Even better, till 2017: http://www.football-italia.net/29886/milan...rdo-mesbah-swap #GrandeGalliani

Yeah, wish we'd have made an attempt at him too.

According to Milan Channel, we spent 17.7 million euros on 11 players; 8.45 million on new players and 9.25 on existing players (i.e. buying the second half of their rights). I include Rami in existing players calculation although technically he's a new signing so should be on new players calculation.

On the other hand, we received 35.1 million euros from selling our players.

I guess that's a 17.4 million net inflow.

I really cannot see how it climbed to 17.7m

We spent 11.75m on outright buys: Rami (4.75) and Bonaventura (7m)

The only co-owns that we resolved in our favour (meaning we bought the other half of the player's contract) were Sapo, Poli and Albertazzi. Only Poli's was slightly high around 3.5m if I remember correctly. The rest were all under a million.

I think we spent even less than that.

Oh you can find the numbers in the twitter page here. They post the numbers.

https://twitter.com/Milanello

I don't know but surely they know better then you do han

Milan Channel? They probably don't ...

I guess for the improvements we've made on last season's squad (which is substantial imo), the fact that we made a pretty big profit in the transfer market is admirable.

Still this squad will probably mean that we'll still be out of the CL places, which will mean another barren summer of free agents and loans

So on one hand it's good business, but footballing wise, to succeed you have to spend, and I don't think we did enough to end the season in the top 3, we needed to spend that profit on a top quality CM to do that imo

So...

OUT

Amelia
Robinho
Birsa
Constant
Kaká
Cristante
Emanuelson
Coppola
Balotelli
Matri
Nocerino
Gabriel
Dídac Vilà

IN

Agazzi
Diego Lopez
Menez
Torres
Albertazzi
Armero
Alex
Bonaventura
Van Ginkel

I gotta say, it's not a bad signing campaign. We got rid of a lot of deadweight, and managed to sign decent albeit not flashy signings. We're definitely stronger than last season, but not enough to compete for the 3rd spot. Still, Pippo might surprise us.

Also, about Cristante's sale, I'm not too bothered. I could be wrong, but I don't think he has what it takes to turn into a quality player.

Agreed

Milan sold Cristante for €6. PSG bought Veratti for €12. I don't know how we received such a fee for a player that pretty much has done nothing on the professional level, but I'm not all too upset about it.

Kinda funny how those screaming about the absence of a youth project 'aren't too bothered' about us selling one of the few half decent youth players we had!

+1

Overall I think we had a really good transfer window; all things considered.

That being said, I (along with many of you) would've liked some things to be done differently if given the chance.

GOOD
Out: Amelia, Robinho, Birsa, Constant, Kaká, Emanuelson, Coppola, Matri, Nocerino, Gabriel, Dídac Vilà
In: Diego Lopez, Menez, Torres, Armero, Alex, Bonaventura, Van Ginkel


Note however....
Robinho (only a loan), Birsa (only a loan), Matri (only a loan), Nocerino (only a loan)

These are possibly problems we will have to face again in the future, unless they have a good loan spell and decide to part ways easily (hopefully this is the case)

Van Ginkel is a decent loan deal, given that we lacked quality in the midfield. However, the fact that we were willing to give up on Cristante so easily and acquire one of Chelsea's instead is a bit worrying. Van Ginkel may be better, and more equipped to play right away, but we gave up to quickly on one of our few great (if not the best) prospects for the future.

(They are however many angles to look at it from so I'll leave it at that)

Torres I'm sure has many us leaning more towards the side of pessimism, rather than being hopeful, and who can blame us, the guy has demonstrated for a series of consecutive years what the meaning of 'washed up' looks like.
I for one was not rooting for the transfer, but if we can get anything at all out of it, it just might make sense (and hopefully can turn into something special *fingers crossed*)

I should have probably created a neutral section, but I choose to leave Torres in the 'GOOD' section, because I want to remain optimistic and this is just my take on things, so...



