#10 is about the only number that matters in football, and it should be given to a starter.

Here's a question: if we could sign only one player between AM and RW, would you guys prefer:

AM Brahim and RW new quality signing

or

AM new quality signing and RW Saelemaekers?

Yet, if you look at Hakan's stats it's all but what you said:
Boban (91-01) - 251 apps, 30 goals, 35 assists
Rui Costa (01-06) - 192 apps, 11 goals, 47 assists
Seedorf (06-12) - 241 apps, 40 goals, 40 assists
Boateng (12-14) - 39 apps, 5 goals, 7 assists
Honda (14-17) - 92 apps, 11 goals, 16 assists
Hakan (17-21) - 172 apps, 32 goals, 48 assists

This of course is why stats don't tell you the whole story, but anyway. I think Hakan was a very good player and did well for us.


Very much the same is happening here bar the change of management. Pobega does not ideally fit into our system of play, just like Locatelli.


I'm sure Diaz will start the season as a first XI pick, and will then slowly (or rapidly) fade back to a bench player.

But shirt numbers are really just shirt numbers.

Look we managed to get 2nd last season with only Alexis.

I think Diaz is inadequate and will get destroyed by stronger and physically demanding opposition. So the answer to your question is for me undiskutable - we need an AM first.

I agree with your assessment of Diaz. He's a great utility player to have around, but he can't be our starting AM. However, I feel the same way about Saelemaekers. Hence, why we need both an AM and a RW.

But insofar, Maldini seems to have abandoned the RW necessity altogether. The newspapers don't talk about it either. I swear, if we start next season again with Alexis and Barbie, it's going to be a massive disappointment.

Yes, agreed. But I think it will happen, just that we need to offload some players first.

Also, for the sole system Pioli deploys, the AM position is more crucial.

And yesterday we got linked with Insigne again. Whereas Vla?ić is versatile enough to play both AM and RW.

Can't believe the traitor has more assists than Rui Costa. But a lot of those came from corners and free kicks, like last season. Out of his 10 assists, 6 or 7 came from stopped play.

He was a brutal force from free kicks (well, we can't remember now if maybe Rui or Boban made the same amount of assists from dead balls) and that makes me worry. We scored so many important goals from corners and set pieces.

But yes, the stats really shocked me.

AM all the way imo

The AM is crucial to our system. And it has to be someone like Vlasic or Sabitzer. It cannot be a James type imo


Well I know how crucial Hakan was. That's why I was advocating for us to keep him. But over all, you have to admit that he has been mostly disappointing throughout his time with us. And it's clear he wanted to leave because he did not feel wanted enough at Milan. So that's that.

As x-off mentioned, most of his assists were coming in from dead ball situations. And we need to try to replace that is some way next season because no one is as good as he was in those situations

Despite everything, I'm happy Hakan left. I never really valued him. His inconsistency and inability to step up in big games were big negatives. His vision was mediocre, his passing was just OK, his dribbling ability was pitiful.

Yes, I know his stats were great, and I know it opened up a big hole for us to fill, but maybe that's all for the better cos we're obligated to sign a quality replacement now.

In other news, I heard we've made an official offer of about 6-7 for Kaio Jorge to get him immediately. I hope we get him.

Agreed re Hakan. Such a frustrating player as he can be so much better if he actually applied himself. I think the 4 months or so we saw from him post lockdown were the best we were ever going to go from him and even though he was really good for those few months. We need more to be successful going forward




Re the transfers. I really do hope we're saving the best for last and we're just tying loose ends now. We cannot go into next season without the starting AM and that extra DM

If we sign Kai, Vlasic and Ziyech...that would be so awesome... okay, I'm going back to dreaming.

Portuguese journalist: Wolves and Milan in advanced contacts over winger after ?28m bid

Yes please.

