The 3.5 million is a lot but the wages of Pazzini and Matri (once we ship him off) should cover it. He looks to me like a vast improvement over Pazzini as back up striker and 8 million isn't too steep a price to pay in this market.

I would love to get both of those players. I have a feeling it will be one or the other though.

The 3.5m is just a report. Hopefully it's more around 2-2.5m

Bacca is reportedly going to earn 2.5-3m, so it wouldn't make much sense for Adriano to make that much. We'll see what it is when there's more concrete news on the deal

As for the CBs, I'd love to have both, get rid of Zapata and Paletta. But I get the feeling it will be just one for sure. If it were up to me, I'd take Laporte, his ceiling is higher than Ramagnoli's imo, though he'd probably cost more, though it does not seem like we have any issues with money at this point. We paid 8m for Adriano when we could have waited till January and got him for free. A few months ago we know what route Galliani would have taken, now he just throws money at them and the deal is done within a day


Agreed, especially about Ibra, but I get the feeling he'll be a last week addition, as a big "gift" for the fans.

Or, something else that's been inkling away at me. Italian media is reporting that the Bee deal could be finalised in mid-July instead of August as it has been put on the fast track since there were a couple of issues related with the Chinese investors that have now been resolved. So I could see Ibra being the big signing that welcomes in the new era once Bee and his consortium of investors officially become stakeholders of the club

I'm wishing, hoping, praying, crossing my fingers that the 3rd one will be Ibra. I firmly believe that with him back in the team we'll be title contenders and will put up a serious challenge to Juve


True, but Zapata and Paletta both are terrible in their own ways. I guess if I was backed into a corner and had to choose one of those 2, I'd sell Zapata and keep Paletta. We'd probably make more money off of Zapata anyway, plus he's more instable and a bigger liability than Paletta imo

Paolo Bianchessi (a reporter for an Italian TV station) said that Matri will be sold, Niang and Suso will get loaned and only one of Cerci or Honda will stay. Menez and SES will stay

I'd rather ship both of them out. Got the wrong guy from Pescara. Should have bought Verratti and Perin, or all three. These guys were solid performers. Menez is too selfish in his game and either he changes when we get Ibra or better yet, should be sold for a good price. Same for Shaarawy.

Exactly, same here. Zapata and his neat passes directly to opposition players are legendary.

SES was never at Pescara

And Menez if I'm not mistaken had one of his best seasons (statistically) at PSG playing next to Ibra. Anyway, if we get Ibra, plus taking into consideration Bacca and Adriano, Menez will most likely not be a starter

And anyway, I think if a solid offer came in for him, we'll let him go

------------------

Some more good news

Official: Birsa has joined Chievo Verona on a 3 year deal. No word on how much we got for him

Bacca has passed his medical tests and is officially a Milan player as well.

Aye.


And that's why statistics aren't everything, bud. I saw them playing together several times, and both he and Ibra just did not have that flow and chemistry in any of the matches. Not sure Menez will be glued to the bench right away, but I'd rather just sell him if we're getting Ibra. If not, he can stay.

Bacca to wear #70... WHY???

What a busy busy day it's been.

I have to retract my criticism a tad of this mercato.

We've shipped out a glut of dead wood, none of which will be missed and we've managed to get a fair few million for them into the bargain.

We've now signed three players - I won't lie and say I know a lot about any of them, truthfully, but their CVs are all pretty good:

Adriano has exactly 1 in 2 from 8 years in Ukraine - that's a really good record and includes 32 in 65 in UCL/UEL. He's actually a fantastic striker - he scored 9 in the UCL last season. I'm pleased with this guy. 80K a week for a guy who can score a lot at the highest levels is good business.

And there's still plenty of time for more business.

Probably chose it himself, Adriano with the #9

I seriously hate these high numbers!!!!!!

