You forgot losing one of the best goalkeepers in the world for free. Yes, even though I do not blame Maldini & co. for that, it's still technically their responsibility.

The points you raise are all valid, and they make our mercato look mediocre (even though portals like Mediaset are rating it highly at 7).

My personal opinion is that while Kessie and Romagnoli's contracts can still be renewed, and failing to get rid of Conti and Samu while not losing money is quite a difficult task, the failure to properly strengthen the centre-right of the attacking midfield is what really makes Maldini lose points.

I will talk about Messias separately in another post, but the fact that our answer to replacing our starting AM, after finally returning in the CL 7 years later, is a guy who 5 years ago was delivering washing machines is a huge blow. To the club's image, reputation, and the fans' expectations.

We could and should have exploited different options. I hear Faivre wasn't signed because Brest all of a sudden decided not to sell him and closed their doors. And that's alright, but it's not alright that it happened in the last day of the window, and we had to make a panic buy in the end to make up for it

Why did we leave everything in the very end? It's a clear sign of inadequate planning and lack of ideas to operate.

Thay believe that better deals can be made in the last week. But situations like this can also happen in the last days as clubs don't have time to make replacements.

The issue is that Faivre was probably 3rd or 4th choice. It's crazy that there were so many attacking mids on the market and we failed to replace the one we lost.

Seeing Vlasic move to a mid table EPL side stings the most. All while qe spent more than 28 million signing small pickings we lost the perfect replacement for Hakan.

Donnarumma I cannot blame them as the difference between what we were offering, which was a very good deal btw, to what they were asking for was not small. I'm happy he's gone actually as this was always going to be a problem with him when it came time to renew. And have a keeper on 20m gross is a luxury we cannot afford. Watching him warm PSG's bench every week actually fills me with great joy

The window is shut, my personal rating is 7/10; obviously the 10 would be for when the management brings in a household name, which is unrealistic considering the precarious financial circumstances Maldini pointed out.

An 8 or 9 rating would be given if they had closed with an AM of experience who can hold his weight both in Serie A and CL.

That said, it's not a bad Mercato... The club brought in many new faces and elements. Not so sure about the last signing, but hope he proves me wrong.

It is what it is, this Milan will hurt you if you cling to the Berlusconi days, as it's a different animal to that. Today is about self sustainability and keep the books in check to sell the club. Then it was, take the club into financial insolvency but conquer Europe and the world, and don't worry I'll bail you out everytime (by I, meaning Berlusconi). Two very different animals.

Edit: Nonetheless 73.2M spent this window, with additional 53M if the currently loaned players are to be retained next summer.

7/10, now let's see if the team can keep a winning streak going.

Regarding Messias, I will say this.

I've seen plenty of clips online, heard technical evaluations of people who actually watched him play, and consulted the overall stats of his last season, and I'm fairly impressed.

He's a jolly that can comfortably play as AM or RW. Despite prevalently being an offensive player, he was frequently employed as CM at Crotone in their 3-5-2 due to his shrewd tactical awareness.

He's physically fit. Last season he made 36 appearances always playing the full 90 minutes, scoring 9 goals and offering 4 assists. Calhanoglu, who played for a much better team, scored only 4 goals, and most of his assists came from corner and free kicks.

He's quite technically gifted. He's the only player alongside De Paul that completed more than 100 dribbles last season (105) in Italy, and also completed the most dribbles of any Brazilian player in the top five European leagues. Yes, even more than Neymar (87).

If you just consider all of this without looking at his age, the particulars of his story, or the context of his signing, the guy appears to be a very decent addition. I certainly don't think he's the name we should have gone after, but now that he's here I will let the field do the talking.

I like that perspective. . I mean sure we now speak about 30 yr olds like they're past their primes, but I do truly believe that players if they are in the right conditions and have the right motivation (like Messias seems to have) could truly blossom late in their career. Kjaer is a perfect example. Sure, we won't have a player for 10 years, but honestly when has a player stayed with the team this long in recent club history. But, we'll have someone who'll give his all to the team. His best might not be enough for us, but let's just give him a chance. For example, Samu who I think is very good dribbler to be honest and a decent player, will never be good in the Serie A...it's just a matter of physicality. as well. On the other hand, Messias has that Serie A experience, let's see if he'll be able to do that jump mentally in a big club.

I mean in some games last year, I was just watching us play and was saying oh well we won't this match because we're playing the likes of Samu or Krunic because of injuries. But this year, even though we haven't signed that marquee player, we added immense depth.