Haven't wolves learned 🤣

Apparently this guy is full of it so probably nothing to it


Things have slowed down. I'm getting anxious about this AM situation as well as that DM slot. I read somewhere that we'll have Juve, Inter and Roma during that month (haven't really looked in-depth into the fixture list) that we'll be without Kessie and Benna... That 4th mid has to be someone good enough to mask the blow losing those 2 will be

Playing the African Cup in winter is ********.

Most consistent rumours right now are about Kaio Jorge, although different sources say different things.

One source I read said Santos want 10, we're willing to pay 5.

Another source said Santos may accept 4, but we want to pay 2.

Go figure...

I think we'll get him...We have all the cards in our hands...and they probably don't want to lose him out for free.

Sources has it Pioli informed Maldini he would like Berardi as the wing player. It is up to Maldini to convince Elliot. Deal could be done via loan w/option to buy

I really hope this does not happen.

I personally don't rate him, and being a star at Sassuolo is the best he'll do. He won't make it in a big team, he's too ponderous and slows down play too much. Not the kind of player we need.

I've never been a huge fan of his, but these Euros cemented this for me.

We need to sign that AM ASAP. I really do not care about the RW right now anyway, it should be at the bottom end of our list of worries when we don't have a backup for Kessie who will be gone for a month in Jan/Feb and we have crucial games during that time, and we don't have a starting AM either, the hub of Pioli's system.

The name of Dortmund?s Brandt being mentioned. Very underwhelming.

At this point everything seems to be just the media pulling names out of their @sses so they can report something

I don't think anything is going to happen until the last 2 weeks of the window.

We're most likely going to try to sell some players first

That's some mighty fine ice we're trading on. Leaving everything for the last couple of weeks doesn't only imply we have no plan and resources, but it also increases the risk of making last minute panic buys.

Quite disappointed in our management. Capanoglu's replacement and the RW positions should have had the upmost priority in this window, yet we're almost in August and nothing concrete is on the horizon.

We're even losing Kaio Jorge to Juve because we can't be bothered to spend those measly 4-5M that would make a difference. What a joke.

I agree that we shouldn't leave it so late, and not just in terms of the business aspect of it but any new players should have some time before the season starts to get familiar with the others and the system. I don't like the fact that we'd be going into the season with a potentially new player for such a key role with no pre-season under his belt

At this point I can't really be that arsed about the RW. I am much more worried about the AM

I do think we still have money left over. We're the only Serie A side who has actually spent money. So this says a lot in terms of how well this management is doing in terms of running the club and getting us out of the deep hole we were in 2 or so years ago. Obviously we're not going to see big money moves. Which is probably why we're going to wait to the end. Clubs will be willing to do business more during that time. Especially if players are pushing for the move as well.

Re Kaio. It seems like once again, all the media were spewing BS on that one. Apparently his contract is not running out this January. So all the hypothesis for that move that the media were constantly peddling is just incorrect. He'd cost more than the quoted amounts being thrown around.

And it looks like Juve can't even close for Locatelli atm. So let's not assume that they're going to actually manage this one either. And Locatelli is someone the actually desperately want but they can't come up with the money

And this is the best run club in the league, who have their own stadium and have had consistent CL participation for the last decade. Once again, the fact that we've spent nearly 60m this summer cannot be disregarded

Hauge close to Eintracht 12-15m the numbers being mentioned

I really do hope we add a buy back to this.

That being said, he wasn't going to get the time this season unfortunately so better that he goes elsewhere.

I really do hope we send some of the other promising players out on loan.

One of Gabbia or Kalulu should be loaned out. Same goes for Pobega if we get the extra DM

That's true, but don't forget the fact that clubs like Juve, Inter and Atalanta already have competitive rosters. Whereas we really lack a couple of key players to be considered competitive.

I'm not going to ignore the RW position because that's a key role that's been lacking in the last couple of years. Alexis is just as good as Brahim, no better. So, if we need a superior AM to Brahim, we also need a superior RW to Alexis.

