Bacca had good offers from Turkey or China (good for him and good for Milan), but he insists on playing in Spain.


I kind of agree, except I believe we lost money selling Kalinic, and with Villareal's offer we are going to be losing money on Bacca as well. As I understand it, these losses will not help with the FFP situation.

That's probably why Milan is trying to squeeze a little more money out of Bacca. Kalinic was a hopeless situation (given his performance over his last year, WC in particular), so they probably were happy to get 15M out of it.

Well you can't force the player, I wouldn't want to go to either of those countries either. He wants to play in Spain, I say cut your losses and sell him to Villareal.

In the long run, we'd lose more by keeping them on the books anyway. I'd prefer to get some sort of transfer fee for them rather than having them sit on our bench and draining our resources



BREAKING: Milan going forward for Bakayoko from Chelsea trying to sign him on loan with option to buy, according to @DiMarzio

Milan are in advanced negotiations with Chelsea for midfielder Bakayoko. Milan will look to close a deal on loan with option to buy. The midfielder has not had much playing time at Chelsea. [Sky]


According to Sky Italia, Milan’s dream signing in the midfield is Sergej Milinkovic-Savic. It remains a very difficult deal

Let's see, both would raise the level in our midfield significantly. Bakayoko was a complete donkey at Chelsea, but his performances in the CL with Monaco are still memorable to me. So the ability is there, probably not a good fit at Chelsea


Milinkovic seems surreal, if we sign him... Nope, not going there

Draxler- Ricardo Rodriguez swap being mentioned on Football-italia. Wonder why we have not considered Draxler earlier for wing

How about England? Would you refuse to go to EPL? (link)

Kalanic sold finally

Haven't read anywhere else that EPL clubs want him though. Either way, we should just make the concession and seel him. He earns close to 8m gross. We can't have that kind of burden on the books for a player who will not even play this season

The article pretty much agrees with you. It suggests that even if we sell him at a loss on the books, we should do it anyway and get rid of the salary.

OTOH, it looks like Silva may be on his way out (link). If so, I wonder if we should keep Bacca.

Lucci, who is the agent for both Suso and Bertolacci in Casa Milan. He was in Roma HQ yesterday. Unsure if he's come in with an official offer for Suso. Suso renewed recently and we don't know if it is still a 40 MM release clause.

We're linked to Draxler. Also rumours Bacca might go to Villareal for cash plus Castillejo.

Apparently, Suso wants more money

BREAKING: Andre Silva to Sevilla is a done deal, all that is missing is the medical to make it official, according to Sky.

Sky are reporting Andre Silva will join Sevilla on a dry loan.

Luca Antonelli will join Empoli, according to @DiMarzio.

Milan are heading towards terminating Montolivo’s contract. They are negotiating the severence pay. [Libero]

Milan and Sassuolo have found an agreement on the price of Locatelli at €12m + bonuses, but there’s still no agreement on the buy-back option for Milan that would be available for Milan for the first two years. They will try to close the deal by next week. [Gazzetta dello Sport]

Bakayoko should join Milan on a paid loan of €5m with the option to buy for €30m. Milan hope to divide his wages with Chelsea. [Gazzetta dello Sport]


Looks like a lot of things will be going down in the next couple of days, especially when it comes to outgoing players. I can only assume that this mass exodus is to free up the wage bill and some cash to try to make some final incoming transfers.

Let's hope we get that CM upgrade and a LW with some pace because this squad, even with Higuain, still looks like it won't be enough to get that 4th spot

Bakayoko will be the cm i suppose. So LW will be the main target

Let's hope not. He's not what we need in midfield. He's more similar to Kessie than anything else. We need a creator, a mezzalla basically. I'd rather we spend big on someone like Rabiot than a winger at this point tbh

BREAKING: Locatelli to Sassuolo is a done deal. He will take his medical on Monday and then sign the contract, according to @DiMarzio.

Locatelli will join Sassuolo on a permanent transfer, but Milan will have a buy-back option in the deal. The deal will be closed on Monday. He will not travel with the rest of the team to Madrid. [@DiMarzio]


Looks like Loca is out as well. I'd have preferred a loan, but the buy-back is also a good solution. He was stagnating with us, so this will be good for him. If he impresses, we can buy him back

I can't imagine this mass exodus is going on without any plans to bring in at least 3 more players. Bertolacci will most likely be sold to Genoa as well while they're working on rescinding Monto's contract. We're not going into a season with EL with a threadbare squad. Something is definitely brewing. I think 3 new players will com in; Bakayoko, new CM (to replace Bona in the starting 11) and a LW

Anyone following the RM match?

