Russian football certainly seems to be on the up. While Dutch football seems to be going down...

Oh no Drogba...if he were 10 mill popunds cheaper...sure...but otherwise,no thanks.

No way. He's not even close to be good enough for a team like this.

goal.com is sayin man u r supposed to be makin an offer for Philipp Lahm supposidly around £8.5 million...how are milan supposed to compete with this...with the taxes in italy to pay for him to come and cover his wages is almost doubling the costs....the same thing happend when we were supposed to sign Henry....barca offered him higher wages and milan couldnt match it....offering him 4 million a year would cost milan almost 8 million after taxes, same when real offerd kaka a contract....they offered him more then double his wage that he is making at milan because they do not have the same taxes and have higher paying sponsers....its soo not fair theses english and spanish clubs have over italian clubs....no wonder players dont wanna play in seria a they lose half their wages in taxes! Id be very happy to see Lahm arrive in milan in the summer along with zambrotta we could replace cafu and favalli and have great subs.

http://www.goal.com/en/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=599752

I agree with the taxes bit...it's also the very selfish reason why I'd like to see Silvio as PM.

But Lahm and Zambrotta being good subs...

Naah..Klinsi is coming in. Lahm and Poldi are going nowhere.

Is our midfield really that good? aren't they [as a whole] overrated a little bit? do they feed our attackers like they should?

Think about these questions!...

zrd has a point. I do believe Pirlo is under-rated still, he never gets his due credit, ever. But Seedorf is one that annoys me, I think he is very over-rated. It's easy to say about Ronaldo or Zlatan that they never show up in big games, but Seedorf never shows up in easy games, leading to many unnecessary dropped points.

I would like to see him.. not replaced, but somebody that would do his job in the league, with more motivation!

^^

Well yeah...whoever thinks our mid-field is covered is pretty wrong.

I think the sole dependence on Pirlo is proving to be too huge an obstacle.

And the lack of creativity coming from our centre mid-field is also a huge problem.

We need -> 1 CB, 1 WB for defence
-> 1 Creative deep mid, One young/over his prime cheap box to box mid
-> One mobile attacking mid to take the focus off defenders from breakin Kaka's legs
-> One SS.

For CB: I guess Barzagli would be nice. But I doubt he's better than Bonera and he's Palermo. *shrugs*. What I'd really love is to get some of our youth squads in. Or maybe see some Serie A movement for them. Loan em out or something
For WB: Zambrotta. Maybe we could sell Grimi and get Vargas. But I'm not gonna jump on Vargas coz of one cross. If all Oddo had to do was play one match a week, he'd be the best RB in the world.
For Deep Mids: I don't know, but I was planning for some time to ask LaPalma about Nuri Sahin, and if he was doing well. I haven't heard much from him lately. Cigarini/Aquilani(he's having clashes in Roma)/Montolivo they'd all have to be probably part ownership for Yoann, I'd guess.
Goal-Scoring Mids: I already mentioned this. VdV or Diego. If one of these guys play alongside Kaka, we can see a more lethal XMas Tree, since two people are capable of playing trquartista or SS.
SS: I've again already said, I'd like Cassano. He's one of the best Italian players of the new generation I've seen. Too bad he's a jackass. But with so few prima donnas in our team, I have hopes he might make it through. But we'd have to hijack the Madrid-Samp deal, and that won't do our popularity much good.

I think if we could get that mobile AM and a SS, it would be cool, so then we can alternate from 4-3-2-1 to 4-2-3-1 to even maybe 4-3-3.

More tactical flexibility, which is what is strangling our team out at the moment. For now, every opponent knows, Milan has only two points of focus. Pirlo and Kaka. If both these guys are shut down, that's it. Pato has to run around like a mad duck to do something.

Sahn was being loaned out to Feyenoord Rotterdam this season. He's doing well there....at least what I've heard a few weeks ago.
About VdV....I wouldn't consider him a goalscoring midfielder. Like I said before. I think he's nest playing on the SS position. For deep-MF position I'd really like to see Montolivo. That guy has "something" and could really be "someone".

