Pazzini is the mistake. To put it simple, we overpaid. Pazzini was a player who wanted to leave Inter which put him at the begging near to Cassano (not exactly the same line, this I agree with). And then on top of that, we did not use this as a chip, but even payed more for a player worth less.

IMO had Sneijder been the swap player, I'd say it was a catch. But Pazzini? I don't think so.

Yeah, because soon there won't be anyone left to sell for a good prize.


Good god, I can only imagine how terrible he feels in Paris. All his weekly Milan quotes are a obvious signal. As a PSG fan, I'd be unhappy with all that.

Sorry should have clarified, i meant our books are in good balance that we dont' need to sell anyone.


edit:

news:


-Director of Corinthians:

"We know the situation of Pato. With our knowledge and technologies available to us, we know that he could be very successful with the shirt of Corinthians "

There was also talk of a possible range of 15 million for 50% of the Duck: "This figure is not realistic for us and it was never in our plans to spend so much on a player. So far we have been focused on the CWC, but next week we'll get down to business with figures."

I know. Understood you. Our books are in good balance, yet the team is depleted. Maybe not today, but if this season (including the first transfer period) is a model for the future, we're gonna end up like Arsenal at best.

I disagree, i think the club are going in the right direction. Our previous model was wrong. It wasn't sustainable. You have to have a squad mixed of youth and experience. Otherwise you'll pay a big price if players leave and you can't replace them. Dortmunt, barca and others have now shown this to be the case, thats why they changed their model. If we invested in youth and believed in them, we wouldn't have had to waste so much money on garbage players over the yeras.



"I am not surprised by what is happening at Madrid. This will always happen when your philosophy is to sign and gamble on big signings.

"Homegrown players have more than just a contract with the club. They take the club to their heart. Transfers can bring in good players, but never for too long. Clubs need their youth system."


J. Cruyff

Key being a mixture of youth and class - class we lack of right now. Barcelona is simply put not a good example for us, we can never achieve that level (unless we don't make our own youth system much more efficient).

I'm all for it, but if selling Thiago, Ibra, Pato and the few remaining WC players is the strategy, and replacing them with the likes of Acerbi or Pazzini, it's the wrong direction.

Yes it sucks at the beginning, but thats why berlusconi said give it 3 years. I agree with him on this, in 3 years we'll be a force to reckon with if we get at least 3rd every year and make the right moves in the market.

Players like Niang are the right moves. We need more players like that, someone in the midfield is what our next focus should be. A van ginkel, or someone with creative force.

This


What exxageration?

He has SIX goals, playing a substantial amount of games. 1 of these goals being a penalty which was part of a hattrck against Bologna

Pazzini is supposed to be a pure goal scorer unlike Pato who can go deep, score long distance, etc. Pazzini is one of the most frustrating players we've had since Gila.

As for Pato and the goals he scored. Those are the chances that came to him and he put them in simple as that. As for him getting injured, the point is that his latest injury had nothing to do with his usual problems but was a simple knock. And now to hear that we could let him go for around 8m is an even bigger blow.


How many times is a great cross put in for him and he barely even bother to reach for it. His reactions are complete cr@p as well as his positioning. And it's laughable that you would try to praise his horrible goalscoring record. What easier chances? The real good tap in chances he gets are usually ones that he never gets on the end of because he's not in good positions. Put Pippo on his decent (not even good) days and he'd be on double figures by now.

Pazzini is nothing but a mid-table type player. He's not fit to play for a team like Milan, even more so when we're going through a rough patch and he's not going to get 10 chances each game to convert 1 of them like Gila used to get. And you want to add the mediocrity of Matri to this?

You talk about me exxagerating on Pazzini? Then what do you do about Pato? And have always done so might I add as you never rated him.


Exactly


Yep, but this is what happens when your club is turned into this. Do you think Ibra, Carlo, etc want to be there aside from the money?

Well that would explain the suicidal formations

My friend your a pretty rational person ... Let us take the example of SES, how much did he cost us? Now lets assume he didn't go over 5 goals this season, wouldn't that result in being a mistake to shove out the amount we paid for him because he is not worth it?

On hindsight all assumptions could be validated by argument(s), but unless you know the deal in detail or the intentions of the board, we get lost being swayed from one assumption to the next.

7m is a lot of money. Imagine if we didn't spend the 7m, we could have used that towards strootman, balotelli, van ginkel anyone.

The most important point right here

Pazzini has 1 goal every 151 minutes. In what universe is that bad? Ibra's 1st season with us he only scored 1 every 181 minutes and took a decent amount of penalties. If you're going to bash Pazzini, do it regarding his movement or workrate or something. His scoring is fine, he just barely plays.

And Pato? Yeah, he's played about 15 games in 2 seasons now and scored 1 goal. Had I taken his place, I'd have been able to do that, no joke. Most likely because I'd have scored the penalty he missed.

Pazzini's strength is in the box, problem is our crossing is awful and we don'treally create that many chances inside the box. A lot of SES's goals seem to be from outside too. Like I said previously, I'm not saying Pazzini is World class or even great, but some midtable player? Yeah, a player who does well at Fiorentina, Inter (admittedly only for half his time there) and has a decent go of it while hardly playing for Milan is not "midtable". Problem with you its either World class or mediocre, there's nothing in between.

Ibra's first season was made literally in the first half. That statistic got stretched because of the second half of the season performance where he was mostly in and out with stupid suspensions and red cards. Look at last season's stat. Now THAT's a stat of someone who's good.

Or even Pato's previous to the injury plague he's suffered through. His number got distorted because of coming in and out making substituate appearances etc. His previous record was 1 in every 2 games, hardly terrible is it?

