing to take up losses for the sake of the club and reputation. This is the only true positive step, everything else is just managing expectations and making the best out of little.

Yeah, things are very early right now, one can afford hope. True changes, I agree, may only come with an owner that is fresh into the thick of things and willing to part with coins, or a management team that listens to the fan base and start buying players that can be relied upon. Not superstars, but just some solid names.

Oh, and stop making painfully pathetic purchase like Matri or sign players like Muntari. Have a semblance of vision and stick to it. The biggest reason why we find ourselves in the mess we are in is not Berlusconi, but Galliani. And his team of idiots. If we had anyone with a full ounce of brain, we'd be sitting 2nd or 3rd right now.

But that, again, is with the right set of players, and someone that knows coaching.

LOOOOOOOOOOOOLLLL

The king of the spelling patrol makes the biggest error of all!! Too good to be true!!!

Lapsus calami that is

The tragedy of it all is that I did not make the mistake once. But twice. So it was a kind of a nitrogen brain freeze moment. It took me less than a second to realize it once I hit the submit button on my second post. Luckily, for our friend Fillipo, I clarified it all. I can imagine, sitting here, him going nuts reading my second post.

Kid? 60 out of 100? Loan? Sneaky? Oh my! That too for a club icon, that Fillipo really admires!

By the way, since the transfer market is about to end now, and by that token this thread is primed to be closed, I was just wondering if you guys can throw around your final ratings for the transfer. Keep it out of ten, 1-10, with ten being the highest. Not the player rating, but just how effective his signing you think could be for us.

Just the player name, and the rating next. Nothing fancy. I'd start, but I don't even have the full list of players we managed to sign in this window. I'll follow up later in the day, with my numbers.

In terms of our transfer window, had we stopped after Essien and managed to offload Zaccardo in these last few days, I'd have given it a 10 out of 10. Because we would have achieved what we initially set out to do.

But in this last week it has degenerated into the usual MO of going after average players who's only place is a mid-table club who will do nothing but inflate our squad and wage bill

all these bad-mediocre players are even leeches ffs...

8/10

I don't mind Taarabt. Should have sold Zaccardo, though.

Probably a 4. Got rid of some bad players, but the likes of Essien, Honda and Taraabt I'm not a fan of.

Arrivals:

Adil Rami (Valencia) - Loan (€400.000) with option to buy.

Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow) - Free transfer.

Andrea Petagna (Sampdoria) - Return from loan.

Michael Essien (Chelsea) - Free transfer.

Adel Taarabt (QPR) - Loan (free) with option to buy.


Departures:

M'Baye Niang (Montpellier) - Loan (no option to buy).

Alessandro Matri (Fiorentina) - Loan (no option to buy).

Jherson Vergara (Parma) - Loan with option to buy 50%.

Antonio Nocerino (West Ham) - Loan (no option to buy).

Nnamdi Oduamadi (Varese) - Loan (no option to buy).

Alessio Innocenti (Barletta): Loan with option to buy 50%.

Simone-Andrea Ganz (Barletta): Loan (no option to buy).
---------------------------------

A 5 from me. Started well but ended with the usual mess. Won't be easy to offload so much **** in the summer.

You guys are nuts. 4? 5? We got two very good players, a decent back-up and someone who could turn good, all for free. Sure, I would have preferred Nainggolan over Essien or a quality winger over Taarabt, but at the end of the day this is just the January transfer window, miracles can't happen.

Even Mediaset gave us 7, the highest vote alongside Juve.

Link

I think Seedorf needs more time, this window is not enough. Incremental improvements (not that I expected a bang ).

Freebies and loans, id give that a 7. But not making CL football will hurt when the summer transfer window comes.

Agreed with X & R7.

Baby steps...

Mediaset gave us 7, Gazzetta 7, Tuttosport 6.5. This taking into consideration that 8 is usually the highets vote for Italian papers.

Our transfer window reminded me of



Which is great tbh , it was good transfer window. Ok we didn't let go of some players we could have but nothings ever perfect.

By the looks of things we are really going down this money ball route which is great in the financial position we are in. We won't be high flying in the CL as much but hopefully will get us CL football consistently. We have some great young players coming up to.


http://www.citypress.co.za/sport/moneyball-meets-football/

No doubt alot of Serie A clubs have been doing this for a while , to stay afloat.

A few interesting articles on Goal.com.

<http://www.goal.com/it/news/7/calciomercato/2014/02/05/4595251/il-milan-si-prepara-a-unestate-rovente-45-milioni-pronti-per> is basically saying that we will have some money to spend this summer, something in the order of 45M. Some data points:
- Missing CL will cost us 30M, but ...
- Recent contracts made with players have a clause that reduces salary by 20% if Milan does not make a European competition. With player salaries at 105M, that would be a savings of 21M.
- Additional savings would come if we get rid of excess players (in particular Mexes and Robinho). Personally, I will believe this when I see it, as our recent track record shows we are not good at unloading players.
- The article also has some suspect looking calculations that yield 45M as the amount we could spend

<http://www.goal.com/it/news/7/calciomercato/2014/02/05/4596273/pazza-idea-cellino-per-il-cagliari-galliani-presidente-al-fianco-?ICID=HP_TS_2> is basically sayng that Galliani is being offered a job to run Cagliari. Apparently the team is going to be owned by the Al Thani family from Abu Dhabi, who have strong links with Galliani (as does Cellino, who apparently recommended him for the job). Have mixed feelings about this. It is time for new management and new ideas. OTOH, who do we have that can step in? Barbara? (Hmm ...)

<http://www.goal.com/it/news/7/calciomercato/2014/02/05/4596452/calciomercato-milan-altro-colpo-low-cost-nel-mirino-piace?ICID=HP_BN_1> links us with Alex from PSG, who apparently is not renewing his contract. We are also linked with Vidic, Musacchio, Doria from Botafogo, and Martins Indi from Feyenoord. Only familiar with Vidic. Any insight on the rest?

I think it would make sense for us to go that route, but ... do we have anyone in Milan management that is thinking in these terms, and do we have anyone capable of making the right choices? The articles seems to indicate that football is harder to model than baseball, and some of the early experiments in this area were not all that successful.