Total spent is 58m so far, that is more than the last 2 transfer windows combined and we haven't even got to half of the signings we'll make imo

I would still like to see the Alex Zapata partnership given a shot. If Alex could stay fit I really feel it's a strong duo. Maybe that's what Sini's thinking too.

Maybe he wants completely new CB's.

I have no idea.

Really? You're still on that one?


Zapata has been terrible for a while, his passing is a liability for the team. Alex keeps getting injured so a strong duo with him as a starter is a stretch.

And with someone new coming for sure, I wouldn't let Zapata anywhere near the starting 11 unless he's the last defender we have available.

Alex and Zapata could be decent or even good next to each other. However, we're going to sign someone who will most likely be a sure starter ahead of either one of them, so I can't see that happening. We don't know which one will stay, but we will sell one of those 3 CBs for sure this summer

To actually see us spending money on decent players is truly wonderful. Bacca was only outscored last season in La Liga by Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo and Griezman. That's a pretty honourable list and while I would be premature in saying he's a world class striker, he's a 30M striker who's scored twice in the UEL final. He's not quite Sergio Aguero but he sure ain't far off.

Adriano we've done brilliantly to get. Think about Honda. We just wouldn't spend the money to get him in the summer, instead waiting to get him free. Now we actually just spend the money to get the player now. There's a completely different mentality going on here and it's no longer Milan penny-pinching and refusing to part with cash. Because we're spending Abu Dhabian cash where Silvio refused to part with his own.

And I've hopes for Bertolacci - I'm praying to see us get Witsel or another quality regista to add to him and De Jong. And I'd be very happy with that midfield.

Defence, though, needs a LOT of work. Antonini might just be first choice now we've shelled out the 4M for him, and Abate surely will be first choice at RB, but CB is a complete mess.

You take Monto, I've got this one



Eh, he hasn't played! Except for his country!



Ideally I'd rip up the whole CBs and start again. I don't really want any of them, not Alex, Zaps, Paletta, Mexes...but that isn't going to happen.

Oh crap, we got Antonini back?

Can't stop laughing.

I sincerely hope you give him equal digs for his persistence with SES and Monto

Yeah didn't you hear? Mesbah and Armero come with him.












(bloody typo. Antonelli. I meant Anto-bloody-Nelli.)

Meh, don't care about him anymore, I only insisted on him before because I knew for a fact that because we had no money, he was the best that we could do. Now that it's very apparent that we've got cash to burn, I'd sell him along with Poli if it were up to me.


When he did play for usd last season he was terrible. Don't care about what he does for his country, he was good in the World Cup as well

Plus even when he's on a good run, he always has a mistake in him, especially with his wayward passing right into the opposition's feet

Like I said, we have cash now, just a few months ago we had to accept guys like Zapata, Paletta, Monto as the best we could get for practically no cash since that was what our budget permitted. Now we do have money, and we should all expect better of our players.


I'd say we're covered at FB, agreed on that. Antonelli, DS and Abate should be enough (hopefully Abate has a better season in terms of injuries, same with DS)

And yeah, we do have major issues at the centre of defence. For me Zapata and Paletta should be definite outs.

Mexes and Alex when they played last season where our obvious best CBs by a country mile when compared to the rest. Mexes edging out Alex because of Alex's injuries. That's why I'd keep those 2 only from our current roster.

Mexes is a great squad player to have, no matter how you feel about him there is no doubting his abilities as a player and defender. Sure he has an odd game or two during an entire season where he lets his concentration slip or his temper get the best of him, but overall, he'd still be my first choice to partner anyone we purchase. He tends to bring the best out of whoever is playing next to him and we saw this with both Zapata and Rami in terms of how much better they performed when they were given a solid run playing next to him.

Alex is still a good defender imo, sure his injuries are an issue but if he's going to be 3rd or 4th choice that shouldn't be much of an issue

Hmh. So it's good news, signed two solid strikers, sold some of the not useful players.

One question: are Cerci and Torres still Milan players?

