Fabregas would be a blessing given the dire situation of our midfield.



Semantics. He's not being reasonable, at all.

Yes. I'm a bit shocked with the demands made by Maldini. If the newspaper reports are true, then all we expect of Maldini in the club is exactly what the team are offering him in the new role. More than that, I feel he has to work his way up and earn. A bit like Leonardo or even Nedved.

No disrespect intended, but the technical director role with the kind of autonomy that Maldini is asking for is earned and not just given.

I feel our experience giving our ex-players coaching roles based on minimal experience should be proof enough how much times have changed and you need specialists.

EDIT: Just read Sabatini has resigned with immediate effect. Can we get him in please? I mean, I find it hard to believe Mirabelli is better than Sabatini.

Don't disagree, but IMHO there are better options out there. One of my biggest complaints about Galliani's recent strategy is continuing to bring in "have been" players with declining ability and questionable motivation, and I fear that what we would be getting with Fabregas. While we do need someone with experience, we also need someone with energy and the right spirit.


Agreed

Massimiliano Mirabelli is following Nice's 17 year old CB Malang Sarr, but Arsenal are also very interested in him. #TMW

Vangioni could leave Milan in January. His agent will start looking for a club. #TMW

Mirabelli was one of the few people at Inter that thought Geoffrey Kondogbia wasn't worth the money, valued him at €15m.
[Sky Italia]

Thiago Silva's agent: “There are many clubs interested in signing Thiago Silva. He’s in love with Milan. He loves the club and the city. We’ve had no contact with the Italian club. He is still under contract with PSG but a return to Milan could be possible if we don’t sign a new contract. The rossoneri have good chances to qualify for the Champions League.”


Thiago Silva agent: "Contract talks with PSG have been put on hold. We are going to evaluate the future alongside the club. But if PSG fail to qualify for Champions League this season, we are not going to sign a new contract, that’s for sure."

He's still only 29 IIRC. I wouldn't go as far as calling him a has-been. He just had a bad season last year, like basically the rest of the Chelsea players. And Conte simply prefers Matic and Kante to him because when it comes to a certain type of player, they're right up his alley

Also, I don't expect us to instantly be able to bring in the best young talent around. We're going to have to work at it. Not only are we not in the CL but we're playing in Italy, which these days is far less attractive than the EPL of La Liga


Don't think money has anything to do with thise. As Paolo stated in his interview, money is not the issue but the role he's being offered is


Man, what a miss from us. I honestly think Fassone didn't even consider him, because if he had he would have known the situation at Roma was tenuous at best and would have pounced on it. Mirabelli is such an odd pick. I hope it's the best decision for us and he works out well for us


We're going to have to thread careful for now, at least until we establish ourselves as a CL team again. It's not going to be easy attracting top players instantly so at certain points we'll have to settle. But I don't think Fabregas is a big compromise. He's a great player and would elevate out midfield to the next level

Agreed. Fabregas is still class, he just plays for a team that's been struggling for nearly 18 months or so now. Our midfield has lots of effort, but lacks a little in quality and he would change that.

I hope you are all right about this (assuming we even get him). It is clear we need someone of quality.

On other news, Thiago Silva is in the news telling everyone how much he loves Milano. Would love to get him back ...

Fabregas in January and Thiago in June, please.

How about if we have the cash we try to force a move for both in January? I'd really like to see serious intent from the new owners and good moves from Mirabelli

A lot of Italian papers also linking us to Tielemens because Mirabelli likes him a lot and wanted him at Inter as well. He'd be a great add for the future.

Still think we need a proper box-to-box mid as well

Also. What do you guys think of trying to get Depay on loan with an option? I think he'd be an improvement on Suso with very little risk taken

Yeah, I'd feel we would become favorites for a champions league spot if that happens.

I have no idea about Tielemens, but another young talent..sign me up. Given we land a proven midfielder too.

I like the idea of taking Depay!

No Depay for me. I don't see why we should give up on Suso who's been steadily improving. It's the kind of patience that is paying off with Niang. I'm sure by next Season Suso will be even more of a beast.

I hear though of a link to another striker called Isak. Also rated by Mirabelli a lot. Interestingly, no Italian names being taken.

Really? Suso a beast? He's the opposite of a beast, he's not exceptionally fast, he's not physically imposing and he generally doesn't provide much in terms of creativity either.