I did. We lost 3-1.
We didn't look too bad, particularly in the first half.
Also Higuain's goal was class.

There was an article on milannews which was saying that we could offer monty and bona to Lazio plus cash from possible gigi sale to psg to buy SMS

Bakayoko apparently a done deal (link). Let's hope he gets back to the contribution level from his days at Monaco.

Why would PSG get another GK (when they already have two competing for the top spot)? And why would anyone want Monto? But if it happens ...

I think the SMS link is just wishful thinking at this point. Lazio will not sell this late in the summer, and we can't give them Bona as it will create rotation problems for us. Bona is a versatile player, I doubt we'd let him go considering we have 3 competitions this season

The best we can hope for now is a LW and hopefully another midfield addition who could inject some creativity into the team

Bakayoko is a shrewd move, but we need something more still in that midfield. I'm hoping Leo can still pull something out of the hat still

BREAKING:

SKY, @MilanNewsit & @AntoVitiello all report that Bakayoko to Milan is a done deal!

The former Chelsea midfielder will join Milan on loan with an option to buy set at €30m.

Medical tests are set for tomorrow.

Samu Castillejo bein linked with bacca swap plus 18 million. He is a LW anyone knows how good is he?

I read he's very similar to Suso. Which is defo not what we need. We need someone who's direct and has some serious pace

Still linked with Milinkovic-Savic

to this point out net spending would have been nil I suppose?

Pretty much.

Still. I think Milinkovic-Savic is a pipe dream. We can't afford the kind of figure Lotito wants for him.

Ni buyback clause in Locatelli transfer as per football italia

You are probably right. But ... when I first heard of the Bonucci / Caldara + Higuain deal, I thought that was never gonna happen, yet ...

I think it is just a sacrifice we have to take at the moment. Selling players without thinking if they might be stars in future. We just need money to stick by UEFA regulations at the moment, and to be able to carry our transactions.

No point for Sassuolo to have a buy back clause. As if he explodes, they will want to sell him for more. This is why they payed the 12 million imo.

Looks like we are getting Castillejo in exchange for Bacca + 15M (link)

Hmm, he looks like a good replacement. But, doesn't impress me that much.

Gerard Deulofeu would have suited us much more. And, he went to Watford at a much cheaper price. :/

Castielljo doesn't convince me. We should have signed Bernard. How come we let him go to Everton?

Sacrifice? Locatelli was a burden. Good riddance.

Well, he wasn't doing well. I wouldn't say he was a burden. But, he was a prospect. Though, I agree not the biggest talent to lose.

No idea. :/

Football-italia.net

Bakayoko continues Milan medical

Tiemoue Bakayoko is taking the second part of his Milan medical this morning, ahead of signing from Chelsea.

The midfielder is set to join on loan with an option to buy, and was at Casa Milan yesterday to sign the paperwork.

No official announcement was made yesterday, and Gianluca Di Marzio’s website reports that Bakayoko is continuing his medicals today.

It’s not thought there is any issue though, and he should be announced as a Rossoneri player in the coming hours.

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


Should be announced soon. Seems a good deal since it's a loan, but we need much more in midfield.

Our squad for 2018/2019:

Goalkeepers:

1-Gianluigi Donnarumma 19yrs
2-Pepe Reina 35yrs
3-Antonio Donnarumma 28yrs
4-Alessandro Plizzari 18yrs
5-Gabriel 25yrs

Defenders:

Centerbacks:
1-Alessio Romagnoli 23yrs
2-Mattia Caldara 24yrs
3-Mateo Musacchio 27yrs
4-Cristián Zapata 31yrs
5-Stefan Simic 23yrs
6-Matteo Gabbia 18yrs

Left-back:
1-Ricardo Rodríguez 25yrs
2-Ivan Strinic 31yrs

Right-back:
1-Ignazio Abate 31yrs
2-Davide Calabria 21yrs
3-Andrea Conti 24yrs

Midfielders:

1-Lucas Biglia 33yrs
2-Franck Kessie 21yrs
3-Giacomo Bonaventura 28yrs
4-Tiemoue Bakayoko 23yrs
5-Riccardo Montolivo 32yrs
6-Andrea Bertolacci 27yrs
7-Alen Halilovic 22yrs
8-Jose Mauri 22yrs

Attackers:

Wingers:
1-Hakan Calhanoglu 24yrs
2-Suso 24yrs
2-Fabio Borini 27yrs
4-Samu Castillejo 23yrs

Strikers:
1-Gonzalo Higauin 30yrs
2-Patrick Cutrone 20yrs


Average age of squad: 24.5

Players to offload: Gabriel, Montolivo, Bertolacci, Mauri

Holes to fill: Tell me what you think! I think our squad overall is well covered. But, we lack quality in our starting XI. Specially, in the midfield area.