@Danny - why do you keep calling Mihajlović Sini? It really doesn't make any sense. It isn't his nickname, it isn't even a usual Serbian abbreviation of the name Siniša? I mean, I hate those robotic-nicks like DDR for De Rossi, it sounds so unnatural and without any understanding of the name origin and background.

Be careful or I'll start calling you Filli.

Cerci is an Atleti player, but he's on an 18 month loan so he stays here till that expires. Unless the clubs come to an agreement to terminate the deal.

Torres is a Milan player - as part of the deal to get Cerci from Atleti, we had to fully sign Torres (undisclosed fee, possibly completely free) and loan him to Atleti.

It's one of the strangest deals I've seen in football.

Hopefully we shed both.

Agreed. Poli had his uses last season but ultimately he's bang average, along with Monto and Bona. In Poli and Bona's favour they both at least have the right attitude - but Monto doesn't have that compensation. I'd try to sell all three, personally. None are remotely good enough.

(PS we always had money, just Silvio wouldn't spend it. He's quite happy to spend other people's money though)



Right now our spine is Lopez, Abate, De Jong, Berto, Bacca & Adriano. It's a good start I have to say.



I didn't say that. And we're not. Antonelli is a very decent LB, but Jordi Alba he isn't. I rate him well and I'm glad we have him, but I'm not convinced he's completely good enough for an improved Milan. MDS is a joke - needs replaced. The only player we have I'm totally content with at FB is Abate.

Antonelli and Abate is half-decent, yes, and isn't priority, but I'd strongly disagree we're covered there. We're only now covered in attack. Potential trequartista (be it Ibra or another) aside.



I'm not even discussing the guy with you. It's up there with me and Alex Zaps. We've made progress on the joke that is Monto, I'll take that and bow out gracefully.



We don't know if he's first, squad, or for the chop. No point in conjecture over defence right now. I really wish Sini would stamp his authority on defence so we know where he's going with it.

Antonelli is very average in my book. Up there with the various Monto, Poli etc. MDS should be the starter because he's got the potential, even though he comes from two horrible seasons.

Cerci is owned by Atleico, only loaned to us, Torres is owned by us and loaned to Atletico.

It's a mess really, don't know what the point of making the loan deal a 2 year one even was. I'd say terminate the loan, send Cerci back, see what Atletico want to do with Torres, if they want to keep him fine, if not terminate his loan as well then terminate his contract


I'd keep Bona, I really think that he's the type of player who would thrive with the right players around him. He's one of the few who showed anything positive last season, that says a lot for me.


Agreed


Like you said, it's not a priority. Imo, for Serie A, we're covered at FB, and those 3 are more than fine. We're not going to overhaul the entire squad in just one summer. CB and CM are far more crucial areas where we need to make improvements. FB and GK were the only 2 spots where we could say we're okay there.

Next summer we could look into a better LB maybe, but like I said, it's far from a priority atm

Respectfully disagree about DS


A lot of people may hate Mexes for his hot head antics but he's more than proved himself and I can't see why you don't just admit it. Every season he starts from the bench, maybe coaches don't take an instant liking to him like they do with someone like Bonera, I don't know. He was on the bench under Allegri, Seedorf and Pippo for the first few months/weeks of their time with him. and in each case he managed to not only win his place back, but become one of the first names and automatic choices for the team sheet.

Like I said, I'm not blind to his faults. 1 in ever 15 games he'll have a games where he loses his concentration or his sh!t and ends up getting sent off.

But other than that, he's our best defender and I can't see how anyone could think to deny this at this point.


We'll see. I think one big signing will surely come in. Sort of hoping for 2. (Ramagnoli and Laporte would be a dream).

If we do get 2, then I expect 2 from those 3 to be sold


Well yeah, but he does the job, unlike with Monto and Poli in midfield who should be lynch pins, Antonelli is a FB. Danny said he's no Jordi Alba, well obviously he's not, I'm not going to expect him to tear down that left side and create chances at will. But for Serie A, he does an admirable job defensively, which is what's most important and does an okay job in the attacking department, nothing special but at least he's reliable. And for now, replacing him shouldn't even be considered as we have much more important positions to think about

Plagued by injuries. If he manages to consolidate, I'm positive he'd be a long-term solution.