BAD
In: Agazzi, Albertazzi
Out: Cristante, Balotelli

Aggazi is a sh!t keeper anyway you look at it. If we wanted to have an untrustworthy keeper we already had Gabriel
Anyway, at least he is only 3rd string. Albertazzi seems as a need less acquisition to me (however, he is relatively cheap to afford us some 'depth' I guess).. Bottom line is we could have done better than him, but it a non issue atm.

Cristante may have asked to been sold, but this is just bad for business if you ask me. Here we are preaching a youth project loud and strong, only to sell arguably our most capable youth at the moment, and likely our most promising (bar maybe Mastour). The right decision would have been to either convince him to stay or convince him to go on loan (its the last day of the market, it wouldn't have been that hard to keep him)

Trying to understand it from all angles I guess Pippo didn't have much faith in him, as I believe han pointed out, yesterday when time for Muntari to come off Essien was the one to take to the pitch. That in itself speaks volumes, and let's not kid ourselves, Pippo knew Cristante very well having coached him already and whatnot, if he had much faith in the kid's qualities he could've spoken against the transfer (I take it that did not take place, as he is now gone)

By acquiring Bonaventura however we have improved (at the very least in the short term). It's quite possible Cristante can develop into something better in the future, but as things stand with this departure & arrival, we are now stronger.

Many of you might argue that Balotelli's departure was necessary and a good move by management to part ways.
Time will tell if this was the case. One thing remains certain in my mind (and I've said this countless times before), we rushed his sale, and if we truly thought it to be necessary in order to get some funds then fine, but not for a pittance of £16 (in this market). We largely undersold our most valuable asset at the time. Again if I had a neutral section (together with the Torres transfer I would've though about placing it in there, but I am more against this sale than I was for it, so 'BAD' business for me!)


This rant seems to be sufficiently long enough to bore people, while confusing them with my disjointed style of writing, so I'll end here!





FORZA MILAN

Monster post, indeed, Trini.

...


What? - No comments?!

Only after I finish reading it. Still on the Van Ginkel paragraph!

Hahaha alright then.

I'm off to bed, will check back tomorrow for your feedback!

Shtick, now I have to reply! Just kidding, will do, man, will do. On the morrow!

Us Trinis are vastly superior to you mortals
Just make him a mod or president or something
In other news I agree with Danny about Cristante.
He shouldn't have been sold! Very shameful

Danny and Dru in 'agreement' shocker!

tbh I do see their point to an extent - De Jong he was not. But I saw enough of him in competitive action last season to suggest he did have some real ability and was definitely at least as good as Essien (Ok, he's a hell of a lot better than Essien) at a far lower wage. But then, I too am also as good as Essien (Ok, I too am a hell of a lot better than Essien).

But you probably won't settle for a far lower wage.

Summer transfer window closes and Galliani zone was in full effect. I loved it. It leads me to believe that we're getting some groove back, some of our old habits are resurfacing. I'm actually optimistic about this season.

My opinions on the transfer window : 7.5 /10 Or I'd give it a B+. It would have been an A if we had sold Balo for around 10 million more.

I don't have too much complaints about Bonaventura. I see no point in keeping Cristante as one for the future when what we need is someone who can come in and deliver in the present. Galliani tried to push him on loan to Benfica or to other Serie A sides. He refused the loan. Also refused a move within Italy.

Instead we got a highly rated 25 year old (That's still relatively young) who has the same name as myself, and who cried with joy when he signed the contract.

Bonaventura is an excellent player who always f@cks up Inter when they play against him, he can play wide or through the middle. Mostly an AM, not a mezzala, but will give us cover for Honda and SeS besides slotting in the mid-3.

---

On the transfer window, I think it was an excellent garage clean up. We've made two mistakes in purchasing Agazzi and selling Balo for at least 5 million too less. But we've cleared out a lot of dead-wood and made some good acquisitions for players who will only be playing in one tournament.

I still think we could have gotten rid of 2 more players to cut down the squad size. I feel we don't need a squad size of more than 24 and now we have 27. I would prefer to have Essien, Albertazzi and Saponara out , the latter two on loan.

As for Cristante and playing time, I mentioned this before. For the mid-3 we had 8 players.

