My further concern is Armero left MDS right.

I think we need midfielders more than a left back tbh.

If he performs and Abate doesn't, then why not. But anyway, it's important to have depth. We can't just play Bonera as LB if MDS gets injured!



Well, Armero can play as a mid too.

Why not? Because MDS is terrible at RB.



A CM?

Nah, I don't believe that story anymore. A righty plays terrible on the right than on the left? These kind of players are versatile. Zambrotta didn't have a preferred position, Azpilicueta albeit being a RB was excellent as LB at Chelsea. De Sciglio just had a disappointing season overall last time and we associate it with him being played on the right. I'm sure he wouldn't have been much better had he played on the left either.

The reason why I want him on the left is because I prefer Abate on the right.



As LCM, possibly. Not that I think he should play there, though. From the bunch of mids we have, Honda is the only one I'd pick.

I really do not think that's the case in this particular scenario

DS has played friendlies this summer where he's started out on the right and was pretty mediocre imo and once he shifted to the left you could see a very clear improvement in his performance. For me he looks more comfortable, more at ease, more assured in his abilities and has even that sort of confident swagger about him when playing on the left. Shift him over to the right and he looks more his age. He looks like a kid we plucked out of the primavera for the pre-season tour.

Maybe that versatility will come as he matures, but atm there's a significant drop in how he performs when on the left to how he performs on the right.

@ Danny, I completely agree with you about the DS/Abate situation. But I think the Armero move was a smart one. We technically don't really have cover for Abate on the right, unless you consider Bonera or Zaccardo, So in case either Abate or DS are injured we could shift things around by bringing in Armero on the left. And we all know that Abate and DS are both fairly injury prone.

I think the Armero move was an astute one, as x-off pointed out, he's on loan, so if he disappoints we can just boot him out at the end of the season. But even better, if he does do well, this is his final year under contract at Udine, so if he does well we can keep him for free. So it's a win-win situation in our case imo.

As for the transfer market, we're being linked with so many wingers my head's about to spin. Cerci, Douglas Costa, Maxime Lestienne, Taarabt, Campbell and now Lavezzi who's contract renewal talks with PSG have broken down.

I'd personally just take whichevers the cheapest option from that list and redirect all our attentions and funds on a proper CM, because unless we get one before the start of next season we can buy whoever we want for the attack but it still won't make our team work and function properly without that CM.

Believe it if you want but he has always been f*cking garbage on the right. Not just last season.



No one else would Nah, I think we're threadbare at CM and I think you're putting a positive spin on a signing which doesn't help that area.

I'm sure Armero's a good player but he's one IMO we didn't need. That is to say, we needed 'competition' for LB far less importantly than we did a decent CM.

Oh I'm not complaining about squad depth, I would just have made reinforcing the FB's the lowest priority behind getting in a CM/winger/AM or two.

I'm not whining about the signing, just that it seems pointless right now when there are other areas in dire need of fixing. We did good getting in Lopez, I am delighted about him. But LB and the FBs in general wasn't an area top of my list of priorities.

If we can sort out the positions I'm complaining about then yes, I'll be very happy overall with what we've done.

But we got him on loan, so it's not like his signing will have an effect on any possible future midfield signings. Whether we sign somebody in midfield or not is completely irrelevant from Armero's arrival.

@Milanello

GdS claims that Berlusconi has given Galliani permission to sign Douglas Costa. Lavezzi and Cerci are the alternatives.

Tuttosport claims that Galliani and Inzaghi asked for Cerci and Grenier during the meet with Berlusconi earlier this evening.

Cerci and Grenier? Overkill much?

Pippo out!

Who's Grenier?

He's the one that scored that wonder goal vs Real https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHnM-M3FtB0

I don't know much about the type of player he is but I think he's more of an AM rather than a CM

I think anything else aside from a top quality CM would be pointless at this point. We can go without a winger, we have Menez, SES, Niang, Honda and even Balo who can do a job on the wing. The midfield on the other hand is threadbare with only De Jong being starting material imo.

We don't value Cerci more than €10 million, whereas Torino value him €20 million ( ). So, he can bugger off.

Douglas Costa is of interest, as JB reported. Shakhtar want €30 million, we could offer €25 million, payable in four years.

Link

€25 million for a player who wasn't even on the WC roster? I don't know...surely we could get Pastore for the same amount.

He looks pretty awesome on youtube, but that's not really a good source for judgement.

Then again you can't really base your reasoning on who made it to the world cup either considering that Scolari wasted spaces for guys like Fred, Jo, Hulk, Paulinho, etc and failed to take Lucas Moura and kept Hernanes on the bench

That's certainly true (especially since Pastore wasn't called up either). But Costa isn't proven yet and he clearly wants out of Donetsk, which should drop his tag. I don't know, I think Pastore would be the better choice. Just no to Lavezzi please.