Agreed. To label him a joke or failure is just pointless.

Him and SES have practically missed out on nearly the entirety of the last 2 seasons, how anyone could come to any conclusions based on that is beyond me.

I didn't say we should sell him. He's perfect as backup.

Well at least we're not arguing about Muntari anyway.

Neither did I. I meant replacing him in the first 11. He's good enough for now imo.

Plus I still think he should be DS's back up

Silvio rambling like an idiot this morning.

First he says we're aiming for the title, next he says top 3 finish is critical.

I wish he'd f*ck off back to his bunga bunga parties and find some 15-year old hooker to bore.

Well, he said that at least we should aim to come back to the champion's league. A lot is lost in translation during these press conferences, other than the fact that the media takes a word and distort it. What is actually annoying is as usual he is telling us how much money he puts into the club blabalbal... the usual.

Apparently Galliani murmured to Silvio "We're very close" at some point during the press conference, and media are speculating they were talking about Ibra.

Who knows. Maybe Galliani only tried to say that Berul should wrap it up with his speech.

Anyway. What do you guys think, and this is only hypothetical, would you rather have Bertolacci, Bacca and Adriano or pile that money up and launch a bid for, say, Thiago Silva? Hypothetically speaking he's a world class player who, I'm sure, would say yes to Milan, even without CL and this level we are at.

I'd rather get Ibra and Hummels and be done with this market. Save the rest for the winter. Silva is still a great buy, but not sure PSG will sell him back to us, or sell him period. He's their captain and even with his injuries remains an integral part of that team.

Plus, he can always come back for another spell with us two years down the road.

For the meager price we sold Thiago Silva, we should've included a buy-back clause.

Thiago is a closed chapter imo, I can't see him playing for us again anytime soon.

You're right about the money we've already spent though, would have rather signed a top CB or CM with that 58m than 2 strikers who still need proper service to be productive and an average Serie A mid that we overpaid by 10m or so for...

I seriously don't get the Bertolacci deal the most tbh. If I were going for any Serie A player worth that money I would have gone for Udine's Allan. Great all rounder and would have fit in nicely in the box-to-box slot next to De Jong, one other CM and we would have been set in midfield.

Bertolacci is not a box-to-box guy, he's a direct AM, he doesn't really pull much weight defensively either. Just a strange choice all round imo, especially for the money that we paid.

For me, the dream signing in defence right now would be Laporte. And that's the only player we should have broken the bank for, not Bacca or Bertolacci. I'm thinking Bilbao would want nothing less than 40m for him. But the potential this guy has would more than make up for that high fee


Stupidest deal in the history of Milan if not football...

And to think how much PSG spent on Marquinhos and Luiz after that makes it an even bigger bitter pill to swallow

Honestly, I don't see it that way. We got rid of a lot of dead wood, while replacing them with players that can give significant contribution. We paid a very small price for Luiz Adriano, and from his numbers, you can see that he is not just another Pazzini or Destro. Bacca's the same. Both of them have been doing well recently, and are bound to give an added push.

We paid too much for Bertolacci, I agree. Though, he is young, and honestly you can't say he's mediocre or mid table. His story is yet to be written!

I'd agree with you if you're judging from the end of the transfer season, but we're not even half way through. No where is there an indication that we're stopping our signings here.

At the moment though, we rejuvenated our front-line. If Ibra comes, that's a big bonus.

We don't have anyone in midfield that can clog our play like Muntari or Essien. We need that one play-maker, although, we can possibly have them in Suso or Honda even. Mihajlovic was speaking of playing El Sharaawy as a left midfielder(although, I don't think it's a good idea), so some solutions might come from inside the squad itself.

We can't consider Honda a striker/winger, he failed terribly at that. So, either consider him as an AM or a CM.