1. De Jong
2. Montolivo
3. Muntari
4. Poli
5. van Ginkel
6. Essien
7. Saponara
8. Cristante

I'm listing them in the order with which they're picked into the team. And two players in consecutive arrangement are interchangeable. For example, it's an either/or between Muntari and Poli based on fitness and tactics.

Once again 8 players for 3 positions. For argument's sake let me assume that Essien is crap, and Cristante is better than Saponara in the mid three. Even then he moves up at max to position 6 and perhaps competes with van Ginkel?

van Ginkel is definitely a better player than Cristante at this stage- a better passer and a better scorer of goals and 2 years older than Bryan.

So all in all at this rate, Cristante AT BEST doesn't get more than 10-15 games a season with us in this team. He's at an age and a talent level where he needs to play 20+ games to ever develop into something good. But those 20+ games are going to be a series of B-level performances until he builds up skill to be a starter. Perhaps 3 or 4 years down the line?

Milan cannot have B-level performances from someone in the mid-3, because we are playing a 4-3-3 and we'll get screwed AND the rest of the team isn't as strong to compensate for one player not being good enough in that area.

No player in the modern day has the patience to sit around and wait. All our players who have left the team left because we couldn't give them space. And all of them took their own period of playing 20 games a season before they shone elsewhere.

For e.g. Aubameyang? 4 years in the wilderness of Ligue 1(playing an average of 20 games a season) before he broke big into St.Etienne and subsequently into Dortmund.
The same with Matteo Darmian, who spent the same 4 years in Serie A wilderness before breaking big last year with Torino.


Cristante did not want a loan. He didn't want Serie A for reasons I respect. He's joined Benfica, probably under Rui Costa's wing. I dearly hope we have got a buy back option for sentimental reasons. I don't see him becoming much more than a starter for tier-2 teams at the current rate. For context, we bought SeS at the exact same age as Cristante is now, for more than double the price. And we hardly consider SeS to be a world class athlete.

The last player who I can think of, who did stick with the team through this growing up period as a part-timer before establishing himself fully was Ambrosini. Of course he got the benefits of it, but that's very rare that a player will sacrifice his early years plying along as a substitute.

---

This youth project thing everyone harps about - comes at a cost. The cost being present performances. Our youth players at the moment are not at the level of Bayern Munich or Barcelona (the gold standards), at the same time it's not too bad, since our players are actually finding playing time in the top leagues. We shall improve gradually of course. But it's impossible to have a 2-3 year turn around time of youth products.

Even Chelsea and Man City with near infinite resources have failed at this.

We shall probably be some time till we get prodigies who in their teens can walk into the first team. Until then be patient on the youth project.

We signed basically a new team and got rid of a lot of deadwood.

We didn't sign any Falcaos, Kompanies or Toures, but overall I am actually very pleased with the business we've done.

We sorted out a long-standing problem area in goal, and while Lopez' start has been mixed, as he gets used to his new surroundings we'll see the consistent Real Madrid keeper we signed. Agazzi is just squad filler.

Armero is an odd one - why would Bonera start at LB when we'd signed a full Colombian international LB who played at the world cup? He looks half decent but a bit odd Pippo preferred Bonera.

Alex had a bloody awful pre-season but soon as the real business started on Sunday he looked the part. I was happy with this signing and I remain so. He's absolutely incredible in the air.

van Ginkel I've never watched but my Chelsea-supporting chums really really rate him and think he'll do very well for us. He's a great age and if he does well for us could become a permanent fixture.

Bonaventura - won't lie, had barely heard of him but again I've only heard good things now we've signed him and it clearly means the world to him to sign for us. He's apparently a bit of a utility player but his best position is the trequartista/wing zone.

Menez - comes from a good stable but I'm not convinced yet. His display V Lazio was lauded by all but all I saw was an ineffectual attack with no end product and lots of diving.

Torres - here's hoping Pippo can reinvigorate him. We'll never get the Liverpool Torres back, but if we can get more out of him than Chelsea did then it's good business. Chelsea just didn't use him right, he's all about pace. And it was that goal V Barca which saw the old Torres - bursting through and finishing comfortably. This Milan can use that type of Torres as opposed to the Drogba type they seemed to play him as.