For the striker position we have Ibra, Giroud, Pellegri (tbh, I have no idea about him, but I'm hoping we won't have to rely on the kid).

For the attacking midfield: we now have Junior and Brahim (which I think will be the starting AM).

On the right: Saelmakers but also Junior can fit the bill there too.

On the left: Rebic and Leao are pretty good options

Midfield and Defence: We all know we're pretty stacked in that department at the moment.

In short, we have a very very good squad. There are some questions marks here and there, and sure I would have liked someone like Bernardo Silva, but let's embrace that this project has been successful for the last two years, and hopefully we will keep pushing for better.

Giroud positive to Covid...

Hopefully he's vaccinated.

Now that the transfer window closed, I have to say - are you guys aware how Serie A got plundered this summer?

I can't think of a single window that depleted Serie A in the way Summer of 21 did. All major clubs bar Napoli lost at least one marquee player.

This is maybe the first time in decades that Serie A does not have a single star player left.

Ronaldo, Lukaku and Hakimi. Who else?

It's a trend that has been going since the late 2000s, this season Bein (who have the rights for the middle east and north Africa) to all major football events such as CL Epl LA Liga Bundesliga Legue1 El EC WC, etc did not provide adequate bid for Serie A.

Serie A was left out of this region and now airs 'free' on youtube until it is able to get TV rights for this region. Considering Bein has the monopoly in the football and sports in this region, Serie A will most likely have to accept lower TV rights than it used to get in order to secure something..

Us Serie A fans have a lot of attachment to our respective clubs and the league, but the world viewership is not what it used to be. And money is not being brought into the league, so players leave and TV rights are much lower than the others.

With the above in mind, the trend is completely identical with what you are saying... It is why Silvio sold Milan, Morratti sold inter and Sensi sold Roma.


Then we can look at the next summer window, with even more players likely to leave on a free, such as Kessie from Milan and God knows who else from other clubs. The fact that we prefer not to look at is that the allure for this league is far from what it was in the 80s and 90s, when WE were growing up and watching magical Milan teams cruising into CL and World football. Today where is Milan? In a group of death in CL and the whole world is looking at Milan as underdogs, when onceapon a time Milan would have easily been favored to top the group.

Sad

Yes, it is a problem. I think the summer PSG started spending big was also a bad summer for the league since Leonardo only seems to be aware of players who play in Italy...

I don't know if it happened all in the same summer, but Italy lost players like Ibra, Thiago, Pastore, Lavezzi, Cavani, Veratti, Marquinhos and probably some others that I cannot remember all to PSG. It didn't all happen in one summer but it was a relatively short space of time

The important thing is that the league continues to unearth these gems and turn them into star players. It gives the clubs liquidity while the league stays relatively strong.


Donnarumma also probably fits into that category

This Kessie situation is seemingly running away from the club, now Gazzetta are saying he refused our latest offer of 6.5m. I don't know if there is any truth to this and the journalist who reported it rarely gets anything right (Laudisa). And the media outlets obviously smell blood in the water since they know Milan fans are anxious about it so any contradictory story will get them clicks

That being said, I am more and more worried about this and if they do end up losing him as well for free than the management will lose the support of the fans. Because this would now be the third time they've let this happen. And with the other two it was somewhat understandable, with Kessie it is not.

I also don't believe the numbers the media is throwing around. Every week the number get's bumped up by 0.5m. Like clockwork. Now the request is seemingly 8.5m. These reports make no sense. I still think Kessie wants around 5.5m to 6m and we're reluctant to go above 4m.

Either way, whether it is 6m or 8m we need to give it to him. If the club does not think this is sustainable in the long run, we can sell him in summer 22 when the club would have a much stronger negotiating position than it would have in January with just a few months left on his contract.

It would make absolutely no financial sense to let him leave for free

Our management have raised serious question marks about how they are handling these renewals. You look at Real, Liverpool, etc. All are pro-active when it comes to keeping their important players on long term deals. Why are we letting these contracts run down? Why have we not renewed Theo and Bennacer for example. Is it because they want to benefit from their current low salaries? This is a double edged sword an we've seen how damaging it could be to play this game

Yeah, it's terrible. It's so terrible that if this goes on, everything we've build can be put down the drain. We're not even here following the plans of Arsenal where they sell their players. We are just developing players and selling them for free. I agree that the management need to be much more active with this. I believe that Maldini will prefer to resign if this situation is true IMO. Let's see maybe in the off transfer window all the contract negotiation will happen.