Well anyway summing it up, the squad has potential even in its "preliminary" form. While, I'm all for getting the play-maker that we really need, we should be aware that we also have some talent in the squad that have been mismanaged and can serve us well come next year.

Can't agree more, man.

It'll be a good enough squad to compete for the top 3, and maybe more.

Not judging the mercato or saying that it's a bad one, just that 58m could have been more smartly invested.

Bacca and Adriano aren't as limited as Pazzo or Matri, but they still need service to be productive. They're both target men, neither one of them is a creative second striker.

If Ibra comes that's a huge problem solved in terms of creativity and creating goal scoring opportunities. If we want to challenge Juve it's probably not enough but if we get Ibra we're already set for the top 3 imo.

Imo, we need 3 more players to be competitive at Juve's level. 1 top CB, 1 top CM and Ibra. Galliani manages that and this will be a squad worthy of fighting Juve for the title.

Also, I'm very happy that we let certain players go and will continue to work in removing certain leeches from the roster, that's already a big plus.

I think what Miha said about SES and got lost in translation is that he can play the AM role. Which is where he played at Padova, personally can't see that as a viable option tbh. SES's best attributes are pace and finishing. Certainly not creativity/vision and dribbling

We'll see. This is all just conjecture based on the squad we have now, 2 or 3 new players will change everything dramatically.

For the rest of the summer, I'm personally expecting 6 or 7 other departures and 4 or 5 new additions (considering that Mauri will be signed by Monday)

This wasn't meant to be a discussion about particular players (my fault). My question was, are you happy with Bertolacci, Bacca and Adriano or would you rather pile up that cash and bid for one more expensive player?

Yes, I agree, they still need service. But, when they do get it..they're much better than what we had before! So, I see that as a major improvement in this area. Of-course, improvement should be all around the field and no in just one position.

With respect to El Sharaawy, I watched the youtube video, and he DID in fact say he might play him as an internal midfielder, or at least test him out. I doubt it'll work out, because of what you said. My point being was that we have some talent in the squad that might be utilized in the midfield position/attacking midfield position..namely Honda and Suso respectively.

Also, yeah I agree 1 top CB/1 top CM and Ibra would be more than enough. IMO Juve this year are weaker, I remember someone stating that point over here. They lost Tevez and Pirlo, that's a big loss IMO. Yes, they got really "good/talented" players in return, but they're losing two world class players..not good/talented ones.

Although, it's always their Scudetto to lose no matter what. They have the advantage being crowned champions for four years in a row now.

I'm happy with Bertolacci, Bacca and Adriano. Wouldn't have piled up the catch and bid for a more expensive one.

In my view, we rejuvenated the attack and got a player with good potential in midfield. As always, Milan will need this one big star to set it apart from the rest, and that will hopefully be in Ibra.

I think it depends on how we look at it.

Were the 2 players we were going to get before worth the 75-80m we would have paid for them? Because that's what Jackson and Kondogbia would have ended up costing us in just transfer fees.

We have 3 players for a lot less than that now.

But would I have preferred if the 58m went into someone of real top class/world class quality? Yes, obviously. Especially for a creative mid or CB

Jackson and Kondogbia over Bacca, Adriano and Bertolacci? Yes for me.

By the way, I'm still pissed at Bacca for choosing #70. Yes, laugh all you want, but odd numbers are a huge pet peeve of mine. Can't stand them!

You know, in Japanese Bacca means stupid, albeit it's written 'bakka'. I'd say it fits him to a tee, wouldn't you agree?

and Kaka' means shite in many languages

My guess is he wants the number 7 but its taken so he took 70

Balotelli took 45 because he couldn't have 9..

Meh could not careless what number they have on the back of there shirts they can change there not set in stone... as long as they are scoring goals and winning matches with those goals could not care less imo.

we still need a proper defence and midfield , feels like our management is playing Fifa or Football manager buying so much attack.