Maybe we will be outnumbered and maybe well finish 10th place ... it all depends on the coach and how well the team jells.

I for one am optimistic and cant wait to see what this new season brings

I can't argue with any of the logic in here. But it doesn't make me hopeful!

That sums it up. :-) Add to it the fact that we need to rebuild in a way that does not cause us further FFP problems. This means we cannot afford big name signings (I keep hearing Modric, but I am not convinced it will really happen), we need to reduce our wage bill (some progress has been made towards this goal but we are still too high), and we need to start generating serious plusvalenze with our players (which is what has been driving our mercato, including the sale of Cutrone).

Like it or not, even if all goes well, it will be a few years before we can expect to challenge for scudetto or compete at an international level beyond the group stage. For now, 4th place is our target this year, and even that will be tough (I am optimistic, but not comfortable we will get there).

The optimism I feel is relative to the past:
- The last years under B&G were a complete disaster (and have sunk us deep in a hole). Even the year we won our last scudetto we had already entered our downwards spiral, and it kept getting worse from there.
- The Chinese interlude was as bad (if not worse). Lots of optimism after what looked like a great mercato, but in hindsight we M&F picked the wrong players and overpaid them.
- Arguably Montella had a decent playing style, but it did not work for us (wrong players?) and he could not motivate the team (especially towards the end). Gattuso brought much needed grinta, but he was somewhat limited in his tactical approach.

What is different now?
- A coach who may not have a great track record but is rated highly by his peers and has a reputation for increasing player value (which in theory should help generate the plusvalenze we badly need). Y'all may not like the 4-3-1-2, but at least there is clarity in how we play, and our players seem to be adjusting to it. Hopefully Giampaolo's attacking style will be effective enough to see an end to the painful draws with lesser teams.
- A decent mercato strategy, which is oriented towards increasing the value of the team, and consistent with what our coach is asking for (this is different from what we had with B&G, I remember Leo asking for a winger for his 4-3-3 and getting Huntelaar instead; M&F were not much better, doubt it they paid much attention to Montella). Our new players may or may not work out, but this approach offers hope (and is definitely better than looking for "have beens" and other rejects and overpaying them).
- A new owner that is treating Milan as a medium term investment, trying to make decent money and not just turning the team around for a quick sale. Why does this matter? Because for the team to gain in value we will need to start getting results in the field. IMHO, Berlu never really treated Milan as a business (more like a "shiny toy" to help his political career and other business ventures), it was a "parking lot" for friends and family, and once he lost interest it all went downhill rather quickly. As for Li, I am sill trying to understand what he was trying to accomplish.
- New leaders that are well respected by fans and others in the soccer world. Please keep in mind that both M&B were quite negative in the last few years, so someone must have done a good job at convincing them that there is real hope. True, they do not have a lot of experience (especially Maldini), but there are people with experience behind them, and they help with the image of the club.

Bottom line ... patience :-)

Kessie news is confusing me.
- Offer was made by Wolverhampton at 25.6M GBP (link)
- Offer was accepted by Milan at 25M EUR (link). I could find only the one source for this story, and on another fan site there is a claim this is "fake news".

We paid around 20M at the beginning of the market, not sure if that has been amortized. If I understand how FFP accounting works, I doubt Elliot would agree to sell unless there was a reasonable plusvalenza. Of course, I am an engineer, and never really understood accounting stuff. In any case, we find out tomorrow one way or another, as EPL market closes.

I still think Kessie has potential under Giampaolo (though I know some of you disagree :-)), and he has been one of our best performers in the last couple of years. Not sure I am happy with him leaving, even if he helps fund other purchases.

Lovely post... Agree with most (if not all). ;)

The 8M the club paid for a two year loan was amortized over the two years, but the outright purchase for 24M paid last month is why Kessie is on sale. The club want to remove that dent from their P&L.

This management at Milan Gazides and the President have a mandate to turn the club into profitability and in line with FFP.

Li wanted a quick turnaround and did expensive purchases that never really helped in the turnaround.

Silvio and Galliani are why we all became Milan fans, let us not discount that please. In their last years at the helm yes Milan was not what it used to be, but that was down to changing times and FFP kicking in.

Anyways whats done is done, this is a club downsizing to its reality.

Come again? Kessie has been perhaps the biggest disappointment of all the players signed by Fassone and Mirabelli two years ago, at least in my opinion.

I would have loved to see him go. That would have provided the money to sign a quality box-to-box mid.

Thanks, that clarifies matters. So (if I get this right) the 24M is not amortized and we would (most likely) be looking for a profit on that. In fact the latest news has the offer at 30M (EUR), which makes more sense (link), that would give us enough of a plusvalenza to fund some of the other acquisitions. In any case it does not look like Kessie wants to go there, and there is not much time before EPL closes its transfer window.


For the record, I was a Milan fan in the days of Gianni Rivera and Nereo Rocco :-). But yes, I am extremely grateful for all the good years, especially considering what had been happening to my team before Berlu took over. It does not take away the fact that the last years were a complete disaster. Even with decreased funds and FFP and changing times B&G could have handled things much, much better. The mis-management of the club, the horrible choices on players, the obsession with "parametro zero" coupled with ridiculously high salaries, the sale to Li ... all of this could have been avoided.


