If it's true, it's the best news I've heard since January.

Would love it to be true, but I'm not going to hold my breath.

No way is this true. We haven't spent cash on a keeper during the entirety of Silvio's stint, I'd find it hard to believe that we'd start doing it now considering we don't even want to spend on required outfield players

Could have gone for Perin, though, Marchetti is, what, 32 already? Let's see.

Turned 31 a few months ago. Means he probably has 3/4 good years left in him, so if we give him a 3/4 year deal that'd be fine.

I'd be fine with Marchetti, as long as we don't overpay for him.

I'd prefer a 21 year old, but I quite like Marchetti. Yeah, at least 3 or 4 years in him. And well considering just how much we've neglected he goalkeeper department, he's probably the best we can buy. Hopefully some good news floats up about this soon.


True. He's right behind Handanović in Serie A, this side of the legend that is Buffon.

When it comes to keepers, I'd always prefer a older one. No need to rush it with Perin. Let's try get him as a backup and loan him out - that would be a good possibility. Yet, I don't see us spending that much on keepers in just one transfer period.

I think this Marcehtti talk is pointless, there is no way we paid that kind of money for him

I think Perin is a lot more doable, especially when taking into consideration the team that owns his contract

This article...

Basically, €7 million for Rami is too much for us (), so Galliani wants to get Alex (32) for free and offer him €3.5 million per season

Also, we will have zero cash to spend this summer. Silvio has already covered a €50 million hole due to no CL next season, so Galliani will have to invent his own crap once again.

Seriously, enough is enough! Why the hell does Berlusconi insist that the club is not for sale when the situation is so dire? If we don't make a proper signing campaign this summer we'll be f*cked for good. No turning back. God save this club...

And are we letting go of Mexes as well because of his big wage which is 4m but we're ready to pay Alex 3.5m? Hmmm.... Genius stuff

This summer will be disappointing I fear. We might get one good player, somewhere in the defensive phase of our game.

Seedorf wants to play in a 4-3-1-2, we have Kaka/SES and Balotelli/Pazzini upfront, Honda/Kaka/Taraabt in the hole, midfield three think we have it covered maybe a good DM (Essian has been a disappointment so far, and I'd much prefer someone to challenge Muntari for a spot), defense is good, yet needs much improvements especially along the flanks - a flamboyant wing back ala il concorde, and I am not sure about the Gkeeper as that is a position I am indifferent to (unless we are talking about Buffon or Casillas, don't really care).

My wish list would be in this order; WB/FB, CB, then a DM. Actually in whichever order, just need someone to plug in the gaps and another to provide width and stretch the play (Abate is great IMO, but I'd rather someone 'deadlier', if just for the spectacle).


So far if we filter through the squad (keeping in mind some or someone might leave): NDJ, Montolivo, Muntari, Honda, Taraabt, SES, Pazzini, Balotelli, Abate, Bonera, Kaka and Poli - These are all relatively (or subjectively for some) good players, some with experience some with much less. Point is there is a 'core' starting to form and if the coach can be given time, this core will only get stronger. A sense of cohesion IMHO and solidity should be top priority. So unless it is someone worth it, otherwise fodder till we find one.

Where'd you hear that? If Seedorf wanted to play 4-3-1-2, he could have done it the moment he came, since he already had the right players for it.

I read it as, in case we can't bring Rami down from his 7 million price tag, we will be looking at Alex on a free with a 3.5 million wage.

Not yet sure whether we're trying to bring it down or if Valencia is hesitant coz other clubs are bidding higher.

Another point to note is that QPR have been promoted and might want Taraabt back.

THIS is exactly what got us in huge piles of sh!t in the past in terms of our huge wages. I can see that Galliani never learns from past mistakes. What a total idiot, and I personally can't believe that Silvio is still entrusting his club in Galliani's hands. Makes him an even bigger idiot

Don't get me wrong I like Alex. If we can reduce Mexes's wage to around 2m and offer Alex something similar and we get Rami as well. I think we'd have a fairly strong CB roster. While getting rid of Zaccardo and Silvestre of course

Way to go to completely ignore my post. You've stopped listening to me. I think I need to rethink this relationship. We've stopped communicating.

I wasn't ignoring the rest of your post Jackie!

But we all know that if Valencia don't bend to Galliani's will, which is to basically bring the price down to zero, we'll pass on Rami and go for Alex while giving him a ridiculous wage in the process

So here's the interview from Silvio. Off football-italia



Like I said, the part with the jersey modeling and this statement from Silvio confirms it. I think Mario is on his way out.

If Mario goes, I think the cash will be about enough to land both Taraabt and Rami and keep Sciglio. But we're still up the crapper without a striker of any repute.

Cue, another shitty season till winter when we buy someone on loan and just about survive into Europe.

I hate being poor.

With Mario it's not just about selling him, it's trying to find someone who's willing to buy him and offer us the kind of money we'd want

And Taraabt and Sciglio?

