Mercato Rossonero: Milan Transfer Activity Inside Out

@ES, thats what I have mentioned before, this could be our primary source of players.

I am quite skeptical with 3rd party ownerships though, however, i could see the benefits especially when it comes to evading FFP sanctions. Although, i wouldn't be suprised if Doyen has a stake in most of our players 5 years from now

@AlfredoPedulla 3s3 seconds ago
Tante richieste per José Mauri, ma tutto confermato: aspetta il Milan

We have Jose Mauri (Aka Juve's bane) in the bag, he's a 19 year old Argentinian CM, most notable for this:

The sentiment of pursuing Italian players - Mauri plays for the Italy U17 side - might be nice but most of the Italians who would genuinely improve the side are out of our reach. To settle for those who remain will send us nowhere and I've never understood our pursuit of Mauri, nor the supposed interest of other clubs.

For those unfamiliar with Mauri, I'll do a comparative analysis for your benefit.

Mauri vs Traffic Cone

Fouls committed: Mauri
Balls lost: Mauri
Chances created: Tie
Wages: Traffic Cone
Consistency: Traffic Cone
Usefulness in training: Traffic Cone

Decide for yourself.

In all seriousness, he's young and cheap enough that it's a fairly unobjectionable transfer and we will effectively have to replace four midfielders this summer so whilst we may not be thrilled by the pursuit of squad players, it will be necessary. Having a proper coach will fix a lot of issues but we will still need to chase far better midfielders than Mauri this summer though to get back to where we need to be.

At first I read it as Stefano Mauri and a tear rolled down my eye.

Thankfully its some young Italian, but what the hell has he done to earn 1M + bonuses per year?

I've seen a youtube video of him, and i can conclude that he's a hybrid of Riquelme and Messi

Milan are reportedly looking to offer Philippe Mexes a contract extension, with a 'bad boy' clause for his disciplinary record.

The French defender, whose contract expires this June, has repeatedly stated his desire to renew with the Rossoneri.

It appears the club are willing to meet him halfway, with Calciomercato.com reporting of an offer for a two-year deal at €1.5m per season – a substantial slash compared to his current €4.5m yearly wages.

Milan are also willing to add a bonus of up to €200,000, but it will be linked to the number of games played by the 33-year-old against the number of days he will be suspended over the season.

This means that Mexes, famously something of a hot-headed defender, may incur a financial penalty should he be involved in more incidents like his attack on Lazio's Stefano Mauri in January.

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http://www.football-italia.net/66811/mexes-disciplinary-clause

Given that it is quite a substantial reduction in his wages, I would be quite willing to offer Mexes the opportunity to stay on. We've far too many central defenders in the squad - 9 in fact - and we can not hope to clear them all out at once. I would ideally seek to keep Paletta and the one of Mexes, Alex and Rami, with my preference being for Philippe due to his capacity as a leader.

Nope. Give a new, young player a chance.

I don't see why the two must be mutually exclusive, even with a summer clear out of our central defence, certain players must be retained. Not only will it be impossible to find buyers for everyone in a single window but neither will we be able to bring in many new players at once and certain players amongst our current crop must be selected to provide competition for any new arrival and maintain depth.

We need new blood in defence. Simple as that. The defenders we have at the moment are sub-standard and are halting the progression of potentially better young players into the first team.

(Not to mention that despite Mexes' wage-cut, his wages would still be about 5 times more than we would pay a youth player promoted to the first team.)

Mexes, Bonera, and all those other plebs are holding this team back. There can't be rules for some, but not for others. Either you're good enough or you're not - and there's a pretty damn good case comprised of years of shocking auditions every other weekend that these players are not up to scratch.

I'm not at all arguing that we do not need new blood but do you really think that we can expect to sell nine central defenders and either purchase or promote five new ones in a single window?

Realistically, some players have to stay. He need not even be a starter necessarily but we need to retain some experience at the back.

dostoevsky wrote:I'm not at all arguing that we do not need new blood but do you really think that we can expect to sell nine central defenders and either purchase or promote five new ones in a single window?