It's a huge question mark. I personally cannot give any explanation whatsoever, because 1) if Kessie is indeed requesting 7-8M then it's unsustainable as per corporate policies, but 2) if management is not going beyond 4M then it's understandable why Kessie is not bulging. Lautaro for example was on 1,5M at Inter, soon he's expected to sign a new contract at 6M. He's their best player so that makes sense, just like it would make sense to give 6M to Kessie cos he's our best player.

But then again we can always renew his contract as per his demands and then sell him in '22 as Han said.

The only thing that makes NO SENSE is to let him go for free. I don't know why this is a recurring issue at this club. It's almost as if management is content to let players go and not earn a cent. I really, really don't understand it...

Could it possibly be because of the amortisation stuff?

Because otherwise it would not make sense

No way. Say you buy a player for 30M on a 5 year contract. Annual amortisation would be 6M. After 3 years, when his residual value is 12M, you renew his contract for 3 more years. 2 remaining years + 3 extra years means the 12M would be spread over 5 years, hence annual amortisation would be 12/5=2.4M, far less than the initial 6M.

Kessie was purchased for 24M in 2019 after 2 years on loan, but his 5 year contract already started in 2017. Now I don't know in these cases whether annual amortisation is spread throughout the whole 5 years or only over 3 years, but the idea is the same, that when you extend a player's contract then the spread of his remaining residual value would be extended even further, hence annual amortisation would be even less.

Castillejo may join CSKA on loan, as the transfer market in Russia ends on 7 September.

Rumours about PSG having offered 8M + 2M bonuses to Kessie...

Honestly, f@ck Leonardo!

We need to do whatever it takes to keep Kessie with us. I'm tired of reading posts on social media saying he's a mercenary etc, etc

All players will do what is best for them, and if other clubs are willing to offer him that kind of money, he will go there because he has that opportunity. Just like any one of us would jump ship if such opportunities arise in our own careers.

The strategy we have of a dreamed up wage cap is not going to work. Not if we want to be challenging for the title and making CL each year. It is simply not sustainable because there will always be other clubs willing to offer our best players more money. And we'll always come out the losers in that scenario. Even worse, we're not even selling these players and having money to re-invest. We're losing them for free!! Genius move!

Also people are turning on him over a report from a terrible journalist! Great way to encourage the player to stay

This same BS will happen when it's time to renew Theo

We shouldn't let him leave on a dry loan. It's pointless.

I know, I've been saying it for a while now. As long as we'll be owned by Elliott then accounts will matter more than sporting results. Go and read Scaroni's latest statement. All he talks about is sustainability, new stadium, blah blah blah. It's a blow not attracting big names because we're not a top club anymore, it's even worse when you can't even retain your best players because you have decided on a salary cap.

Why should clubs decide on salary caps for themselves anyway? This should be done by UEFA, or at least by the national leagues like what in happened in Spain recently.

It's filthy that these bodies all rose up against the Super League, yet they're only contributing to football becoming an unsustainable bubble that will eventually burst at some point and will destroy the game forever.



Yeah, the but guy is not part of Pioli's plans anymore. He will barely get any minutes, so what's the point in keeping him? At least this way we won't be paying his salary.

This is why I was all for it to happen. And I think it will within the next few years whether people like it or not. Football these days is a monopoly for EPL clubs, PSG and Real to a certain extent but even they are feeling the pinch.


Don't bet on that. We'd still probably be paying a percentage of that

Did you see that statement by the Curva Sud complaining about the ticket prices for the CL matches?? These people are unbelievable. Yet they expect the club to grow but won't pay €69 for a ticket....

Re Kessie, either he is sold this winter or goes away for free next summer. The additions of Adli and Bakayoko is to ease this transition.

Have a bad feeling this will happen with Romagnoli and Theo as well

In all honesty they're right. The prices are outrageous.

These are Inter's prices for the group stage games in the CL (click prices for the Madrid game).

These are Milan's.

For example, Inter is charging 120 euros for the frontal orange first row stands, we're charging 199 euros. Inter are charging 85 euros for the first row stands behind the goal, we're charging 139 euros. The difference is too much and unacceptable.

Yes, football is a commodity, nobody is forcing you to go. But shouldn't we also think of the fans and ask for their support after one year and a half playing games behind closed doors? Especially in the CL. And how do we do that? By offering outrageous prices.

Someone was joking that we've put such high prices in order to meet Kessie's salary demands. It's that ridiculous.

And lo and behold, the club admitted the prices were too high and has decided to amend them.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TICKETS: A MESSAGE FROM IVAN GAZIDIS TO THE ROSSONERI

Yeah, the thing is quite ridiculous if you ask me. Elliott are a bunch of fucking beggars. I don't know how much time it will take them to realize that this is a football club, and things don't operate in the same way.

