Mercato Rossonero: Milan Transfer Activity Inside Out

Wow. Why? These are much better transfers than what we had last summer. And one of either Rabiot or Savic could come. Laxalt is a great player and really had a strong world cup.

If we sign a top midfielder and another striker, we would easily be in contention for 2nd or 3rd. We have Higuain up front. We improved our left back situation. I need to see Bakayoko, but I will give him the benefit of a doubt.

I don't see how this qualifies as another season going down the drain.

You actually believe Savic is gonna come?

And Rabiot is nothing, don't know why you put him there, terrible attitude, terrible player.

You really think that? Look at the indications.

Rabiot is nothing... Terrible player? Sure man. You are building up your credibility. Everything is down the drain for you. Rabiot is wanted by Barcelona and Juventus... Such a terrible player lmao.

And the players have come already are clear upgrades. Come on. Give it a test. I know some love negativity and thrive on it. I went to the Red and Black forums and see the same trolls screaming like toddlers in a grocery store. Nothing ever changes.

PSG is obsessively exploring the available market options for LB, but surprisingly, there are no rumors linking our Ricky Rodriguez to them. It's a move that would make sense for all three parties concerned. Milan now have three left-backs (plus Calabria in case of emergency) and could let go of one to possibly get Rabiot, PSG will get the Kurzawa competition they so crave, and Rodriguez will have his wages doubled or something.

I hope we do sign the ball-keeping midfielder we so obviously lack. I know for a fact Milinkovic is too distant a dream, but Rabiot is perfectly feasible and realistic.

COME ON LEO! Call the lanky douche and run that smooth mouth of yours.

Rumor has it there is a medical booked for tomorrow for an unknown player. We will see who. I think we may still get two more. Midfielder is top priority.

Well... As far as Savic it probably wasn't realistic. I still think we will bag another player and yes I really wanted SMS joining us, but cannot run afoul with spending.

Maybe he will still join us, but I certainly think we will get another midfielder regardless (Rabiot?). I do think we need another striker, but that would be excessive beyond the requirement of a midfielder. We sold too many and are still trying to cut Montolivo and Mauri by rescinding their contracts. Gabriel will probably be rescinded too.

Either way I think something interesting will happen. Savic or not, we are significantly improved. But we still need a top level midfielder.

agreed. another top level midfielder esp. possession / ball playing midfielder would be a massive gain, but kessie, Bakayoko, or if we get SMS, they are more of the same, they are very much a b2b midfielder adding quality to attack and defense but someone with quality to feed more balls to forward is welcome.

what i am really most impressed about these market is that milan are not just signing good players, they are signing players of quality and years ahead of them ; this will give a much needed solidity in the team for the future and im really proud of leonardo and maldini

again important thing is we have are not spending crazy but spending knowing that it will give us quality, depth, we have youth, assurance for the future, something that mirabelli or previous owners failed to do.

tough championship ahead but i think milan are much better now and we are not even spending 200 million even if we were to get sms

a bit of a disappointment that milan didnt really get a quality LW i was secretly hoping that keita balde would be awesome signing but he ended up at inter... T.T

calhanoglu is clearly not a winger, neither is bonaventura....halivovic meanwhile fits the bill but he is unknown quality atm... or if he even gets a regular time or subs

I thought Calhanoglu played very well on the wing. He did not play well in midfield. He's a solid player. One of the better ones that took a while to adapt to Serie A, but he did come along well.

They keep saying they have someone booked for a medical. An unknown player tomorrow. Maybe just a media rumor. I just hope it isn't rubbish like Baselli or Gonalons. Those two would be Galliani-era signings.

I don't fault Mirabelli on some of the signings. I think they made some very good ones for the future, like Conti (hopefully will be back from injury). They made some errors like Kalinic... Borini was nothing impressive either but could probably be sold at a profit.

Laxalt is greatly offensive LWB/LB. You can't expect much in the way of defense, but he's actually one of the signings I like a lot.. even more than Castillejo. Both Laxalt and Castillejo are rated. Castillejo was wanted by a variety of La Liga teams, and was even linked to Real Madrid. Most Liga fans think we have made quite a steal. I gotta say I like Pablo Fornals too from Villarreal... but he had a serious medical incident back in April. Greatly talented player... I think he has been called up again by Villarreal.