And honestly I don't see much improvement either. If we want to do well, eventually we'll have to replace both Niang and Suso. But Niang does better because he IS actually a beast. He's quick and can bulldoze his way through, no matter how clumsy he is

A huge no to Depay. I've not seen much of him in Holland, but from his time in England: Lazy, bad attitude, huge ego, lack of quality. Not particularly things I want here.

Corriere dello Sport:
Montella wants Cesc Fabregas at AC Milan in january.

Allegri still wants De Sciglio in Juve according to TuttoSport.

Fabrizio Romano: Milan are among teams interested in the 17-year-old Swedish striker Alexander Isak. Juventus and PSG are also interested. AIK want more than €10m for the player.


Btw shouldnt we open a Winter Transfers topic ?

I hear you. But do a simple contrast between Niang last season and Niang this season. I see a simple parallel. One season at Genoa. Second season at Milan, where player shows huge improvement, but is clearly not a finished product. Third season, huge improvements and becomes a critical cog.

I mean, this is just contradicting our whole home-grown, youth yada yada nonsense, if we buy talented players for cheap and then refuse to play them saying they're not good enough-what's the point. In the end players need time to play within the team consistently to show progress and get better. If we say play the youth, and then consider only players who are Kaka and Donnarumma level right from the get-go it doesn't work.

Right now all of us think Pierre Aubameyang was a great player who we could have held onto. But he took 6 years to reach where he did. 6 years of consistent game time playing around 20+ games a season.

Suso is being shown a lot of confidence by Montella. In fact the Milan youth are being shown a lot of confidence by Montella. More than anything else, this is what I've liked the most about the new coach. Let it continue. We have to build a new generation team and I think in two or three years we'll end up with a solid side. Short terms results will be average though. But it's fine. At least there's progress.

I agree that we should give more space to younger players. We absolutely need a few solid "veterans" (which we do not really have), but (even with new money coming in) I do not see us being able to rely entirely on proven players that are still in their prime. Need to rebuild, and it will take a few years.

I think it's easy to forget this guy is still only 21. Years ago people were writing him off, it was madness.

I agree Jack, I think that Niang has jumped in quality and he is still quite young. With the proper time and space he can be a really great player. He seems to have his head in it now and his physical quality is there. On the technical side he isn't the most developed player but his dribbling and ability to beat a man has come along in leaps and bounds. His finishing isn't good but he could come along and be a great seconda punta. At this point I would rather let him grow as a starter than buy someone to replace him, atm we have more pressing needs.

The difference I see with Niang and Suso is that Niang is a physical monster, strong and fast. Suso is the opposite. He is more technically sound but physically he isn't imposing at all. He is slow on the dribble and can get muscled off the ball far too easily. His technical ability although decent doesn't make him enough of a threat to make up for his deficiencies in speed and strength. I thought he could come along as a Mertens type player but the difference is that Mertens is deadly on the counter, Suso is not. I see something like speed as more of a fixed quality whereas technical ability can get better with time. A great example of this is Bale. The guy was always fast, the technical ability came with time and experience. If I had to pick one attacking player to replace it would be Suso, the fact that he is stringently left footed also makes him too one dimensional. I like the guy but he isn't a starter in a team looking to achieve something.

If I'm ranking our needs I would say a CM, CB, RW, and Box to box mid.

Maldini has refused the offer from Fassone to enter the Milan management.
"Milan has always been for me a matter of the heart and passion, my story, my father's and my children's prove it and no one can delete our bond with the Rossoneri colors. This very strong link requires me to be careful, precise and professional in accepting the job that I was offered; Of course, it would be much easier to follow the excitement of the proposal and say yes, without thinking of the possible consequences and go headlong into this new adventure. But no, I can not, I have to respect the values ​​that have accompanied me throughout my life, I have to respect fans that have identified over the years in me a passion, will and seriousness, I have to respect Milan and myself. I hope that in these few lines to have clarified my position. It remains the bitterness of these days for a dream that has vanished .. I defend the right of people in charge of important companies like AC Milan to choose their employees based on the criteria most appropriate to them, I would do the same thing in their position, but also reiterate that my values ​​and my independence of thought will be more and more important to me than any job. "

Maldini: "I would like to clarify some concepts to the Milan fans and the press, who gave the news that move the substance of the matter on the economic aspect, forgetting the importance that me and my family have given to the sense of belonging to Milan: This news, among other things, have been suggested by "anonymous" sources across channels and people I've known for 30 years, aiming to discredit my person to justify the failure to reach an agreement. I have never put forward the economic demands, I reiterated at the first meeting that the definition of the role will be the basic key of a possible collaboration. How could I quantify a proposal when the responsibilities are not set out clearly? I pointed out that I would give my all to a serious project that sees me in an important role, and that I would never accept to be used as just a legend. I repeat: Milan for me is a choice of heart."