We'll see. The problem with trying to sell him in January is that other clubs can sign a pre-contract with him and get him for free in the summer. The sensible thing to do would be to renew and sell in '22 or '23 when Tonali and Adli are more ready to take over. I would not have a problem with this, just like I wouldn't have any problem selling Theo for 70m either. As long as we make good money on these players, for me everyone is sellable and replaceable.

But you need good incoming cash flow to make this model work, similar to what Dortmund do.

That's why it is important to keep the important players on long term contracts. So whenever any other club comes knocking, we hold the power in the negotiations.

Theo and Bennacer should be renewed ASAP. If not, we're going to face the same issue. Never mind Romagnoli's situation as well which is even more precarious.

Btw, notice how the media keeps talking about Kessie's contract and not Romagnoli. When they are both basically in the same situation. This is because they know which one the fans are interested in more and which one will get them the clicks


Ticket prices in Italy are sold for peanuts if you compare them to stadiums in England. And this is not some random Serie A game. These are all going to be big European nights. These people are the ones who put up banners with "insert coin here" written on it but they do not want to contribute to making the club stronger.

If the stadium project does happen, prices will automatically go up. These people have the privilege of watching their club play at the San Siro on a big European night. I wish I had the same opportunity

Indeed. Nobody gives two shits about Romagnoli compared to Kessie, when in reality Romagnoli is an overall good defender and can easily be sold for 20-25 million.

We'll see what happens. Some rumours say that whenever the club raises their proposal to Kessie, his agent also raises his demands, as if to imply that the guy just doesn't wanna renew. But then again why did he make those statements a month ago, remember?

?It?s all about the Games now, but when I return to Milan I will fix everything,? Kessie, who is nicknamed the President, said. ?I only want Milan, [Paolo] Maldini and [Fredeeric] Massara know my thoughts. I like it so much when the ultras sing ?a President, there is only a President ... '. Well, I want to be one for life. At least in football.?

In my opinion Kessie wants to be the player that earns the most at the club, so his demand should be around 7M per year, what we currently pay Zlatan. Whereas the club must be offering him something like 5.5M that eventually will increase every year up to 6.5M. I read this somewhere, and I think it's the most plausible scenario.



No man, the prices were ridiculously high, even the club itself admitted it.

If and when a new stadium becomes reality, then you can charge higher prices. But as things stand right now you've got to charge what the standard in Italy is for these competitions.

I was wondering if the opposition matters in such scenarios? We're playing Liverpool, Atheltico and Porto. Who are Inter playing? Still the gap between the prices is too much.

No, it doesn't. And Inter are playing Real Madrid.

Don't think it is that simple to renew and sell off, as it would put the club in a pickle, especially given revenue had taken a hit. If it was possible to pull it off, Maldini would have renewed Donnarumma's contract back then.

Romagnoli is being linked to Lazio, seems like either a sale in the winter window or he'll leave for free next summer.

I think the owners are well aware of the situation, they choose to stay the course. Which is what Gazidis had been reiterating whenever he makes a public announcement.

I also feel the owners are content with this approach, and I also think I understand why. Their main goal is to increase revenues via a wider marketing appeal, meaning more sponsorships and an extended international reach. Matchday revenue can also be improved with a new stadium, whereas TV rights are what they are. If operating costs (i.e. player salaries for the most part) remain under control, then the bottom line will improve as well. They seem very focused on the business aspect of running a club.

Money coming from player sales is secondary to them, or so it seems. Obviously for us who have lived and breathed football all our lives it makes no sense whatsoever to be losing our best players for nothing, and I really think something has to be done about it. This ironclad conviction of a salary cap is becoming very problematic.

Agreed

Theo and Bennacer should be given improved contract extensions prior to this summer, a failure in the same will cause more controversy around Milan's ability to retain its talented players.

By improved I'm talking about something within the clubs budget, not being held Ransom for 7M per season contracts.

What are your guys' thoughts on benching or even keeping Kessie out of the squad if he doesn't renew? Many fans have urged this idea these last few days.

Personally, I'm on the fence. On the one side I agree that if you don't accept any renewal proposal by your club when you're entering your last year of contract then you're basically stating that this will be your final year. Questions are then raised about your commitment on the pitch.

Last season Maldini made a good decision to postpone any renewal talks until after the season end so the team remained concentrated in the second part of the season, but now that the season has just began, and given the Dollarumma and Capanoglu precedents, I think a bold move might be an option.

On the other hand, Kessie is arguably our best player, and depriving ourselves of such a player would be almost suicidal.