Since last night, there's been a rumor swirling around (started by Il Sole 24) that Milan have practically signed Milinkovic-Savic and the medical visit scheduled by Leonardo at La Madonnina hospital is for him. I'm skeptical. It can't be true when only one source brings it up. Not three, not two, but ONE.

Elsewhere, it is said that if we pull off the mission: impossible, that is, offload Montolivo and Mauri both, Baselli could come back as a candidate to increase numbers in midfield. He's a mezz'ala who guarantees legs and five goals per season. Italian, too, which is a big positive for me.

Finally, they say with the signing of Kehrer by PSG and the possibility of using him in midfield, the ultimate petro-dollar club could try to free up a midfield slot or two, also considering their imminent clash with UEFA over that sumbitch FFP. The candidates are Draxler and Rabiot. It's simply DUMB to miss out on these two wonderful talents IF they're actually available.

My guts tell me today is gonna be uneventful for us, but my guts have been wrong countless times before.

Rumours of Baselli joining us today have been making the rounds and I keep wondering if we still have Mirabelli in charge of transfers.. Dear God, please don't let that scrub Baselli anywhere near my Precious Milan. Don't care if he scores 20 from midfield, he's just not needed here

Di Marzio keeps saying there will be no more Milan signings but I've got the feel there will be one last acquisition. I guess we will have to wait and see how it all unfolds, after all there's only hours left

Unfortunately there will be no further signings as confirmed by Scaroni. I don't think Milan wanted to sign someone like Baselli. Baselli isn't any better than Bertolacci.

I'm disappointed not even an attempt was made for Rabiot. Baselli is crap and we don't need him. I guess we will need to try in the winter for Rabiot. We have fallen short and I predict either a 5th or 6th place finish in the league. Higuain and Bakayoko alone weren't enough. Sorry.

GiancarloC wrote:I'm disappointed not even an attempt was made for Rabiot. Baselli is crap and we don't need him. I guess we will need to try in the winter for Rabiot. We have fallen short and I predict either a 5th or 6th place finish in the league. Higuain and Bakayoko alone weren't enough. Sorry.

In terms of the players' quality, we're somewhat equal with Roma and Lazio, but I guess their cohesion and team dynamics are still ahead of us.

Still, take it from me, keeping last season's XI with the addition of Higuain is not that bad a thing, seeing as the 14 players we bought last season took a year to morph into some sort of a team. We were lucky enough to have most of the starters available to Gattuso from July, so we should be fine till January. If we avoid cheap individual errors and conceding retarded goals, our attack, unlike last year, has both the creativity and the penetration to cause anyone problems

As you say, we can definitely try to swap Rodriguez with Rabiot as the latter's price will have halved by January with the free transfer of a 50m-priced player looming ominously in the horizon for PSG.

We didn't spend a shitload of money, so maybe, just maybe, Leo wanted to wait on Rabiot deliberately. I mean, I trust our management. I have reason enough to be positive.

I guess my disappointment did overcome the fact that we have made dramatic improvements and cut many players. We do have the money for Rabiot, and now risk losing him to another team in January.

We are still short in midfield.

I think we spent around 110 million, but made 90 million so the balance sheet wasn't bad. Maybe my numbers are slightly off.

I will give this team the benefit of a doubt, but my hopes for us breaking into the top four is minimal. Can Higuain deliver double digits? I don't think with this midfield. Biglia really needs to improve his play, but he is 32.

Hello all - havent here in several years, but I thought I’d chime in with my Mercato thoughts.
1. A lot of the players we got (Castillejo, Laxalt) were swap deals with clubs who couldn’t afford to pay for our players. I’m concerned about how much we scouted these players. Maybe I’m being skeptical but I doubt we evaluated Castillejo in depth, but rather just used him to get rid of Bacca. This is concern #1.