Starting formation: 4-3-3

Donnarumma
Conti-Romagnoli-Caldara-Rodriguez
Biglia-Kessie-Bonaventura
Suso-Higuain-Hakan

Bernard got a crazy high salary from Everton. Something like 6 million. He’s not worth that much.

I think you have Rodriguez and Abate on the wrong sides. Also I don’t think Abate will start. I’d say Calabria to start the season but I wouldn’t be shocked if Conti overtakes him (assuming he’s healthy). Abate will probably be third choice and I’d be fine with seeing him leave in the winter. I think he was rumored to be interested in going to MLS.

Him and his agen wanted a huge wage and extortionate fees. That's why

He's earning 6m NET per year at Everton, we'd never pay that kind of money unless it was a top class player.

Castillejo looks like a slightly faster version of Suso.

Don't know, I feel like we've done all the business we'll do this summer and Bakayoko and Castillejo were our last signings. We still have a gaping hole in our midfield imo. Rino worries me, as I can see him fielding Bakayoko and Kessie on either side of Biglia, which would be horrifyingly bad

Fixed.

I agree about the midfield. We need someone who can control the game a la Modric. Would be nice if we could pay big cash on a good midfielder. Also, don't you think we're lacking one striker? Higauin and Cutrone seems a bit thin.

Are you satisified with the wingers? Suso/Hakan is not a bad combo to have. They will only improve with time, and having Higuain there could build a nice trident.

Yeah, I agree that the midfield is a little sparse. I was really hoping for the mid from Real - Ceballos. For me, he would fit in really well in our midfield and would provide a creative element we haven't had in a long time. Also, he would make losing Loca a bit easier to take. I would be over the moon to get either him or Barella from Cagliari as a young mid to bring some creativity.

I had such high hopes for him - really thought he would be one to take the next step but his game never evolved the way I expected it to. Does anyone have a good idea of the Primavera - who is the next kid to take a step up? I feel like we have had a youngster pop up once a year into the first team for the past 5 or so years. (De Sciglio, Donnaruma, Calabria, Locatelli, Cutrone) Just wondering if anyone has an idea of who could possibly make the jump this year.

The problem is that Hakan is not a winger. He's a midfielder, plain and simple. I can only see him as trequartista in a hypothetical 4-2-3-1 or as CM in Gattuso's 4-3-3. But having a midfield of three, with both him and Suso on the wings leaves us bare-threaded in attack, with only Higuain as forward.

Nowadays teams play with 3-4 forwards, we're doing the opposite.

We need a Modric and an Alcantara type imo. Biglia for me was average last season. Maybe he'll have settled in a bit more this season but age is certainly not on his side. We need someone who can sit and control the tempo better than him, and we need someone who can replace Bona, someone who can create, carry the ball forward and always look for the forward pass. Rabiot for example would be perfect but again, he's another player who is simply out of our reach

Between these 2 roles I mentioned, I think we're craving the latter more than the former. We can do with Biglia for another season, we just can't go into another season with Bona as our mezzalla, he's just not good enough and at times last season he was a liability in that position.

As for the wings, I still think that there is a glaringly obvious lack of pace in this side, Suso is slow, Hakan is slow, we don't take advantage of any counter attacks because of this, Castillejo looks marginally faster than both but it's still not enough imo.

For me, the only problem in the squad we really managed to address has been the striker position. And I don't think it's a problem to only have 2 tbh. Higuain will be a sure starter in practically every game. Getting someone else will only limit the small amount of time Cutrone will have this season.

The problem is that they're all so slow. We simply have trouble even taking advantage of a counter attacking opportunity because Suso slows the play up most of the time.

A 4-2-3-1 would still leave us with a different set of issues. We don't have the personnel for it. We don't have enough wingers and Hakan is the only player we have who could play as an attacking midfielder



I'm still hoping we'll make one last singing after Bakayoko and Castillejo. One really good midfielder is all we need to elevate this squad imo

We lack a left winger, that's the problem. Otherwise, we do have the personnel for it.

Linked with Laxalt

Nice to see the burst of activity here.

I agree. He would be better as an attacking midfielder. As a winger, he does OK because he has some sick shot on him.

Looks good, only lacking the winger.