Abate, excluding guys like Zaccardo etc, is considered one of our lower earners, earning something along the lines of 1.5m (somewhere in the region).

No one's mentioned that he wants something ridiculous like 4m per year. I'm sure he wants what he considers fair in terms of his importance within the side and in comparison to what other leeches on this team are earning.

And yeah, Raiola is an issue, but Abate is a product of our youth system, I'm sure that if the management talked with him, they'd reach an agreement that all parties would be happy with. Abate never said that he wished to leave.

And let's look at it this way, selling him will create big headaches for us as seemingly the only option available to us out there is Criscito, which would mean moving DS permanently to the right, and Zenit want good cash for him, which would mean spending any money we get from selling Abate on Criscito (if not more than that as Zenit don't seem eager to sell and they don't really need to money either)

Well, you do bring up valid points. But I cannot blame the management for something I don't know and/or understand. I see only frictions but 1) Abate's sale being a issue for almost 2 seasons now, 2) Seedorf not playing him and 3) the contract negotiation rumors - made me think something complicated our relationship with him. It sure sounds easy when you say he's our youth product and the management can surely settle with him on the salary issue, but that's just an educated guess.

The Seedorf issue is a moot one as he's no longer our coach and every news source has agreed that Pippo plans to have both him and DS as his starting FBs next season.

As for the on-going issue of his contract, I can only imagine that it's been the same one for all 3 years now. Which again brings us back to the ridiculous as during that time they've had no issue giving ridiculous contracts to countless players who ended up being complete leeches.

Let's not forget that Traore (!!!!!!) was earning a sum that is very close to what Abate is earning!


Just to add a bit more to this, Criscito's agent confirmed that he will be staying at Zenit as they don't want to sell him. So if we do sell Abate expect another season of Constant on the left and DS on the right

A little bit of good news, Robinho was not included on the US tour so this could only mean that a deal to sell him to Orlando could be reached very soon.

Milan US tour squad

Goalkeepers: Abbiati, Agazzi, Gabriel

Defenders: Abate, Albertazzi, Alex, Bonera, Constant, De Sciglio, Mexes, Rami, Simic, Zaccardo, Zapata

Midfielders: Benedicic, Cristante, Essien, Mastalli, Modic, Muntari, Pinato, Poli, Saponara

Attackers: Balotelli, Di Molfetta, El Shaarawy, Honda, Mastour, Menez, Niang, Pazzini

Some interesting names from the Primavera in there, hopefully Pippo will continue to give them chances


And looking at that squad, we have too many CBs, not enough FBs

Zaccardo needs to be asked to GTFO, and one of Mexes or Zapata will probably have to be sold, don't know if we're planning on keeping Albertazzi

Indeed. Good news.

Where's De Jong?

I suppose he's recovering individually from his WC injury, no?

I'd keep Albertazzi. People had high hopes on him, why not try to integrate him?

Who's Simic now? I keep loosing track with the new names around.

Maybe he still has injury problems

Maybe but his injury wasn't that bad (he played in the semis after all) and there were rumors on twitter yesterday that we either renew or sell him. I really hope it's nothing transfer related.

Though he might have been given a longer vacation. According to this, he will join the team in the first week of August.

Santos' president: "There's no chance that Robinho will return to us. His salary is too high."

Looks like Cerci is our number one goal, according to shitload of sources.

I'm ok with zaccardo. Frankly speaking, I'd even prefer Zaccardo to bonera as backup RB. He's pretty solid. I think most of the outrage about him is his age but he's been as fit as anyone this summer and is better defensively and at crossing than Abate ever was...

Have you seen Zaccardo play recently? He's so slow it takes him nearly an entire half to get up the pitch, let alone cross the ball. He's supposed to be a CB but he's a defensive liability there and he's slow AND a defensive liability at FB. The guy is a waste of space and only belongs in bottom table sides.

Bonera is a reliable RB is nothing else

Young? Martinez will be 28 in October.

Well, one more reason not to go for him. I really had no idea he's that old.

??

How did you get to the idea that Zaccardo is better at crossing? No, both Bonera and Abate are better, and since I don't rate any of them very highly...

Mediaset says we could get Armero on loan for LB.

We might actually get some decent cash for Robinho

Cruzeiro have made a bid, while Orlando are still in negotiations

Let the bidding war commence I say!

Heh, the irony...I just want him gone. What a waste of wages.

How much did we buy him for back then? 15 million? I expected much more from him. The only great performance I can recall of him was the 4-1 win against Arsenal I think.

*4-0

We signed him for €18 million.

His career has pretty much been a story of wasted potential. He really did have the ability to be something truly special.

De Jong's on vacation until August.


Simic is another youth team player.