8 new signings, 9 if you include the permanency of Rami.

It's a good window, with badly needed new blood. We got the CM we needed - MVG. We got the goalie we needed - Lopez. We got more attacking options - Torres, Bonaventura, Menez. And we solidified defence with Alex & Almero.

It's not the market we used to be involved in, but I think Galliani, with 0 pence to spend, did extremely well and I for one am pleased with the business.

We have an OUTSIDE chance now of third spot - something I wouldn't have believed before kick off on Sunday.



For now I'd be astounded if our midfield 3 is not Poli, MVG & De Jong. December onwards it'll be De Jong, MVG & Monto.

And tbh that's a pretty f*ckin' good midfield.

Spot on! Milan should have waited for Balo value to rise again before selling, That could be as early as January. Also am unhappy with the sale of Cristante but have feeling Bonaventura will turn good for us (reminds me of the humble Noccerino signing). Finally, a bit disappointed we didn't sign Cerci, though Menez look promising. Anyway looking forward to the season with optimism. Its been a while I feel this way after match day one.. Pippo show!

If they were selling DS I'd be screaming bloody murder on here.

Half decent is not what we need if want to build on our youth. The reaction of some people on the internet to us selling Cristante would make someone who's never watched him think we sold the next Xavi or Iniesta.

I'm not happy about it just to be clear, but I'm not angry either. I really do not think that Cristante was all that good, certainly not good enough to earn us 6m when he's only ever started one game and had another small handful of substitute appearances.

There's a difference between wanting a good youth system that could sustain the club and desperately hoping for one, so much so, that we cling on to every half decent player coming out of there that makes a couple of showings for the club. So many here have gone crazy over so many kids that played in the Primavera and had time with the first team, yet the majority of those players have disappeared into obscurity. Paloschi is probably the only one out of all of them who's carved a career out for himself, but he's still not good enough to be anything but second or 3rd choice for us.

I just want to add that if I am wrong about Cristante, then I will admit to it and be sad that we gave up on someone who turned into a top quality player, but from what I've seen of him, I don't think that will be the case.

So I'm in agreement with a lot of things.

Alex was a pleasant surprise. I actually think the way the game folded out was that , Lazio banked on sending in aerial balls to expose our defence- either with runs or , while we banked on pace and counter. Pippo playing our best backline for aerial attacks nullified them, while we were Pippo-level clinical in finishing our chances on the counter.

So on Bonera - I think he plays because he is the best I've seen in the current squad at organizing an off-side trap. His downside is the risk to get beaten on one-on-ones coz of pace.

So for me, getting CL this season hinges on one person - Torres. If he fires (20+ goals) we are ploughing through the league like a Welshman in a sheep farm, if he doesn't and performs as I expect him to (8 to 12 goals), we will probably end up in Europa league thanks to efforts from Menez, Honda and SeS.

---

About van Ginkel, surprisingly I expect him to replace Poli actually.This is where we differ. Because I think vGinkel is more of the pass and move and tackle player than Poli is. Muntari is a battering ram in the midfield on attack and assistant custodian of our left flank in defence. I don't see MvG doing this.

I have to say though, I risk jinxing things, but I haven't had a positive feel about the team in some years now. I'm very hopeful for improvement this season. I no longer feel we have a bunch of outcasts and mercenaries in the squad.

Now there's a story running that the Zaccardo talks broke down, because Parma refused to pay Zaccardo money that was owed from his prior stint at Parma. There was a credit of 400,000 Euros out of which 150,000 Euros is still to be paid to Zaccardo.

If Milan wanted Bianbiany so bad, we should have payed instead of Parma. Anyway, now that this is out, I can understand Zaccardo staying better, and I'm more happy with Bonaventura anyway.

Agreed about Bonaventura.

The only reason I wanted Biabiany is because that meant Zaccardo going the other way

I dunno. You seem to be obsessed by Zaccardo. He's a leech, agreed. But he's not costing us much to be quite frank.

I couldn't be much happier with our mercato everything considered. good job Galliani.