He's not called up for tonight's friendly for technical reasons. At this point I'd say the deal must be close to being sealed. Couldn't find a source about the numbers, but if it's close to 12-15M then we're making a good deal. Never really rated Hauge to be honest.

Something has to be brewing for the Cala replacement. Ilicic is a proven and viable option, whom i think would do well.

But Id still expect an exciting signing, be that as CF or Wing.

Reports saying that we lost Kai Jorge to Juventus...what a shame.

I think there is a good chance that we sign Ilicic...but I'm afraid we still need much more to be competitive.

Well most of that money has gone into redeeming players who were already with us last season so you're not going to feel that big boost that you usually do when spending that kind of money, because these players were already with us. We always knew that these loan + options would have this kind of drawback as we're only just pushing back the payments.

But the AM position is much more critical to the system we play. Pioli uses the RW as more of a right sided midfielder who defends and makes up the numbers. Would it be better to have a true attacking player on that side that contributes with goals and assists? Yes, but I also think we'd lose some of our balance. That's why I wanted Chiesa so much last summer when he was available, because he'd have been perfect for us. And right now I really can't think of any profiles who can offer that to us. Ziyech would be great but he's too expensive.

In all, we need to conclude 3/4 more signing to be ready for the coming season. The order of priority for me would be

AM
CDM
RW
RB


I still think he'll be a really good player. When he played against us with Bodo he looked incredible. We forget that he had been playing throughout the summer and never really had a break between the Norwegian season and starting with us. Not to mention that it's not that easy to adapt to Serie A, especially when coming from such countries.

I think part of this is Pioli's issues with him. When he plays Krunic at LW instead of him, then it's obvious that there are issues there.

I hope we get a nice profit from his sale at least


No way Ilicic can be the Hakan replacement. He'd be another body added and would most likely play on the right. The AM has to be someone who can really put in the work. Ilicic is the exact opposite type of profile of what we need for that role.

Ilicic is being mentioned for the right wing. Gasperini said he has asked to leave, so he definitely won't be playing for Atalanta next season.

I read on Mediaset that we want to sign him just by relinquishing our right to earn 50% of Pessina's future sale. But considering that if Pessina makes 100 appearances for Atalanta that clause will be canceled, Atalanta also want some money. And rightfully so.

I really hope this is just media BS. Going for an emotionally unstable 33-year-old like Ilicic would be a big mistake. My only wish at this point is that we make some sort of decent offer for Vlasic (something like 5M loan + obligation to buy at, say, 20M if he makes a pre-determined number of appearances or something) and Chelsea decide to give up Ziyech on loan in the last few days of the transfer market.

Because as we are right now, with Brahim and Alexis as starters, mark my words that we will never make top 4 in the league again, and we'll get crushed in the CL. I hope Maldini is smart enough to realise this.

Emotionally unstable is a bit cruel, but well, I get what you mean.

I wouldn't get excited about Milan this year all in all. July passed and even if the media got some things wrong, I think it's obvious that we don't have much options. No players bar Hauge to sell for some capital gain, no money left for serious transfers.

Next year we're gonna focus on signing Belotti (who is nothing but mediocre but fits the profile of a pseudo-star) or Vlahović and most likely a new goalkeeper (I'm pretty much sure Maignan will turn out to be a terrible signing).

Judging from the friendly yesterday, we should sell Hernandez immediately if PSG keep on knocking on our door with a big money offer. The money could then help us fund a good Hakan replacement after all. Theo is a good overall player but he's defensively unreliable as hell.

I'm so sad to see Milan return to CL after so many years only to await a humiliating season. We'll enter the season with a much weaker squad then last year, still relying on players like Leao or even Castillejo and the injury prone and too old Ibrahimović. While at the same time losing actual contributors like Hakan and Donna. Pioli was out of ideas last season, I don't think he has it in him to scratch the old system and try some good alternatives. It's going to be a disaster..

Wow, talk about pessimistic.