QFT

We should fire Galliani and hire Captain sparrow as the new Vice president for Milan.

Hm. A new name to put into the list of 'possible strikers'. Tuttomercatoweb is reporting that Milan are following Sevilla's Kanoute (link).

Another primo punta?? Aaaaaaaaaaaaargh!!

@IlCap: I'd love to, but I hear the pay sucks. And the taxes kill you.

Are you turning this down just because Milan recently signed a deal with Microsoft??

According to controcampo Alex Silva is coming to Milan. Just like Ferrari he won't cost anything. He is 22 years old and is the younger brother of Luizao in Benfica. Don't know how good he is but apparently he attracted the attention of many big clubs until he had a knee injury and he is included in the brazilian olympic team.

EDIT: He is a CB.

gk= i dunno cuz kalac is doing gd
dc= zambrota+barzagali
mf= i would say brochi out and maybe rossina in
fc= benzema+boriello+oli

What????!!! No way...nooooo!!!!

Does this club have no future....I'm off to cheer for Arsenal...yeesh...

Don't worry, we are just doing this in order to create an opening to the US. We already have their technological know-how from [insert your favorite company here]!

i think u missunderstood what i said....if Lahm and Zambrotta came im sure they would both or atleast one of them start, but what i said or ment to say was if both come we would have: Oddo, Zambrotta, Lahm and Janko on the flanks so it didnt matter who started cuz we would have great starters and great back ups incase of injury of fatigue...which would also turn out to be a great rotation system so were not playing the same players over and have to worry bout saving certain players for key games and have to risk losing points in seria a to have fresh players for cl cuz you would feel secure with any one of thoes players playing. Make a little more sence?

This summer is going to be very exciting but scary. We have way to many people to replace. I think the management realizes they need to drop the average age of the club by quite a bit.

Out:
Dida. Valerio
Cafu, Maldini, Simic. Favalli, Serghino
Brocchi, Ba
Gilardino, Ronaldo

Now these are players we should be replacing. They are either retiring, are to old to play regularly or don't posses enough quality to be productive for the team.

11 players out. That is scary. But here is the fun point. Milan have not splashed out a lot of cash in quite awhile. 1 major signing per year for the past 3 to 4 years. Their coffers have to be exploding.

I look at Bayern this past off season and say it's time to buy a great team.

In
Akinfeev/Frey, Offredi
Lahm, Zambrotta, Barzagli, De Silvestri, Criscito, Ramos, Zaccardo
Aquilani, Montolivo, Hamsik, VDV, Diego
Toni, Paloschi

We have the money, we have the prestige, bring on the talent. I understand that it will be difficult to get most of these players away from their owners but This will build a great team for a long long time.

Bring on 4th place, the CL trophy and the summer transfer window.

Welcome, Omahawi! Do feel free to post an intro in the introductions section!

I think a lot of us would love to see Milan make wholesale purchases like those you mentioned. The problem is that I just don't see quite that many people coming in all at once -- and some of those you listed will be very hard to pry away from their clubs (eg Ramos, Aquilani, Montolivo, Toni) as you said.

I'd be happy if we made 4-5 buys (1 keeper, 1-2 defenders, 1 good mid, 1 good striker). I suspect we'll probably only see 2-3, sadly.

lol, you really think we will buy more then 3 players...i mean, changing whole team wouldn't be great in any aspect...you must consider settling in concept of play, and many other things...in my opinon, we can expect max 5 transfers, but i'm more on tennies side of thinking, as we'll probably see only 2-3 signigs

2-3 signings would be pretty good...if we're pulling someone up from the youth ranks...

Let's see

1 Wingback
1 Creative Mid
1 Striker

^^^

Looks good...

Of course more than 3. We don't have a choice because of our managemet impotency over the last two summers. We could have done it gradually but ...