Every time I mention a player more than once you brandish me as "obsessed" with him...

I'm not obsessed with him, as long as his @ss is sitting I don't care much about him, but he is extra dead weight that costs us 1.6m to lug around each year. My point was, I'd have been happier if he was gone, I'm not going to cry about the fact that we're still stuck with him though

It's just irritating that we're stuck with players like him because we gave them contracts that they would never have outside of Milan. Like I said to Jack a Serie A side like Parma could never pay a player 1.6m before taxes, especially someone like Zaccardo, that's what they give to their main player, not an old mistake prone defender, which is why it's always so hard to get rid of them, how many times have we tried to flog him on some other team in these last 2/3 transfer windows or so? We ried to do it 3 times just this summer alone and every time he refuses to go. We had the same issue with Agazzi as well this summer, us giving him that contract is like winning the lotto for him and he'll cling on desperately to it

No not really. You see in Milan he was getting the same wages as at Parma when he left them to join us. I did mention why that deal broke down. Parma actually owe him wages from his previous stint and they refused to pay up.

I won't be surprised if he leaves by Jan or signs out a deal to reduce his wages.

I'd rather we pay out what we have left and rescind it rather than extend it to lower his wage

And no, he wasn't earning the 0.8m he's earning at Milan, nothing has been said with regards to what he was earning, just that Parma still owed him money from his previous stay (money that could be still owed from multiple wages not being paid in full)

At 0.8M he would be the 4th highest paid player in Parma (link), so I kind of doubt it. AFAIAC, 0.8M is a lot of money for someone who is not likely to ever play. And IMHO, that is a big part of our current financial problems. The situation is slowly improving, but our salaries are high in relation to quality (link), and that limits our ability to make the right moves in the market.

On a more positive note, I believe we did fairly well this summer and I think we have a shot at that 3rd CL spot.

I think you are With him and Cerci. Look how many times you mentioned Cerci's name, in the end he ended up with Atleti. A complete waste.

Now on the matter of Zaccardo I agree partially with you. Yes, he has to go. But does that mean I'd rather take Biabiany then Bonaventura? Hell, no!

I didn't say I'd rather take Biabiany, I just said that the only reason I was sad that the Biabiany deal didn't go through is because Zaccardo would have gone the other way, and that means 1 less deadweight on the roster. The exchange could have involved anyone out of Agazzi, Albertazzi, Zaccardo, heck, Essien or Muntari and I would have been happy about it because that's one useless player out

And no matter how much I don't rate Biabiany on a technical level, he'd have been a good option off the bench when the opposition was tiring.

I think you can say I'm obsessed with getting rid of the leaches and deadweight on this team, not any one player in particular.

As for Cerci, I mentioned him a lot because we were linked to him basically every week, everyone mentioned him a lot, not just me (although I might have referenced him in a more negative light than others)

yep! this

Great post. Agreed with much, and you managed to bring things to light in a different perspective for me with regards to Cristante. I would really like if he can develop into something nice and reclaim him in the future. Heck Balo too...



+1



+1

Wonder if Balotelli is justifying the 'meager' transfer fee this summer

Had Balotelli stayed, Imagine our current wows plus Balotelli

We paid just as much for him.

That we did, but we were able to recoup that investment. Considering Balotellis attitude, he's still the same brat. Reminds me of the earlier version of cassano.

Can't believe I'm saying this but Cassano is a far better player. For all his vile personality defects he never hid on the pitch and is a team player all the way. Balotelli is on the slide in every way and he'll end up at Stoke.

Definitely.

Cassano is definitely the better player, yet I was referring to the younger Cassano, the one that moved from Roma to Madrid. The greater than the world ego Cassano. Conparing from then, Cassano has definitely improved today.

That said, I wouldn't want either at Milan, even if they played for free.

What if they both paid us for the privilege?

Nah, I'd rather watch Milan humbly pushed down Serie A hierarchy with a team spirit, than have prima donna players who care more about their own goals and desires than that of the club. Sure they would add quality, but at the expense of a cohesive team that works as one unit.

But Id take their money humbly if they insisted though

Agreed. Well said.


Thoughts so.