A number of Milan fans (me included) would disagree with your assessment of Kessie :-). As for "biggest disappointment", surely that goes to either Silva or Bonucci.


As I said, I have mixed feelings. First of all, my guess is the plusvalenza is going to contribute to funding Correa, not a b2b mid. But assuming we were after a b2b mid, who would we sign for similar money?

Bonucci was not a disappointment. He had a fairly decent season. And Siva was a question mark when we signed him, so we didn't really know what to expect.

But Kessie was coming from a great season with Atalanta, and he had been amazing in the pre-season friendlies and the first few games of the season. But then he started going into a downward spiral and his overall contribution has been quite poor.

I always thought Kessie did okay. Yes, he does stupid stuff. But, he contributes a lot too. The main problem is that he makes great runs, but his decision making is terrible at the end. He either doesn't manage to score or to pass. But, I still think he can be good in Giamp's system.

EPL transfer window closed, Kessie at Wolves either did not close in time or was fake news in the first place.

Kessie under Gasperinini was quite good
Kessie under Montella and Rino was not nearly as good (though I still think there are games where he carried the team)

Could it have something to do with the coach? Or do y'all thin there is no hope ...

It has to do with his intelligence as a football player, and furthermore with his position on the pitch. It's OK having him in a double pivot in front of the defense (the position he covered at Atalanta), but when he's pushed in centre midfield, which requires pushing forward as well, that's when he starts to show his limits.

Because, as William said, his decision making in the end is terrible, and it ends up squandering our attacks.

As things are right now, I'd try Krunic instead of Kessie as starter.

This is because we obviously do not share the same definition of greatness (for a club). I think Milan will always be a great club, at least for the next 10-20 years. We have history and history matters/adds value. We're simply too big and have too much history to go under like Leeds, Nott Forest or even Hamburger SV did. For me this is a period of continued crisis, always waiting for the rescue.

That being said, perhaps Maldini and Boban along with Elliot are the decisive step forward. Some very good moves have been made in terms of staff and management - bringing back people like Bonera or Dida is the right move, Massara is also o good decision for once.

But the transfer policy is so far not that good. We decided to move out of Europe in order to retain some wiggle-room. But up until this point we've made several moves concerning depth, yet we did not take a stance on important issues and the so-much needed quality. Moves like the Correa deal could be the right path, but the deal seems to have stalled or died off completely. We also (up until now) completely failed when it comes to departures. We lost Abate and Zapata unnecessarily. We got rid of some really bad players in midfield but so far we haven't been able to sell Kessie, Biglia or Silva (a deal which is now haunted by mystery). Even Rodriguez seems to be unsellable (or why should we keep him now that we have Theo and Strinić and Laxalt; his value will only be dropping?).

So you see, all of this makes me still very cautious. I'm not sold on the project yet, and unlike you I don't tend to consider the likes of Krunić and Bennacer to be big changes simply because I know little of them and still need to see their quality.


Well, I disagree because I never expected anything out of him. He was a talent with a good season at a club whose manager tends to bring out the best of his players and usually makes them look better then they really are.


Really? I completely disagree with your assessment here. Bonucci had a decent season? Good god, for the amount we squashed on him and his caliber he had a terrible season. He failed on all departments and was not the leader or the smart and reliable defender we needed at all.

Also, the hype around Silva was considerably bigger then Kessie for some reason. Everyone talked about his brilliant record and no one wanted to hear what Danny and I were pointing to.


Like X-O said, the problem with Kessie is that he's just unintelligent and there's little room for improvement. Also, he's a type of "jack of all trades, master of none" player. He's ideal for Atalanta with lot's of different jobs to do or cover, but at Milan - a club that thrives on a certain system he's pretty much useless because he adds no specific quality like for example Bakayoko instantly did.

We're not all zipped up from behind mate.



Except me

Inter bought Lukaku for 75 mill. How is that possible? XD

Unlike us, they worked through their FFP problems and also qualified for CL.

Now, is Lukaku worth that kind of money? I think not.

Not so sure. But, he is still young. Arguably getting closer to the peak of his career..and Conte will surely get the best out of him.

Lukaku is probably the most overrated club striker in world football. He peaked at Everton. 12 in 32 for Man Utd last season... 14 in 34 the season before.

Everton he was regularly getting 18+ for a team who created much less.

This guy is living on his reputation from his Everton days. And for his admittedly fine goal return for his country.

I would have been so upset if we'd wasted 70M on him.

You implying we're not well run ;)



tbh anyone with any sense wouldn't.

Agreed. But, Man U weren't doing so well either. I think he could work in Italy where the pace of football is slower and relies on physicality.

They finished higher than Everton did when he was in Everton's team!



Fair point, still see him as totally overrated but hey what do I know.

But he was coming from an excellent season in Serie A, so obviously that creates expectations. Add to that the really good summer with us, and you realise why many Milan fans consider his output over the last two years a big disappointment.



