PS That's Cerci at Milanello for his medical - he will officially sign on the 5th when the Italian window opens. Word is he won't feature following day v Sassuolo but instead will debut against, naturally, Torino, on the 10th.

Naturally.

At least he'll have time to integrate and get fit.

We are linked with Luiz Adriano (source).

Been linked with him for some time but doubt we can get him. Donestk, right?

I think he's probably better than we can realistically get. But if we can nab him, fantastic signing and the jigsaw is complete.

Aye. Not a bad bit of a player, certain not.

Yep, been linked with him a few times. Hopefully this time it materializes!

Why not? Maybe he's through with living beside a war-zone.

Because Galliani is a cheapskate and Shakhtar are not easy to deal with.

They also charge a fortune for their players.

It's what I meant by the latter.

According to the article, his contract runs out this summer, so I would worry more about competition from other teams. FWIW, his agent is Kia Joorabchian, who has been working with Galliani on other deals, and the two have met recently.

We want Destro: €5 million for the loan now + €15 million for the purchase in the summer.

Source: Corriere dello Sport

Take it pronto.

13 goals in 20 appearances last season. 4 in 13 this. 6 in 21 in 2012.

23 years of age.

This is an excellent striker and absolutely would be a terrific signing.

So €20 million? That's too much for my part.

If we pay that, Roma would be getting away with daylight robbery

5M upfront for a 6 month loan.

Then compulsory signing at the end of the season at 15M 'spread' over X years.

Let's see, we sold Balotelli for £16M and you all screamed we'd been ripped off and sold our prize asset for way below his value, but here's Destro, same age and same level of goals, with absolutely NO baggage and in great form, yet for him the same amount is far too high?

Why was it too little for Balo but it's too much for Destro? Despite Destro being a better player.

Destro is simply not worth that, if we were talking Immobile here, I might begrudgingly think it was a good deal, but Destro is a simple poacher, sure his scoring form looks decent, but he's playing for a Roma side that create a very good amount of chances in each game, and he's a penalty area poacher.

Shove him into our team and you'd see a similar struggle to Pazzo, maybe not on the same level because Pazzo has not been able to recover fully after that injury, but a poacher thrives on those chances in the area and we just don't create them, look at the last few strikers we've had who are in that very same mould, they've all struggled.

Robbery? Nah. Yes, €20 million is a bit too much, but I value Destro around the €15 million figure, so it's not that far off.

According to Pippo Immobile is the curse of Satan and a total sham of a player.

Ok, slight exaggeration and paraphrase but he's not happy with him.

As for Destro, we WILL create more PB chances with two wingers like Cerci and Menez. But it's a little unfair to say he's little more than a PB striker.



Top one is SES in 2012/2013, bottom is Destro last season. Wouldn't say we 'created lots of chances' during SES' good period either but he did well enough to score. In a PB manner similar to Destro.

Sky reports we've reached an agreement with Suso. He's set to sign in June, and is expected to perform a medical in the following days.

Suso is not a signing that fills me with much excitement I must say. Spent last season on loan in Spain, did ok, 33 appearances with 3 goals.

Probably call him one for the future.

I don't think he's worth anything more than 10, and personally I can't see us paying anything more than that at this point for any player


I think Fillipo has been fair in his assessment of Immobile, he's good, but not as good as you and x-off make him out to be. But as I said from the beginning, if it's a choice between him and Destro, I'd pick him without any hesitation. Destro is just not that good, if he was, Roma wouldn't be trying to offload him for the second season in a row.

As for the comparison, SES was playing as a winger and he was an unknown quantity in the league, once he was figured out he was nullified easily because we don't really generate all that many chances

As for Cerci, you have no guarantees that he will turn out well for us

I've decided he will. There. How convincing is that?

Very much so...

De Jong looks like he will be leaving this winter, seems as though Thiago Motta is his replacement if he does end up leaving.

If they can not agree an extension with De Jong, then its fair to assume that the above will unfold before the window closes.

De Jong can leave with my blessing. He's given us arguably the best years of his career and he deserves UCL. Motta is a half decent replacement. Be sad to see Nigel go but it's been the cards for a long time. Sincerely hope we get a good fee for him.

Absolutely can't stand watching Motta for Italy, would be 10 times worse watching him each week for Milan. Mediocre player on the level of Muntari

Motta is one of the players I can't stand. Never liked him, even in his "best" years. If De Jong leaves, Monto should take his position as anchor and we should try signing a creative CM.

I think I got my Mottas mixed up. Who's the Portuguese one. Is there a Thiago Motta? A holding mid? Who the hell am I thinking of?

Isn't a creative CM basically an AM? Name a creative CM other than Steven Gerrard in his heyday. Lampard? Iniesta? Pirlo?

They don't make these players nowadays.

Agreed

Absolutely have no idea who you're talking about!

We're talking about the Brazilian-Italian Motta that played for Genoa, Inter and now PSG


Modric? Gündoğan? Kroos? Alonso? Xavi? Pirlo?

I think this is the same argument we had a few months ago, for me an AM is the traditional trequartista. a creative CM is the regista, completely different players.

I'm thinking of someone who played for Chelsea in the midfield position.



Like I say, name one such player under about 28! Kroos is about the only one left (24 I think) and very unique. Like I say, they don't make them like that now.

Point is, we're not in the market for that quality of player, best we can do is Monto, sad to say.

De Jong to move to Man Utd now if he can't agree an extension. They're ready with a 10M offer at 4m a year for 3 years.

Source?

Yeah, United looks like the destination, especially now that LVG is there.

CdS I think it was.

Milan Channel claims that Suso will undergo the medicals in the next few weeks, but that he still won't join Milan until the summer.

Still not excited by this one, even if Liverpool fans don't want to lose him.

Yeah, neither am I. Seems too lightweight for Serie A. Also, he's very injury prone.

Couldn't really care less, personally. I'm tired of signing nobodies, has-been's and mediocre players. Really, really tired...

But be fair man. Suso isn't a has-been or a mediocre player, he's a 21 year old talent. That should really be our priority.

He could barely get a game for a cr*p Liverpool, instead being shipped out to Almeria.

Have you ever actually watched this 'sensation'? 21 year talents of real quality go to Roma for £20M, they do not come to Milan on a free.

Maybe he'll be decent for us, and I'll be happy to be proven wrong, but this one fills me with no enthusiasm at all.

I said "nobodies, has-been's and mediocre players", and Suso is a nobody. Also, what Danny said.

We'll see, I'm not going to jump to conclusions either way as I've never really seen him play.

But as I said, this is what we have to look forward to now, can't say that I'm personally excited by this, but then again, I wasn't excited about Cerci either...

It's just the way this club is run nowadays, I'm personally sick and tired of it just as much as you guys, but there's absolutely nothing we can do about it. Until Berlu final sells up and Galliani is out of the picture we really have no choice

Silvio won't sell up until he leaves this planet. Until then...

From @Milanello.