For me it's a definite no for Cerci, a meh, maybe, for Lavezzi and Taraabt and a yes for Costa.

Pastore isn't a winger and cannot play on the wings, it would be the same issue we have with Honda. Lavezzi isn't getting any younger which is my main issue with him as PSG will most likely want good cash for him, while Taraabt is Taraabt, he's a very talented player imo but he's as much frustrating as he is talented. Probably our cheapest option though

Costa looks the most exciting from all of them, and he's the only one with decent CL experiance

While Cerci is just completely underwhelming for me as he's not worth half the amount Toro want for him, has only had one really good season and failed with both Roma and Fiorentina, not big clubs by any stretch of the imagination. And was underwhelming with Italy whenever Prandelli called him up. I personally can't see him improving our squad in any way.

Who mentioned Cerci? You seem fixated on the guy, relax, we won't be buying if Atletico and other more liquid clubs are involved.

As for Douglas, so he plays a winger? I'm not so sure about your argument there...I mean, I honestly fail to see why we push for wingers anyway. I know it's a modern thing to use wingers for strikers, but - I'd rather we offer something new.

Um... because he's a prime target and Pippo's first choice? Cerci is a major part of the winger discussion because we're very much interested in him

We're interested in wingers because we're going to be using the 4-3-3, and to make that formation work you absolutely do need proper wingers and a very strong midfield trio. Pippo has been very clear about wanting a left footed winger for the right side, so much so that he and Galliani both publicly stated that we want a left footed right winger.

Pastore is an AM, and I seriously cannot see where he would fit into the 4-3-3 Pippo wants to play.

Cerci on the other hand ticks all the required boxes for Pippo, just like Costa

Just a thought. What would you guys think of gabbiadini? he's left footed, big, strong,fast, very technical, and has a wonderful shot....oh and he's italian... With Juve looking increasingly likely to promote Berardi after this season and the overflow of forwards they got at the moment, I think it might be a feasable option. Make a offer like Abbiati + cash (6-8M?)

Why would anyone want to go for Abbiati, a keeper who's retired with one foot. Especially Atalanta, who got Consigli.

As for Gabbiadini, sure, I do rate and like him. But he's very inconsistent.

I get all of this. And yes, we're focusing on this 4-3-3 system with all the signings (Menez, Armero and the possible targets), but I'm still not sure it will work with the midfield we have. One CM would give the right push, but it's still questionable. On the other hand, a winger free system is what IMO this roster could master with more ease.

As for Cerci, we all get it. No need to repetition man

Interesting article about how serious Milan really is about our "youth policy". In summary, we are not all that serious.

Galliani says Balo stays 99.8%. Hmm, does this mean a sale is imminent?

Apparently we are not rid of Robinho yet. He may come back to us next year.

I mentioned in one of the match threads that I don't think a 4-3-3 is feasible for us or any winger system tbh, 4-3-3 needs a very strong midfield while 4-2-3-1 needs masterful wingers and an AM. That being said, this system is what Pippo is going for, like it or not, so we need the players for it. Imo a CM should be the highest priority on the list, but that's not the case as our management would sooner resign than go an entire summer without fruitlessly spending money on an attacker.

As for Cerci, we were discussing wingers, Cerci comes into it and I expressed how I feel about him going by the list of names we're linked with. We all repeat ourselves ad nauseam on here, Cerci has consistently been brought up all summer long and every one of us has consistently repeated how we feel about that one

Would be interested in sitting right next to you when we sign Cerci, that's for sure, Han.

Believe me, it won't be pretty! Especially if we spend some ridiculous fee on him

There are reports Atletico Madrid and Torino have agreed a €20m transfer fee for Alessio Cerci.

Hope it's true.

Yes! Come on take him!

I really don't want us to spend big money on any winger, we really need those funds to get a quality CM

I believe you, but I hope another club apart from Atletico Madrid were signing him. Just hope he doesn't flop there, those guys can't afford flop shows.

I think I read somewhere that Atletico have pulled out of the race for Cerci.

Reports say Man U want Mexes now. Source: FI.

Well he is much better than what they currently have...

Reports of Torino and Juve being heavily linked with Zapata and now Mexes to Man U... Did someone in our managements tip off the market that we wanna sell a defender all of a sudden or something?

Who knows but it's been well reported that we want to sell at least one of the CBs. Zapata and Mexes have both been mentioned, Zapata because he's pretty average, Mexes because of his huge wage

I'd rather they get rid of Albertazzi and Zaccardo, sell Zapata for some good cash and extend Mexes's deal to spread his wages over a longer period

Sounds good, but you should know by now our management lurks here, finds out what you want, and does the opposite!