GdS: The new Milan management will have a foreign president, Fassone as the CEO, 3 Italian and 4 Chinese. The candidates for the presidency are Li Yonghong and Han Li.

Galliani will stay in Milan's board (as one of 3 Italian advisors) according to Fabio Ravezzani.

Today is the meeting between Coaches, captains and team managers of Serie A clubs with Italian referees association representative at San Siro. Montella, Antonelli and Vittorio Mentana will represent Milan.
Based in the last post, Antonelli is the new captain of Milan.

Tuttosport reports there is tension between Milan Badelj and Fiorentina. Badelj wants to join Milan.

Milan are ready to fly out to London to accelarate the negotations for Cesc Fabregas, who is ready to say 'yes' to Milan.
[CorSport]

Maldini seems to have pushed a little too much by rushing to the media. New owners comment was they are busy closing the deal to acquire milan. And that Maldini will soon see a winning priject at milan. (Sum'ed up from FI)

On another note, seems Galliani is staying with us after all.

CorSport: Milan, This is how the Beijing government enters. The group China Huarong Asset has assets of $118 billion.

I still think Maldini should have taken up the position offered to him and then work his way to a higher role. I don't agree with that one line of his -
"If a conflict should arise between myself and Mirabelli who would decide. Fassone said it would be him. And this is a lack of synergy".

He's basically complaining about a lack of executive autonomy. I see how in the worst situation, yes Fassone would side with the guy he's handpicked - but in an ideal situation, you'd assume there is a lot of respect for Maldini's views. I feel, this whole press notice should have been delayed - instead Mirabelli and Maldini should have gotten into a room together and decided if they could actually work together or not. Why do this 'My way or the highway' bit?

But maybe they have and don't see eye to eye. In that case Maldini is in the right to walk away.

Regarding who is to come in now, I think it will no longer be a priority immediately. I'd prefer Albertini now over Ambrosini. His contacts in UEFA and the Italian FA would be more useful. But Ambrosini comes closer to the current generation. Not sure if he would be yet another 'yes man' though.


I read that Montella has vetoed Fabregas. He wants a proper regista and doesn't see Cesc performing that role. I'd say pick Mikel from Chelsea and Isco from Real Madrid. Buy one and loan the other.

Montella: "We need someone with Montolivo's characteristics. Fabregas? He doesn't have those characteristics."

Montella: "In January I want a midfielder with characteristics of Montolivo who can also play in midfield of two."

Chelsea will have to pay €55M if they want Alessio Romagnoli in January, according to The Sun.

Ambrosini to Sky: "The Chinese? Nobody has spoken with me. I think they were only thinking of Paolo, don't think they have a plan B."

Statement of Sino-Europe Sport regarding Maldinis refusation of the new role: https://scontent-cdg2-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0...amp;oe=58A59BEB

Conte wants Donnarumma in Chelsea. Chelsea have requested information from Milan. But the valuation of Donnarumma according to Raiola is €170m. #CorSport


Haha, I would actually not mind selling Donnarumma for 170m or even for 150m.

Sell him, buy Perin for 15-20m and invest the rest in a world class CB, RB, CM and a Winger.

The problem of course is how costs for even average players escalate once they find out you've made a killing off a purchase.

But I wouldn't sell Donnarumma. For one, the new owners mean that cash shouldn't be an issue immediately. Second, we need more 'flags' as they say. Unfortunately De Sciglio hasn't lived up to his billing as a flag bearer youth product.

I believe the situation was mishandled on both ends. Was brought in almost as an after-thought, yet his expectations appered to be out of line with his experience.


Yeah, but he does not seem to have much authority in his new role. If so, I have no problem. I think he did a lot for Milan, even though these last few years have been a bit of a nightmare.

For 150M I would sell. I like Donna, but he is represented by Riola and that will mean trouble down the line.