Inzaghi has said he is keen to send him on loan in order for him to get regular playing time though.

Oh, thanks.

I hear various reports (goal.com, ghheadlines.com) that Olympiakos renewed their interest in Michel Essien.

Didn't know they were interested to begin with. Good, maybe we can sell him for decent cash and get him off the books.


According to the usual round of sources, we're interested in Douglas Costa, Galliani met with his agent (the one with the name I can't spell, he's Tevez's agent as well IIRC) and we're also interested in Romulo.

Don't know how much weight I'd give to either, we're seemingly only focused on either guys we can't get or guys we don't really need

I can't see us getting much for Essien. Wrong side of 30, always injured, hasn't really put out regularly good performances for about 6 years.

- Cruzeiro are out of the race for Robinho due to his high wages demands. We have to find a "parking spot" for him before the MLS starts in March.
- As Fillipo mentioned, we're interested in Douglas Costa
- Galliani dined with Taarabt's agent, we might still be interested in signing him
- Monaco are ready to offer €20 million to Torino for Cerci

Source: Mediaset

Great, that takes us out of the race

I thought the Taraabt situation was the opposite of that. He's not part of Pippo's plans

I'd really love it if we could go after Shaqiri...

...any links or just your wish? He's a winner, we'd need such players. But it's a dream.

Wish. We are linked with no one special right now.

How good is Douglas Costa?

Juve are heavily linked with him, the only way we'll ever go after young, exciting, talented players again is if Silvio sells the Club.

As of now, we'll continue to sign troubled rejects, free agents and average players.




Also, if we can't get rid of at least Robinho and Essien this summer, plus reduce Mexes's wage, I really can't see us making one decent move.

Very good! unfortunately, his name is a smokescreen for cerci, i suspect...
He'd be coming to a team outside of europe and that can't pay him very much.

The price is being set at 26M...I think the only way we get him is if Balo leaves...

He's playing in Russia. Does CL really matter in the face of all the other circumstances he'd have to deal with if he stayed there?

What circumstances? You make it sound like Russia is a warzone or something?

Well, they're certainly not ideal, if I was working there and it wasn't my home country and I happened to have an opportunity to work elsewhere, I'd certainly take it.

a ) Ukraine
B ) he doesn't need to play elsewhere to not be there...

and lastly c) do you think his choice is between us and Shaktar or could you imagine a world where other teams might want him?

Sorry, for some reason I thought he played in Moscow... Not that the situation in Ukraine is much better atm.

What does B mean?

Well so far he hasn't been strongly linked to any other team and Galliani is talking to his agent. So if his choice is between staying where he is vs coming to Milan, I would think it would be a pretty easy decision. Especially considering that he apparently hasn't returned back for training

Also we're being linked with Tonny Vilhena, Galliani apparently enquired about him, Feyenoord want 6m for him according to mediaset

Vilhena would be a good pick, even though I would prefer Fer and Clasie.

b )*

i've read tottenham, arsenal, man utd...

All it takes is for one of those names to put their hand in the bucket and we don't stand a chance in hell. As i wrote earlier, the price is nearly 30M...

If I'm not wrong, he's playing in Ukraine. And that makes a big difference from Russia due to the political scenarios.

We'll see.

AC Milan News @Milanello

Galliani: "Mastour will train with the first team this season, and then we will see what team he plays for in the weekends."

Galliani: "We're in talks with Orlando City and they have made an offer, but we are still very far away from reaching an agreement."

Galliani: "Robinho? We're waiting for other offers. We will see what happens."

Galliani: "I've never talked about Douglas Costa. He's a very good player, but his buy-out clause is set at €50m, so he's out of our reach."

Galliani: "Taarabt is a possibility, but Inzaghi prefers a left-footed winger, and we will try to fulfill his wish."

Galliani: "Cerci? We can't do anything until Robinho leaves."

More desperation from the desperate idiot.

I await the reactions towards Pippo when he signs Cerci.

Yep, left-footed winger would be great.



"He" signs Cerci? Pippo wanted Iturbe, the club couldn't fulfill his wish.

Pippo wants a left footed winger. Cerci would not be signed against his wishes. Though I'm sure some will claim that if he does sign.

If we sign Cerci for something like 10 to 12m I'd be (reluctantly) okay with it. It's a fair price and it's not like we're aiming to win the league or we have CL this season.

But anything more than that and I will be seriously p!ssed off as he's not worth a cent above that

Roma paid 23M for him.

Did you expect us to spunk that much away at a risky investment?

That said, we've been linked to Iturbe for 6 months, don't think it's a Pippo thing at all.

The change in tone compared with Allegri to Inzaghi is comical.

Allegri was personally responsible for wasting 12M on Matri but it would be the club to blame for wasting it on Cerci!