Though I do share your feelings. I'm very disappointed at this signing campaign. Not only we let two of our most valuable players walk out for free, but we're having a hard time replacing one of them, let alone strengthening the team. After finally returning to the CL, we should be making a statement, not looking for scraps.

Though I have one question: why do you think Maignan will turn out terrible? He's praised by many as a great goalie, and the future France GK after Lloris retires.

Maignan a bad signing, why? He seems solid. Otherwise, I do agree.

I've watched him a few times now. He lacks height, he's aerially clumsy and insecure. This will add up to our biggest problem last season - set pieces. Which we seem not to know how to solve.

Then there is his mentality which is shaky as well. He reminds me of Dida, good reflexes and intelligent positioning, but clumsy shot stopping and many insecurities.

Maybe he'll turn out to be the next Bernard Lama. But I doubt this will happen.

In all honesty Donnarumma had similar insecurities as well. Let's not forget all his howlers and set piece mistakes over the years.

I'm quite confident about Maignan. In my opinion he's the least of our worries.

Agreed re Ilicic. Terrible move. But I can only imagine that they see it as a cost effective solution for the RW. Even if I don't think he fits the role as it is under Pioli

Vlasic is perfect for what we need. If we do sign him, I personally think he'd be an improvement on Hakan. Sabitzer is also available and for cheaper, if CSKA don't want to budge then we should go for him instead as he also fits the mold of what we need and imo is a better overall player than Hakan. So either choice would mean we're improving a position imo

I think if anyone out there knows what Milan needs, it's Paolo. It's just not that easy in this market to accomplish all that you want to do when one hand is tied behind your back.


Vlahovic will be out of our price rage by next summer.

I agree that looking at the squad now, there are obvious weak areas that need to be addressed. Especially for CL. But we still have a month to go of the window being open. So there's still lost of time for things to get done. Let's not throw ourselves off the cliff jus yet.

You being harsh on Maignan imo. He was voted best GK in his league and had the most clean sheets last season. For the price we paid and the salary we are giving him, I say he's a great signing. Especially when comparing what Donna was going to cost us


We won the CL and Serie A with Dida. A GK is not as crucial in the grand scheme of things imo. You don't need the best keeper to be successful and while Donna is a big loss for us, we're replacing him with someone who is good enough. I'd rather we spend what he was going to cost us in agent fees and salaries on outfield players tbh. My only regret with him is that we did not sell him last summer for 30m or so and got something for him

Not sure how this feels, apparently Zlatan was hoping for a return to PSG but Leonardo closed the door on him and hence he signed an extension with Milan.

If anything, this goes to show time has changed and that Milan is no longer The Milan we grew up with. Cala and Donna leaving points to that, they want silverware and Milan does not seem to be ready for primetime anytime soon.

Regardless, Forza Milan.

I think we're stuck at an impass.

Milan making CL was, it seems, unexpected at this point and judging from how our management and funding stands, it could turn out to be a fluke comeback.

The pattern we've seen will just continue. Contract negotiations will drag on (Romagnoli, Kessie, Theo, Kjaer). It seems that even a gun ho Franck Kessie who publicly expressed his love for Milan needs several weeks (months?) to sign an extension. Something makes Milan less attractive...

Then there is the stingy pattern with transfers. I read Juventus signed Kaio Jorge for peanuts. Great; seems it wasn't a media invention after all. But hey, we managed to save a few bucks! Now let's invest them in a plethora of transfer targets containing has-been's (Iličić) and players in their last year of contract. Let's be as cheap as possible, save yet more money and sign mediocre players to replace our starters.

Re: Maignan, that's just how I feel, can't say that it will turn out this way. But the Dida argument isn't standing. Dida was similar yes, but man o man did he have - Nesta, Maldini, Cafu, Serginho, Stam, Ringo and Ambro to defend all the way. Milan 04 would have been great with Abbiati and Fiori as well between the posts. But this Milan would struggle. But anyway, this really isn't that important now, it'll be a discussion for next summer.

I don't believe it.

I don't want to sound like a broken record, but as long as we'll be owned by a management fund, this will remain our status quo.