So, I really don't know. I only know that I'm very pissed at Kessie, especially after his emphatic statement last month.

It is a stupid idea fueld by overemotional fans. He is our best player. We need him. We are paying him. Donnarumma did just well knowing he was leaving in the summer.

Yeah, but a goalie doesn't have to put much effort during the 90 minutes of a match. For a CM it's an entirely different story. Kessie runs kilometres in every game and spends a lot of energy. Why would he care anymore knowing he has an agreement with PSG and won't be playing with us next year?

I wouldn't consider the idea of benching him stupid, especially if the rumours of his agent continuously increasing their demands are true. The only thing that's keeping me on the fence is that we don't know the truth.

Looks like Romagnoli's contract when it was renewed in 2018 included a clause that provided for an increase each year. Rumours say this season he'll be earning 6M net.

Source

That's a lot.

I would love to keep him. But for those numbers we could easily bring in someone just as good with an even higher ceiling for a third of that salary

And personally I can only see Juve being able to match that kind of contract. ButI don't think he's worth it even to them on those figures

I'd rather we concentrate on Kessie, Theo and Benna at this point.

Which is sad to say as a Milan fan who has endure these past 8 years or so in the abyss and Alessio was one of the few bright spots.

This is another huge f@ck up from the Fassone/Mirabelli days. Just like the 6m per year contract to Donna at 18 years old...

Re Kessie. I will give him the benefit of the doubt for now. But if we go deep into autumn and he still hasn't signed that extension, then I think he needs to be perma benched and put on the market in January.

I don't care if we just get 15m for him. At least it would be something.

But this has to stop. And the management need to grow some balls when dealing with these types of situations. And I really hope they learn their lesson and renew Bennacer and Theo ASAP

Seeing how Tonali is developing, supposedly Bakayoko comes back to his usual self and if Kessie signs a new deal, I'm pretty sure we'll sell Bennacer.

Of course I'm maybe prematurely judging the season by it's mere beginning but Pioli seems to prefer Tonali which is, surprisingly, fine with me. If and only if Milan signs Kessie up for a renewal, I don't see us having 4 top options for just 2 positions.

I'm pretty sure we won't sell Bennacer.

No man, that's important depth. Tonali is still developing and Bakayoko is a bench player IMO.

We really can't say that about anyone on the team imo. If the right offer comes, I think anyone is for sale.

Look at the moves we're making. It's pretty obvious we're looking at players who can slot in for the current ones.


And personally given how the contract situations are panning out. I think any offer that comes in which is good we should consider. If 70m came for Theo from Man City or PSG, we should take it

Raiola states that Romagnoli will join Juve this coming summer as a free agent.

Tuttosport claim Juve are working on bringing both Kessie and Romagnoli to Juve next summer on free transfers.

Think both players will most likely move on next season, not sure where Kessie will end up, but highly unlikely renewing at Milan.

Milan fans extremely pissed at Raiola's comments. How can you say the Milan captain might play for Juventus next season, especially before Juve-Milan tomorrow. And how can Romagnoli sit and let this slip by. Incredibly unprofessional.

Re Kessie, I read somewhere today that our offer is 5M to be incremented every season up till 6.5M, whereas Kessie wants 6.5M fixed plus bonuses.

Bruh, I don't think I've ever seen such a clusteruck anywhere before as long as player contracts are concerned. It's quite shameful, actually, because it stinks of small club mentality. After Dollarumma and Capanoglu last season, Kessie and Romagnoli this season, then it's going to be Theo, Bennacer and so on. Incredible.

Indeed. Something is definitively not right.

I think with Romagnoli they are not going to even offer him anything. It's probably why Raiola cam out. He's clearly not happy with what happened with Donnarumma or Romagnoli now. If Romagnoli earns 6.5m (another masterclass from Mirabelli btw), the only offer we're going to make is something lower. He's been relegated to the bench. why should he be earning more than the 2 players starting ahead of him. It makes no financial sense to us. I just don't understand why we didn't try to monetize him this summer, or even tried to offer him to Juve in exchange for someone, at least make it look a bit better on the books


Re Kessie. If it is really 6.5m he's asking for then the management need to shut up and pay up. But if this progresses past November, we need to sell him for money in January. Simple as. We cannot let him of all players go for free in the summer

And why have we not already renewed Theo and Bennacer?? Why are we letting these contracts run down FFS?

The media and Italian journalists need to start putting pressure on our management when they're asking questions about this. Because Donna and Kebab boy last summer was forgivable, losing anyone else would not be