Well then, let's agree to disagree. Bonucci had a decent season IMO. He didn't exactly recall Nesta with his performances, but he was far from being terrible.

As for Silva, I honestly had never heard of him before we signed him. So, any hype was manufactured and not real. He was a disappointment given how much money we spent on him, but not because he didn't live up to built expectations.

I also agree with Danny about Lukaku. What a waste of 75M for Inter.

It seems Milan need to offload Kessie, Donna and/or Silva before any more signings happen. So although there might be developments behind the scenes, Milan need to raise funds and lower the wage tab.

News of this morning is that Fiorentina have made an offer for Suso, still inferior to our 30M request, but there might be room for negotiations.

I'm really getting annoyed at all these rumours concerning Suso. Basically the only player in our roster who can make a difference right now, and it's like we can't wait to get rid of him. And everything to sign Correa? Meh, just meh.

30M? I'm not saying he's a great player, because he isn't, but that's all we want?! We could easily get 3 times that.

Losing Suso at this point would be wierd. I'd understand if we sold him for a good price at the start of the transfer window..but now it is too late. Same thing with respect to Donnaruma.

If we get Navas for Donna and cash, hmh. I'd say yes.

Rumours about an interest in Bruno Fernandes of Sporting (AM, can play SS as well).

Their request: 70M. We might lower their demands by inserting Silva in the deal.

The guy comes from a season where he scored 31 goals and assisted 17 in 50 games, an absolute record. He's 24 and also has Serie A experience.

Link

What's with our obsession for signing from Portugal?

Super agent Mendes?

Fernandes seems to be the real deal, though. Great talent and superb stats. Would be too good to come true.

i like it

70M based on one good season. Hmh,...

In a world where Maguire cost 87M and Lukaku 65M, nothing really surprises me anymore.

I’v noticed a lot of emphasis is on the middle of the park, which is one area Milan is definitely lacking in. Also it is something that needs to be reinforced if Giampaolo is going to make the 4-3-1-2 work.

On another note, this new Brazilian defender we got I just checked some of the youtube compilations and the kid definitely shows some promise. Also why do I sense this has Paolo Maldini ‘approved’ stamped on it

The Fernandes rumor died off it seems. Now I see lots of talk that Donnarumma might leave for PSG in a 50M deal and we might reinvest the money in Isco (70M) or James (45M). Correa seems to be off.

I would love to have Isco!

Or even James for that matter.

Yes. Why not? Both would be an immense leap in quality. Also, they are both not wanted by their team.

Rumors about possible departures:

Silva to Espanyol
Rodriguez to Schalke
Conti to Werder Bremen
Castillejo to Villareal

Not sure about the Conti rumors (Parma were also interested a few days ago). I mean, if he leaves, we’d have only Calabria as RB...

Conti and Rodriguez make good backups, so I have mixed feelings. OTOH, Silva and Samu ... good riddance.

Problems:
- Conti and Samu have said multiple time they do not want to leave
- If I understand FFP, we cannot afford minusvalenze on any sale (which makes getting rid of some of our unwanted players that much harder)

Maybe we're counting on Strinić or Laxalt to cover the RB? But yes, you're right, it wouldn't be very good to do this. Also, I've read that we don't want to sell Conti and rejected Werder outright.

Not much happening. All the news seems a re-hashing of what we have been hearing the last few weeks.

I think the problem is we lack money. And for some reason we're not especially good at selling/offloading our players this summer.

I mean is it so hard for us to find a buyer for Silva and Rodriguez?

Looks like the following will happen, according to Mediaset:

Atletico will sign Rodrigo from Valencia for 60M
We’ll sign Correa from Atletico for 45M + bonuses
Valencia will sign Silva from us for 25M.

25mil..that's peanuts!

I don't get why we'd want to sell Rodriguez, sure he was one of our weaker spots last season, but he is also the preferred backup to Hernandez.

Silva isn't that impressive and we paid quite a bit for him, he was always going to be fairly difficult to offload if we are hoping to recover the majority share of what we purchased him for.

I do not think the problem is lack of money, Elliott has money and seems willing to invest. Rather, the problem is staying inside of FFP parameters, which is why selling Slivia and Castillejo and others is hard. Based on my understanding of FFP (which I admit is limited), registering a "minusvalenza" hurts us, which means we need to sell above the amortized cost of the player (using X-Offender's example from a different post, we bought Castillejo for 25M, a year has gone by so his book value now is 20M; Silva's book value is close to 23M if my math is correct). What's making things hard is the need to get a plusvalenza (even a small one).

I think the story is with RR may be different. Perhaps we want to keep him to provide some depth. OTOH, I think he would be far easier to sell than Laxalt or Strinic, and we have too many players competing for one role.

It's above book value, sell !!!

I have to admit that I find Silva frustrating. I believe he has the talent, he just has no real drive, as far as I can tell. A part of me says "keep him, maybe GP can work his magic, he can score lots of goals for us and we can sell him for decent money". However, I fear that it will not work out that way.

Above book value is all we need, I think (and that's 23M if my math is correct). Even that appears to be difficult, though. The stunt he pulled at Seville (pretending to be injured) did not help his marketability.