I am in agreement. If they had been working on the situtation for the past 3 years I would say 2 to 3 signings would be good. Unfortunately multiply that by 3 and we are looking at replacing a large portion of the squad. It all stems from lack of movement in the off season for too long.

O

wow. i just watched the man u lyon first leg replay...im not sure if theres anything going on in that thick head of yours galliani..but if there is, i hope its telling you to sign karim benzema. dude is a beast. pato, benzema, kaka, gourcuff, pirlo, gatusso the brazilian-french-italiano connecion.

^^

I saw him in that game too. he reminds me of Sheva. powerful shot, good physique, intelligent, with 'sufficient' technique. definitely a future star.

But don't bother too much, he will end up in Spain or England...

There's an article in Corriere today -- keep in mind that Corriere is not especially reliable -- stating that Shevchenko wants to return to Milan and that he's already house hunting there.

Buffon is house hunting here for almost two years according to press.

^^

Drogba as well right?? Everyone wants to be rossoneri...

Nobody does though...

Okay, so if you believe the press (pfft), Sheva, Buffon, his old lady, and Frey have all gone house-hunting in Milan. If it were true, I think we've discovered the new gold rush of the 21st century.

lol true

Forget the World Series of Poker or playing the stock market. The big money is to be had in Milanese real estate.

Milans problems and week spots are till now very known not only to us, but still, I feel the need of a compiling viewpoint:

I.Keepers - we have Kalac for next season, but I consider him still as a No.2. Dida? I'm not sure. If Kalac would not be that good, I'd say demote him (temporary or permanently, sorry @MizNelson) to No.2 and bring in some secure, younger keeper who's career is still in takeoff.

Recommendations:
A. Buffon if possible, but highly unlike. Only if we are lucky enough to end up 4th, with Fiorentina above us on the 3rd place, or easier said with Juventus failing a CL-spot which in this moment does not look like SF. Other priorities would be Curci, Frey, Amelia (so-so), Enke and Castellazzi - all experienced keepers with the needed big-games in their feets (ex. is only Cruci)
B. Young keepers who could give us/Carlo a free choice - Adler, Bruno (Flamengo) or Akinfeev do not have to start as a No.1, which means Kalac can retain his deserved frist team run.
C. Abbiati's return - would be cheap and would not cost us "transfer activity". But Abbiati isn't a Milan player any more, not after all those words and his behaviour.

II.Defenders - the LB and RB position is a priority, even more neccesary then a new CB. I'm totally against Kaladze, but looking him play these days I just can't see him out in recent time. Nesta is a demi-god, Bonera is reliable and Simic, well, he is really the one who's the biggest looser. His value dropped, his match practice, he'll loose his NT position and probably join a crappy mid- or low-table team. But the back worry me. Oddo and Janku have a great working ratio and do well when we need to defend, but are week up front. Carlo's system stopped working here. Years ago we had Maldini, Cafu and Serginho to rely on. They could provide the crosses, passes, they could speed up the tempo, pull Pirlo and Gattuso much more in action. Just remember the days. It was noramally for Milan to be back against Empoli 0-1 for HT, just like it is now. But then Sheva or Kaka would have scored, and then Sergio or Cafu leaded the pressure which resulted a late winning goal. It happened more then once.

Recommendations:
A. Would be Phillip Lahm, Dani Alves, Adriano, Ilsinho (Shakhtar), Vargas, Rafinha, Grosso, Emanuelson (Ajax), Srna (Shakhtar). They all could provide some extra pace and speed in adition of the usual great Janku or Oddo. Also (except of Lahm and Alves), they could agree with a bench-status or a rotation-status. Grosso could be one more player who not made it with Inter, and also could be the easiest solution. Also, we have to scout the Brazilian league, I'm sure there's a new Segio or Carlos out there. But a proper one.
B. This may come as a surprise but I put Zambrotta on a B-importance grade. Why? I like him really very much, enjoy his quality, and he could be avaible. But as I said, a speedy back player is priority for me, even if it means put a world class player like Zambro in background. Second option would be Willy Sagnol or Chiellini.
C. A quality CB. Maldini cannot be replaced, but his position in central defense should be covered. Barzagli, Eboue, Lucio and Heitinga are top-priorities to me. IN particular Barzagli who would make a future leader and a star in Italy's NT. If possible, Thuram or Cannavaro should also be considered. Milan allways tends to make such transfers, like they did with Emerson, Ronaldo, etc. So I expect someone like that be at least mentioned or negotiated.
D. If Simic goes we need a bench player. Knezevic (Livorno), Gamberini or Castellini should do that.