DS is already on a permanent contract with the club and Taraabt's agreed fee is minimal, I don't think he wants to go back to England anyway

And really if the money we get on Mario is going to be spent on a Championship reject then we have even more problems than we originally thought

Sorry. I meant Taraabt and Rami and keep Sciglio. Edited.

Because playerwise, Balotelli and De Sciglio are the only players we have left who can give us any money. We've sold everyone else.

With the rest of the squad, about 15 million is the highest we can expect.

Taraabt doesn't have a call on if he goes back, since he is on loan. I don't know what the fee is and if 7 million is too high for Rami, then I think 8 million is too high for Taraabt.

Of course we could negotiate, but I still think we're looking at a combined outlay for at least 12 million for both players.

Considering our finances, I think that effectively closes any and all transfer activities including those in winter.

First of all, Jack, I don't think what Silvio said implies in any way whatsoever that Balo is leaving. Secondly, I don't think that we have to sell anyone this summer in order to cash in. The problem is that we don't have a spending budget, or rather, we have a very minimal one, so we'll have to make due with these players and hope we manage to find something cheap and good on the market.

Taarabt is reported that will cost us around €3m. Add €7m for Rami and that makes €10m. What's imperative afterwards is that we get rid of all the dead weight. Amelia, Zaccardo, Robinho, Birsa, Essien, Nocerino, Matri, Traoré etc. I would add Kaká to the list as well. And by "get rid" I mean sell! We shouldn't have a roster of no more than 24-25 players. We've already succeeded in cutting down wages to some degree. If we could also reduce the personnel, then we're headed towards the right direction.

And then maybe, just maybe we might have something to spend on a couple of new players. Obviously this isn't done overnight. It require a lot of planning, something this management is incapable of. Signing 32 year old Alex on free with a salary of €3.5m is the best proof you could ask for.

As usual, we will run into the problem that many of the players we want to sell are happy drawing a ridiculous salary and will not want to leave.

Intrigued by this article <http://www.goal.com/it/news/2/serie-a/2014/05/08/4804033/berlusconi-apre-a-montella-milan-mi-%C3%A8-molto-simpatico?ICID=HP_BN_11>. Implies we may be after Montella. Doubt it it would happen, though (I believe we would have to pay Fiorentina to release him from his contract, plus why would he jump ship?)

Cesare is an idiot too

This is possibly the lamest excuse there can possible be. Is Atletico owned by Arabs? Are Barça and Madrid owned by Arabs? Is Bayern owned by Arabs? Is Juventus owned by Arabs? Is Liverpool owned by Arabs? Is Dortmund owned by Arabs? Yes, in this case, Cesare is an idiot.

Look, there's no need to repeat the same stuff over and over again. There's no money, we get it. But that doesn't mean you can't program things in advance, come up with a strategy and make sound investments. How's buying Matri for €12 a sound investment? How's giving a 32 year old like Alex a 3.5m contract a sound investment? How's giving a Serie Z player like Traoré 1.2m per season a sound investment? What about all the Acerbi's and Mesbah's and Constant's and Zaccardo's...

Sometimes I wish people would just get this.

Many people do, the only problem is that the people that actually matter (Galliani and Silvio), don't. And very well put

Well, by people I just meant R7

Nah, he just spends far too much time in the Middle East.

Speaking of which, R, Paolo Maldini was in Riyadh this week. Fudging missed it, would loved to have been there. He was there alongside Christian Vieri, which you might guess had something to do with their clothing line. Sweet Years, I believe it is. I am so buying stuff from there the next time I'm in the region.

Yup. Galliani's solution to "I got no money to buy players" is to go for players at "zero cost" ("parametro zero"). In doing so, he is alienating other clubs and, more important, using ridiculously high salaries to entice the player. Which then means we are stuck with players that are over-paid and have no incentive to leave, plus what we saved on the signing fee we lose in a higher salary burden. Money goes out, one way or another, and we get stuck with players we do not need or want. And since we need to reduce the salary bill before we can get any new players, we end up making panic moves at the 11th hour (because all the good opportunities are lost).

Yet people still believe that Galliani is some kid of a genius (even I fell for this for a while, Galliani having found a brilliant solution to our financial constraints, that is). I recently read an article (or a post) trying to explain how smart Galliani's approach is, and the justification centered on the fact that in the short term low signing fee + high salary is better than the other way around from a financial perspective. The key is "in the short term". But that is not how we should be thinking, we need a formula that is sustainable over time (and Galliani's approach clearly is not - look at our horrible salary bill and our inability to cut the dead wood). Even worse, we do not want to lose players to other teams at "parametro zero" (as we did with Pirlo), so we end up making stupid decisions like renewing Robinho's contract.

Matri is a different matter. IMHO, that was Galliani trying to make Allegri happy after all of Berlu's shenanigans this summer. ("Here Max, who do you want? Matri? Sure. Astori? Well, we tried. Let's build Cagliari 2.0 together!") But, of course, even with Matri we had to resort to a ridiculously high salary, meaning we are probably stuck with him as well.