And this goes back to bite Berlusconi once again, who sold such a historical club to a shady Chinese investor who, lo and behold, didn't have any money whatsoever to back up his plans. We ended up as collateral to Elliott and, well, this is the outcome.

Just to give you an idea: this financial year (closed on 30 June 2021), we'll go from a record 195 million loss to a 95 million loss. More than half.

Tu quote Calcio Finanza:



Get it? We're reducing losses, containing costs, increasing revenues, all while maintaining a debt-free structure. Why? So they can sell to an appetible investor and make a profit. Until then, expect minimal spending.

Complete BS. Sports writers clearly have nothing to talk about


I really think that this is the most pessimistic view one could take of Milan atm

Since this new management came in we've made serious strides to get back to where we want to be. To expect to suddenly have cash to throw around the first season we get CL is just not realistic.

Look at the other clubs in the league and tell me they're in a better position. Look at Inter FFS. They basically bought a Scudetto with money they don't have and now are being forced to sell. Lukaku is most likely next out the door and a big chunk of the money they're going to get for him will have to go to paying Man U for the money they still owe them for him and for the bottom line since they can barley pay wages. Juve? They can't close for Locatelli and it seems like we were never really interested in the kid from Brazil no one knew about before last month. Never approached Santos, nothing. The player they really want, which is Locatelli is out of their reach atm. Lazio, Roma, Napoli. They've barely made a peep this window. All have the same squad.

I personally think Milan has the best outlook compared to all these clubs. Juve have had so many advantaged and even they are up to their eyeballs in financial trouble.

The only clubs who can spend are PSG and the English clubs. Simple as that. For all those who were against the SL. Get used to is, because this is how things will continue to be when there is such an imbalance in revenue or when a state own your club

I think people misunderstand the Inter situation. Inter didn't spend money they didn't have. Firstly, no club has that amount of cash lying around waiting to be spent on players. Everything is borrowed from banks, except for when there's an influx of capital from your shareholders.

Secondly, Inter had a very solid business plan that went to shits because of external factors out of their control, mainly the Chinese limitations on foreign investments and Suning's (the holding company) financial problems.

This not only affects their revenue streams, but also created cashflow problems in the short team. Hence why they had problems paying wages, or why they had to cash-in immediately from the sale of Hakimi to pay their debts.

It's quite a complicated matter that can't be explained by simply saying that Inter were mismanaged.

But they were mismanaged, do you think Suning didn't know they had financial issues prior to this year? Or that the Chinese government was going to make it difficult? We've been reading stuff like this about Chinese investment since Yong Hong bought us. These circumstances did not come out of the blue.

Inter simply spent money they could not back. Now they're in the situation they are in. Call it what you will but I still prefer our situation to theirs atm.

Lukaku to Chelsea almost done

If we can make the 3 signings we need we will be stronger than them for next season.

No, some things cannot be anticipated. The imposition of new regulations can completely alter the financial outlook of a company, even bring them into liquidation.

I have no information about the likelihood of these new policies, say, two years ago, but I highly doubt it was a certain and predictable thing as you say.



It's far from being done, but it will probably happen. This will completely destroy Inter. Lukaku and Hakimi, arguably their two best players.

If inter get anywhere between Eur120M and 130M, they will most likely further reinforce their squad.

The depth is still intact, but Juve will be hungry and I trust Juve will be a force next season, especially with Allegri at the helm.

Milan will be okay, but will have to juggle priorities between Europe and domestic. A CL finish again would be optimal. (again managing expectations here)

Also, Inter still have a debt of 55M payable to ManUtd for Lukaku, and they'll also have to pay an additional 5% of the future resale to ManUtd in case they sell him to an English side.

So, it's true they'd be making a huge gain if they sell him for 130M, but as far as real cash goes, Inter would be receiving a little more than half.

You cannot replace Lukaku... Big point

It's just funny for Hakan now..lol

Indeed.