2. Hakan is good at LW, but 2 slow wingers makes us useless on the counter. A key starting goal scoring winger was the priority, along with a creative midfielder. While we did improve the team in depth + Higuain, I wouldn’t rate the maker highly because we’ll still have the same issues as last year.

That being said, Leo only had a month or so for the market. You can’t really blame him. But, I don’t expect CL with this squad. Maybe 5th

While I am negative about our prospects, I think Leonardo does know how to scout. Castillejo isn't an unknown talent in Spain either. Other teams have wanted him, including Real Madrid and Sevilla (especially Sevilla).

Both Laxalt and Castillejo are known for their rapid pace. And both can play very well as wingers. Laxalt can play a variety of positions and isn't an unknown either. He made a name for himself at the World Cup, plus he plays in the Serie A.

Andre Silva had a hat trick for Sevilla against Rayo Valecano today. Why on earth did we sell him? Probably a major error by the new management.

GiancarloC wrote:Andre Silva had a hat trick for Sevilla against Rayo Valecano today. Why on earth did we sell him? Probably a major error by the new management.

Firstly, I don't think we can judge him by one game. Sure, he has the talent to go on to win the European golden shoe, but let's not forget that he scored a truckload of goals in EuroLeague for us at first, but then flopped terribly.

Secondly, we haven't sold him. It's a loan deal with OPTION to buy. So, if he does perform as fantastically throughout the whole season as he did tonight, we can still make him a lucrative offer at the end of the season to convince him to return.

KR10 wrote:Hello all - havent here in several years, but I thought I’d chime in with my Mercato thoughts.
1. A lot of the players we got (Castillejo, Laxalt) were swap deals with clubs who couldn’t afford to pay for our players. I’m concerned about how much we scouted these players. Maybe I’m being skeptical but I doubt we evaluated Castillejo in depth, but rather just used him to get rid of Bacca. This is concern #1.

2. Hakan is good at LW, but 2 slow wingers makes us useless on the counter. A key starting goal scoring winger was the priority, along with a creative midfielder. While we did improve the team in depth + Higuain, I wouldn’t rate the maker highly because we’ll still have the same issues as last year.

That being said, Leo only had a month or so for the market. You can’t really blame him. But, I don’t expect CL with this squad. Maybe 5th

Keshav! Great to see you!

It's clear as day that the players we bought aren't the very best in the world. Caldara is no Van Dijk, nor is Bakayoko anything close to Modric. But then again, that was the point. We're badly under pressure by UEFA. It's precisely like a probation period: if we spend more than we make, they're gonna pinch us and reactivate our European competition ban.

On the issue of speed, it's something that troubles me, too. I suppose the best solution is to go with 4-2-3-1. That way, we can field both Castillejo and Bakayoko, speedy players who can drive forward along with the full-backs after a botched corner by the opposition, for instance. I'm sure Gattuso and his men will work something out. This is too obvious a problem to miss by a world cup winner like Rino.

Silva wasn't given a proper chance and with Castillejo and Laxalt he would have done better. And legally if Sevilla chooses to exercise their option he is as good as gone. 35 million is nothing for Sevilla. They have financial power and have spent that line of money.

It should have been a dry loan only.

So it doesn't matter what we try to offer him. If Sevilla exercises their option, he will be gone.

And as far as UEFA, the main sticking point was more who was backing us financially. It wasn't about how much we spent really. Rather more about the financial stability of the owner that was under question. Li was not financially stable and once Elliott stepped in that changed over night.

GiancarloC wrote:Silva wasn't given a proper chance and with Castillejo and Laxalt he would have done better. And legally if Sevilla chooses to exercise their option he is as good as gone. 35 million is nothing for Sevilla. They have financial power and have spent that line of money.

It should have been a dry loan only.

So it doesn't matter what we try to offer him. If Sevilla exercises their option, he will be gone.

You're right: Sevilla does have the option fixed and ready, but just like with regular release clauses, the final decision lies with the player. If he proves his worth and we promise him a regular spot along with a huge pay rise, he may still wanna be part of the more prestigious club, also taking into account our new management, ambition, project, etc.