The thing you guys ask for is very difficult. Yes, you should plan this and plan that and with hindsight it's all very easy to look back and ennumerate the precise steps that should have been taken.

Let's be honest here, let's subtract the Arab clubs and the oil clubs okay?

So Manchester United, Barca, Madrid, Bayern? 4 extremely well run clubs that splash the cash.

You don't need me to tell you how much in debt the first three are. That Madrid and Barca basically survive based on a ludicrous TV agreement that is leaving the rest of the league gasping for breath.

Manchester United? Well, look they have their share of money suckers just like us - Anderson, Nani and so on. It's just that the revenue stream allows them to survive such losses. We can't afford that.

EPL has always had it's own stadium and excellent TV rights and good marketting and all that.

1. Serie A clubs made a mistake of not investing in facilities and youth when the going was good. This blame is not just on Galliani but EVERY SINGLE SERIE A CLUB that was ever successful.
2. Serie A itself made a horrible mistake not marketting themselves abroad when they had the stars. The should have gotten themselves an English marketting team, and ensured that Serie A was available in English commentary, analysis etc. (Hindsight again).

That's the past.

Germany, revolutionised itself with the World Cup. I don't know where the money for the stadium rework came from and Filippo can help.

Bayern are an example. I'll hold my hand up and admit they trumped us solid. Excellent management by Rumennige and co. Dortmund took almost 10 years to build themselves up brick by brick.

Atletico? Well, that's a funny story. This season if they didn't make CL they are going into admin. It's a different story that they have a fairy tale with a coach and a brilliant unit but their debt is so bad, that I don't know if this is a fluke or something more compelling. Even with this season, they're no way out of it. They have 100 million to pay just as taxes I think? So saying nothing about debt.

Lest we forget, Valencia under Benitez too had a couple of seasons under the sun. Now they're struggling to stay afloat as well.


We are making some smart moves commerically. To be fair, it's only been a year since. We'll see.

I do admit though that we need to be much much smarter on transfers. I'll put a bit down to Allegri and the type of workhorse players he preferred. Let's see what Seedorf says.


I guess a TL;DR for this would be - Things aren't rosy everywhere. There are mistakes made, but also some other factors that make a like-for-like comparison with clubs from other continents unfair. Commercial deals and Footbaling matters are for the moment being worked separately and will at some point unite. But yes, transfer activity is critical and we need to be more aware than we have been.

Unrelated. So different post. Anyone else heard of rumours of Montolivo being sold?

Yeah in terms of finances you can't really try and compare with EPL clubs or Madrid/Barca because the tv rights are massive, something that nobody else will ever really get. Bayern are fortunate to be in a 1 team league really, where they can continually be successful.

Some observations are not made in hindsight, though, Jack. We've all been insisting for years to start investing in youngsters. We all called it that Matri would be a terrible deal. We're all saying that giving €3.5m to a 32 year old would be a bad decision. This management has made way too many wrong calls, and the worst part is that they don't learn from their mistakes.

Yep. I am one of the few that actually like Matri, but even I was against the transfer. It made no sense at all. We here all this talk of different plans that we have, but the management don't stick to them. I'm not sure what this club can do right now.

I agree that transfers should be much smarter. Matri was a case of backing the coach. 99 times out of 100 you'd commend the management for doing that, but then well...we backed the wrong coach.


I was talking about commercials at large. And believe me they make an impact in scouting as well. Word flies out quick who is watching who, and now big money is thrown even at little know talents. Just compare Kaka's transfer fee and Neymar's? The media hype etc. is now big. For God's sake the media even make a fuss of Mastour.

And as for insisting in investing in youth. We did start it a few years back. It began with Galli coming in specifically as youth director. It will take a long time for a youth policy to bear fruit. Youth investment can't happen one level below the senior team (U-21s). That's not youth. Almost every club by that age know who are star material and who are not.

Youth progression happen roughly at the Allievi level. I think we're doing some good work there with Mastour etc.

Next on Alex, I think he is a good defender. Age is the only thing against him. But as a stop gap I'd happily take him, since he works out to be cheap, reliable and with European experience. A two year contract would be no loss.

I don't think he is first priority though. He is backup in case we cannot land Rami with his 7 million price tag and corresponding ~2 million + salary.

Berlusconi takes swipe at Seedorf: Even the elderly could control AC Milan dressing room

How can they keep being so disrespectful to Seedorf? In his place I would go as soon as the season ends and never look back. Not as long as Berlusconi is president and Galliani is GM anyway.

It's not surprising really is it? Silvio is scum.

That is why the man in your signature doesn't want to be a coach. Wise man!

This management has become poison. Only until a few years ago we were like a big family, nowadays nothing like that exists anymore.

Seedorf's reply: "I have nothing to say about what Silvio Berlusconi said yesterday. I didn't quite understand what he was trying to imply. I can only say that this group is very easy to handle because they're all very good guys. I see what they do every day and the results achieved confirm that we're working well"

Link

Is Berlusconi going senile..

Going?

He hopped on that train a loooong time ago.