III.Midfielders - Seedorf starts to be a injury-prone player, Kaka needs to have a alternative. Gourcuff isn't enough. The DM depatment is full and we have no problems there. So, we should keep Gourcuff and either invest in a fresh, strong and speedy offensive midfielder, or a experienced CM with quality.

Recommendations:
A. Many of us said no to Mancini. But he's doing terribly good so far with Roma. He's a constant danger and has inspiration. The main problem was, he is a winger. But now, IMO he surpassed that level of position-play and become a player to succeed in mostly every Serie A team. There are some other fresh options with Nasri, Ben Afra, Aquilani, De Rossi, Montolivo, Modric (Barca?), Rakitic, van der Vaart, Diego (unlike), Schweinsteiger - but all of them would require permanent and instant first team (ex. Nasri), and with Carlo still around that would be hard. If Modric comes in to Barca, Deco should also be considered, he's used to play in second after Ronaldinho and infront of Xavi/Iniesta, so he would be the perfect transition from Pirlo/Gattuso to Kaka.
B. Much more like to happen. Players like Santana, Semioli, Mauri, Morfeo, Muntari, etc. Or someone who's contract expires,..
C. Allways keep the door open for oldies like Makelele. Like I said, we're full of DM's, but does it hurt to have one more? Maybe just for our eyes..

IV.Strikers - it's as simple as this - get rid of Gilardino, bring in what will be avaible. This is a position we do not neccassary have to speed up. We have Pato and Paloschi. I count on Pippo staying one more. So we can use either Borriello or Gilardino to lure some potential Serie A striker which is proirity 1. So Gilardino for a top striker and Borriello for a SA striker. Or keep Borriello who looks to be a Serie A striker anyway, but somehow did not work with us. Could be that our tactic cut's off players like Gilardino, Borriello even Paloschi too much.

Recommendations:
A. Serie A strikers, like Trezeguet, Di Natale, Quagliarella, Mutu, Gyan, Pandev, Rocchi or Cassano. Cassano in particular could be interesting. He is a problem child but has great potential, and is very exprienced. He could be a striker and creativity solution as well. A Trezeguet move can be expected if Gila goes to Juve. With me fine, cause we gain a proven Serie A striker.
B. Drogba, Adebayor, Eto'o, Benzema or Shevchenko. Eto'o 's highly unlike, just as Ade, after the injury of Eduardo. Benzema is good but I cannot imagine Milan having a teen attack with Palo-Pato-Benzema. So it leaves us up to the Chelsea duo. Shevchenko hurt us all and would be a persona non grata, but still, he represents both A. and B., he's a top striker as well as a Serie A striker. Drogba gives us more options and IMO would be a much more interesting (which does not have to mean better) partner to both Pato and Paloschi, even Gila and Pippo. Some other names can be added as well - Berbatov, Petric (BVB; also a creative add, just like Mutu and Cassano), Huntelaar.
C. Once more, a oldy like Crespo who'll probably be avaible.

V.Coach - I'm fine with Carlo under the condition he changes some things. He cannot be blamed for Dida (but the goalie coach really should be, he should have detected his decline in the summer prep-period), the L/RB's, the attack, Gila. But for the midfield, yes! He's stubborn and lost in moments, and he sacrifices too much just to hold on and maintain his tactic. He has to seem other perspectives. If something does not work 9 out of 10 time, it should be put off the table, rather then tried for the 11th time. I hope new players will wake new ideas.