I think some players have it and others simply don't. Niang and Suso, I would put into the latter category. Niang, like I said, is able to make it work some because he is a beast in terms of his physique, but the fact that at this point in his development he still looks as clumsy as he did 3 years ago when trying to dribble and still has basically very little end product says a lot. I'm not discounting him completely, but moving forward, he certainly not the guy that can help us reach elite status, which is where the management (hopefully) are aiming to get to.

Suso on the other hand hasn't really improved all that much since we sent him on loan. He struggles with the physicality of the league, especially when we're the ones trying to break down defences and not counter attacking, he's not exceptionally fast either, has very little to offer in terms of vision and creativity. Honestly, the only reason I think he's getting the nod from Montella is because he's our only other winger and he wants to use a 4-3-3.

As for youth development, I agree with you about it, but it has to be a balanced project. And I'd say we're doing well in that department without either Suso or Niang, just look at our defensive line. I don't think we've seen that many players all so talented and establishing themselves in the first team since the days of Paolo and Baresi.

Now this is not to say that any of the current drop compare to those 2. But it's very obvious we're moving in the right direction in terms of nurturing talent. But there has to be a good blend. It's why I think we should sign a top quality CB who's already at his peak to partner Romagnoli for example, we need leadership at the back. It's why I think Monto should be replaced with someone who's top quality but also experienced (Cesc would be ideal here, don't know what Montella is going on about there) and why I think we should have someone besides Bacca who's established in attack as well, someone who can create things out of nothing. Maybe we can tempt Zlatan next summer...


Mikel for me is not the answer, Cesc is. We need a creator who is capable of directing play in midfield, Cesc can do that. Honestly, I don't know wtf Montella is on about here. Waxing lyrical about Monto like he wasn't on the verge of perma-benching him just a couple of weeks ago. Obviously all the praise is mostly just a result of the sympathy due to the injury.

We'd be lucky if esc even considers coming here considering the state of affairs, and he would instantly elevate our midfield from terrible to pretty good. So I don't get why he's saying he doesn't have the right characteristics. Plus Cesc has played in a double pivot at Chelsea to great success (his first season there) something Monto isn't capable of doing.


What are Monto's characteristics these days exactly? walking aroung the pitch for 90 minutes looking like he's about to keel over and die? I get that he's putting a lot of positive sound bytes out there because Monto must be crushed atm, but come on man. We need someone with characteristics exactly like Cesc's and we also need a dynamic midfielder ala Matuidi/Kante/Sissoko/Vidal to play next to him, not another Monto that's for sure. Any slow, labouring type player who's only there to mop up is useless for us.


Why sell? We're supposed to have cash and we're supposed to be ambitious now. Any attempts to sell our star players or young high potential players would just show that nothing has changed from when B&G were running this club into the ground

I agree with you though. If we are going to play a 2 man midfield we surely need Cesc and a dynamic box to box player next to him.



You have a point, but if someone gives you 170m for a player, you sell, no matter who that player is, even if it is Ronaldo (except for Messi).

Donnarumma is very good, has potential to be the best, but it is not a player that can not be replaced. If we sold Donnarumma and got De Gea, Curtois or a keeper like them instead of him for 30-40m then that would mean that we made a good deal. I am sure that the Chinese have money to invest, but not that much as to refuse a 170m offer for a keeper, when they could use those money and the rest of 300m (as the clause in the contract of selling the club says) to buy some really good players.
I am saying this only if we are offered +100m for him. Under that, there is no point in selling with your argument as proof.

BTW: Han should you open a Winter Transfers topic ?

I honestly don't know if this is some sort of way for Montella to quiet Cesc talk so fans don't get their hopes up or to not completely crush Monto's hopes and dreams of ever returning to the team

First off, I don't see ANY club offering us that kind of money for Donna. Not even players who are atm better than him are worth that much. Raiola is just being his usual @sshole self and trying to get the best wage out of us for Donna. No club would offer that for him

And as I've said many times now, I think it's essential that we keep those 4 players (Donna, DS, Calabria and Romagnoli) intact. They are the way forward for us, they can be flag bearers for this Club in the future, why should we sell any one of them? I personally would think long and hard if an offer like that came for him. It's a lot of cash sure, but Donna is a once in a generation sort of player.

Would you give up on having the (potentially) next Buffon?

Also, I've read up a bit on another kid from our Primavera, Plizzarri (I think he's already being used as our 3rd choice) and he's also supposed to be another great talent