Realistically, some players have to stay. He need not even be a starter necessarily but we need to retain some experience at the back.

Nice try Bonera.

Rossoneri Ninja wrote:

dostoevsky wrote:I'm not at all arguing that we do not need new blood but do you really think that we can expect to sell nine central defenders and either purchase or promote five new ones in a single window?

Realistically, some players have to stay. He need not even be a starter necessarily but we need to retain some experience at the back.

Nice try Bonera.

Daniele, when your only "experience" is getting ravaged by every striker on the planet, can you honestly say that you're still a useful asset to the team?

Rossoneri Ninja wrote:

dostoevsky wrote:I'm not at all arguing that we do not need new blood but do you really think that we can expect to sell nine central defenders and either purchase or promote five new ones in a single window?

Realistically, some players have to stay. He need not even be a starter necessarily but we need to retain some experience at the back.

Nice try Bonera.

Forza wrote:Daniele, when your only "experience" is getting ravaged by every striker on the planet, can you honestly say that you're still a useful asset to the team?

We engage in a lot of hyperbole when we discuss our squad but to suggest that none of our existing options are good enough to even act as back ups is simply unrealistic. Our entire backline has suffered this season from Pippo's inexperience. We are uncommitted when sitting deep, we don't press high when we do have the ball and we lose the ball too easily when in possession. All this contributes to making seasoned internationals look like buffoons.

Under new management, any one of Paletta, Mexes, Alex and Rami could contribute to a successful campaign. Due to our wage bill and our excessive numbers at the back, it is necessary that we clear out even some of these figures.

If you think it ideal to eventually replace everyone at the back, then I can accept that. If however you're actually suggesting that we should and will see a 14 player turnover in central defence alone this summer then I'm not sure what to say.

We are signing Ronaldo

CR7-----Bacca/Immobile-----Suso/Cerci/Honda/SES/Menez/idgaf

Nah, 4-4-2 for sure.

C. Ronaldo---Ibrahimovic
El Shaarawy----Montolivo---Khedira---Allegri

Imo

-1 for Khedira

Di Marzio: Milan after Mandzukic, Kondogbia and Gundogan. Alternatives: Jackson Martinez, Xhaka, Baselli and Kucka

El Shaarawy wrote:Di Marzio: Milan after Mandzukic, Kondogbia and Gundogan. Alternatives: Jackson Martinez, Xhaka, Baselli and Kucka

XHAKA PLEASE

Death, taxes and Kucka links

ES your sig

Also as usual, before the summer window starts, we aim high in selecting targets. Can't wait for our standards to drop steadily throughout July and August.

El Shaarawy wrote:Death, taxes and Kucka links

That we continue to be linked to him even after he lost his place in Genoa's starting eleven says it all about our scouts. Got to give them credit for sticking to their guns I guess.

dostoevsky wrote:ES your sig

Also as usual, before the summer window starts, we aim high in selecting targets. Can't wait for our standards to drop steadily throughout July and August.

So true

2006: De Rossi, Sneijder, Kompany and Marcelo
2007: Motta, Milito, Ballack, Klose (I think? Not sure iirc)
2008: Villa, Drogba, Schweini, Arshavin
2008: Robben, Ivanovic, can't remember any other big names
2010: Srna, Suarez, Kagawa, Poldi
2011: Hamsik, Ganso, Alcantara, Pastore
2012: Hulk, JoJo, Rossi, RvP, Witsel
2013: Sahin, Lamela, Papadopoulos, Dede
2014: Eriksen, Iturbe, Douglas Costa, Mandzukic

You forgot the annual Fabregas links

Also it appears possible that Pazzini will stay at Milan. I think we can do better even for a back-up but the priority should be acquiring and determining our first choice striker. If we make good choices elsewhere, the identity of our reserve becomes less important.

I don't mind tbh, i have a soft spot for Pazzo. Shame that his injury ruined him, he's come so close to scoring a lot of times this season.