Summa: Cassano+Srna+Frey+Zambrotta would be the Milan solution. It would be the most economic transfer aquisition. Cassano can play a striker and a AM, he covers 2 positions at least, Srna cover a RM and RB, he's good up front, pacey and creative, Frey is "the nummersicher transfer" and Zambro is well known to everyone. A Drogba/Sheva+Deco+Barzagli+Buffon/Curci would mean major news, the biggest since Rui Costa. More realistic of both options is somthing in-between.

Cassano? I think.... ummm... not.

Hey, Diavolo, Alberto!

Do you guys know anything about Uros Palibrk? He's a young Slovenian striker who's currently at Milanello on trial, according to tuttomercatoweb.

^^^

^^



So Galliani wasn't kidding when he said, we wanted to be like Arsenal last season. I actually like this. This is a wise decision.

Player fees are only shooting through the roof, and the only way to get one-club players is to have them play since they were kids.

I was thinking of tomorrow evening's game and this came to mind; if you could take one player from Arsenal who would that be??

Personally, I believe Arsenal's most talented player is RvP. And he's one of my favorites. Sadly enough, I believe his injuries are not a short-term problem...

Then there is Kolo. He is a great defender in my view. A bit of a fiery character but he is rock-solid at the back.

But the player I would choose would probably be Hleb. I think that guy can replace Seedorf perfectly!

Also, would you like Wenger in Milan? Or do you think his policy does not fit this club?

Anyway... this is just fantacalcio so don't bother saying it's not possible...

i like van persie a lot and would probably pick him if i could pick anyone but he's so injury prone. so i think i'd like to see fabregas with pirlo in the middle, that would great.

I think I'd probably pick Hleb, or maybe Fabregas. They're both quality players.

RVP is very talented, but there's the injury issue and, well, it's always been my impression -- correct me if I'm wrong on this -- that he's a bit of a [insert Porty's favourite word here].

Fabregas, he would replace Seedorf.

Hleb for me. This guy is truly awesome.

he's a winger tho (altough he can play behind the strikers) who needs him when you have whole bunch of defensive midfielders who cant cross or thread passes for their lives

Hleb, Rosicky or Flamini. First two are creative, and the last is a box to box, with a good long range shot.

No I wouldn't want Wenger here. He's not the type of guy who can bring instant results. He would be great as an assistant coach. Coz for one, I think he is a bit tactically naive. Though he's definitely improved a LOT.

Also I think this whole process of developing new players, takes a while. It's alright in Arsenal, where they all trust in him, and he's the boss, but maybe not in Italy, where Milan are no longer an upcoming club.

Also one of the greatest gifts of Wenger is how astutely he manages the finances of the club. That's something Milan don't need. Since Milan uses coaches and not managers.

If I had to choose on personal preferences it would be Rosicky. Pity we'll not be seeing him at San Siro. In terms of talent, RvP, but like you guys said he's made of glass. Then again so is Ronaldo. Apart from these two guys, there are a bunch of other interesting and talented picks, but they're not some that I'd have fantasies about.

And yes, Wegner is more than welcome at Milan. Carlo's had a fun ride, and I'm sure every true fan of Milan appreciates what he's done, but when and if the time comes and a change at the top is needed, Weg would be more than a decent choice. And I could care less about strategies if we're winning everything, rather than having good policies and failing.

i haven't acctually seen Palibrk play, but i hear he's a great talent...scoring 3 for chelsea on trial and 1 for milan on trial...and he's 15 yrs old, playing last season(when he was 14) in u17 league, scoring 15 goals...

and he likes more italian football then english, so milan is in lead for him...

He looks about 8!

nahh, he looks 15

lol he looks 8 man

a new team would be nice.

This loss is a blessing in disguise, hopefully a wakeup call for our management that we need lot of players to compete next year. No more first round losses.