I'd give Albertazzi a fair chance with us before we get rid of him. Zaccardo should really go. As of the CBs we have, I'd also let go of Mexes. He may be our best CB, but he's aged, his wage bill is huge and he isn't what we need in terms of mentality/behavior.

There is still time till the close of the transfer window, we should start hearing certain names at this point.

Think the coach along with his staff know what the team is lacking, heard we were linked to Clement from Lyon .. He was likened to kaka at some point and has only missed out on the WC because of injury. If we get this 23 year old, we got serious potential upfront. Inzaghi knows best I say, cuz as a striker you tend to know who the better ball feeder is.

In other news, Mexes might be heading to United. Has a year left on his contract and at 32; a nominal fee should do. Yet I am skeptical on the rumors being vague and that DJ could also be moving. That leaves a void that we need to fill, except Inzaghi has put faith on Poli and Saponara and the likes to fill those voids.

We are not far from August 31, usually we hear about names coming, but I'm skeptical with all this Mexes/DJ rumors that are coming up frequently it seems. If we remain as we are, we are no different than last season, except last season we had Kaka. We need a spark in that midfield, and Clement is a mix if you will of a CM/AM ie can play behind the strikers or lurk in midfield and spread the play.

^ If we sell de Jong then that would be really f@cking disappointing. Would be the equivalent of shooting ourselves in the foot. And we already have one foot shot as is!

The key point there being our best CB!

Yes he has a short fuse, but does that really matter when quality wise he's the best we have? As I said, we need to lower his wages, but other than that, Mexes is the one I'd want to keep the most from the bunch we have. Alex and Rami imo are still question marks.

Zapata can be good on his day but catastrophic on others. Bonera and Zaccardo shouldn't even be considered in this discussion

Albertazzi just looks completely out of his depth in this side, very average player and belongs in a Sassuolo type side.

At this point I really don't think Pippo knows what he wants or he's too afraid to voice his needs to Galliani

What this team needs desperately is a proper quality CM, we're linked with none, only the usual merry-go-round of wingers named each day with nothing seemingly happening on that front either.

Atm we don't have a midfield

Poli, without someone who can control the midfield is useless, he'll run around until his lungs burn out but without a good passer to play off of he's pretty useless, Saponara has shown nothing as yet, and Pippo has more than given him his fair chance. Even worse, Pippo seems ok with playing Sapo in midfield but won't try out Honda there, and if Honda is tried out there for a decent run and he clicks into that position, he will solve 75% of our problems, just like that. Only Pippp is wasting him away on the wings, where his lack of pace is so terribly exposed that he's actually painful to watch. He's got so much vision and great passing ability, to waste that away on the RW or the bench while our midfield is in such dire conditions would be a crime.

GdS: Milan have backed out of the race to sign Cerci (they have informed Torino about it as well). Pandev is still a target for Milan.

Pandev? If after all the bullshit all we get is Pandev, then Galliani should be sent to Syria to run ISIS.

Heard there is no truth to rumours of Manchester United and Mexes. They're more interested in Rojo and Benatia.

Pandev?

Where's the massive face palm gif that should go along with this gem??


Pandev would make me want us to spend 50m on Cerci FFS! So bad

Have we really sunken so low that we're now after Napoli trash players? (Dzemaili, Pandev)

And who'd you like to sing?

If it's Pandev or no one, I'll take no one!

Dzemaili is not as much a horrible notion as Pandev is, but he's still not good enough to make our midfield suddenly start to function properly, he'd be a better option than Muntari or Essien coming off the bench or replacing someone that's injured but nothing more.

I honestly don't know who we should sign for the midfield, all the good players who would have improved us and were at a fairly reasonable price have already been snapped up. We've been linked to Benega who is very talented but equally as disruptive within the team because of his issues. He's probably going for 2m to Sevilla or Villareal, can't remember which one it was. Still even with all his disciplinary issues, I'd take him, what's one more nutcase going to do in the sea of nutcases that we currently have. At least he'd elevate our midfield quality exponentially

He would? I'm not so sure. My point is, we're at crossroads. Either it's a Pandev, or it's a overinflated Cerci, or it's some unknown dude everyone will scream "yes" but the moment he starts playing things will change step by step,...

Not many options left without some hard cash. I only have faith we'll be able to pull off a loan deal for some of the Pastore's and Moura's who ain't gonna see much playing time. That's my best hope, other then that, Pandev or no Pandev, I have zero faith in us getting the right man for the midfield.