How many times does Pazzini get crosses right in front of him and he's late in stretching for it or hitting it with his head? Does that mean the cross is bad or the fact that he has zero anticipation in these situations? The fact is that he should be our main striker and he has 6 goals, while SES has what? 14 already? Not even counting CL goals either. And yes he has scored a good number of them from crosses and from inside the box, only a small amount of them were shots from distance.

It's not about being world class or mediocre. Do you think Mexes, Abate, Constant, Boateng, etc are world class for crying out loud?? No. They're all players which range from good to really good with the potential to be great. None of them are world class yet I like all of them. Monto for example I've always considered as just being a good Serie A player which Filippo insisted was not good enough. I've always like him and he's proving that he can deliver at a club like Milan as well and not just Fiorentina or Atalanta.

You really consider Fiorentina and Samp as anything other than mid-table? Because those are the clubs where Pazzini excelled (mostly at Samp), at Inter he had a few good months and then they couldn't get rid of him fast enough he was so bad.

No, that's a stat of someone who is World class. "good" would be a goal every 180/200 minutes or so, very good is 175 or so and excellent is 150. Anything less than that is an excellent rate.



Who said it was terrible? Not me. Not sure what relevance this has. 2 years ago Pazzini was scoring at a rate of 1 in 2 also. Not important.



No, where did I say they were?

Moggi: "Drogba will go to Milan. I'm not saying maybe, I'm certain of it. Robinho will definitely leave, Pato maybe. Balotelli will become a Milan player for sure, but not in January".

Source: LiberoTV

I wouldn't mind Drogba. I usually don't like signings like this but he might give us another push to get the so important third place..

It depends on several factors. For how long are we going to sign him? What will his wage be? What's his physical condition? Is he still motivated enough to play at certain levels? The guy's 35, after all.

I wouldn't say no.

I love how you base everything off these stats, and now you've even created your own meter to base your arguments on. You never fail me kurt... Forget how much the player sucks durig the entire duration of the game and then pops up wih a tap-in when the match is already won (because that's what most of Pazzin's goals are). Forget how he got 3 of those goals in the same game with one of them being a penalty. As long as they fit into your stat-o-meter than Pazzini is "good"

I didn't say that you said that they're terrible but you were comparing Pato's injury riddled apearances to Pazzini, when you should be comparing Pazzini and Pato while they were both playing regularly, not while one of them comes onto the pitch less then twice a month

I was making an example of them, I never said anything about you rating them.

@ drogba rumours, if we can we should jump at the chance. He's still a monster of a player. Better here than at Juve

lol.

Pazzini scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 win and our 3rd goal in a 4-2 win. He scored in a defeat and scored 1 'unimportant' goal as you put it. It says a lot when you're basically knocking him for scoring, because it doesn't fit into your requirements. And if a player does **** all for 90 minutes, but scores, that's fine by me. But that doesn't describe Pazzini's game.


I'm sorry, I didn't realise we still had Pato of 2 years ago.

Pazzini has been improving his game little by little and he is getting more playing time as a result. Also, IMO, at this moment, no one can play that center forward position better than him. Do I think he is starter material for us? NO. I think he is a good back up though. And yes, he has been frustrating for us, but who hasn't this season? As I said, he is improving and until we have a Drogba/ Balotelli caliber player to play that position, he is the player best suited to play up front. Unless we change formations.

I don't know why I even bother with you...

You think Napoli are by far better than us, and we're on the level of Lazio/Fiorentina. You think Pazzini and Matri are adequate players for us. Yepes is good enough to start because our win rate is decent with him playing, even if he does make mistakes which directly lead to goals, he's still the best option because the stats say so

Give me 1 other goal aside from the ones against Bologna which you consider 3 point winners that Pazzini scored for us. And no if a player does f@ck all during a game and then pops up with a tap-in, it is still not enough

F@ck all up? Like I said, you blow things out of proportion when it comes to Pazzini. He hasn't been amazing for us, but he hasn't been absolute shite either.

I didn't say f@ck all up. I said f@ck all.

What does he contribute on the pitch during the game, he doesn't even know how to win fouls off his marker because he's the one usually doing the fouling.

Oh, I misread that. Still, the point remains. What does he contribute on the pitch? He does the dirty work which none of our individualistic strikers are willing to make. And he's scored 7 goals so far between Serie A and Coppa Italia. That's hardly terrible at all.

The fact is that we paid 7m plus Cassano for him to be our leading attacker.

Had SES not been as good as he's been I'm sure you would be singing Pazzini and his performances praises.

6 goals in the league is not what I call a good return on what we paid and how much we're paying him anually. But if it's good enough for you then I can't see any reason as to why we should continue to debate this issue. But next time you're cursing him in the mtach thread I'll remind you of this moment.

The point is. We already have according to kurt a "good" striker, we don't need to add another "good" striker in Matri thank you very much

+1

Oh, I agree completely about the "Cassano + money" argument, but I don't think anyone considered him to be our main striker when we signed him. I stated in a previous post that Pazzini is a decent back-up, nothing more. He hasn't started that many games this season after all.

I think he was expected to be our main striker. And I come to this conclusion by simple elimination

SES: No one really expected anything spactacular from him. Yes we were hesitantly hopeful but nothing more than that.
Pato: Injury after injury after injury. No one thought that he would be physically capable to lead our line
Robinho: Need I say anything about this one
Bojan: He's not known for his amazing goal tallies

That left the 7m Pazzini. He was by default our only true goalscorer in that attack and had SES not come good, EVERYONE would be expecting him to deliver.

Can't disagree with Han there if I tried. Oh, by the way, it's not the 7m Pazzini, it's the Cassano + 7m Pazzini. And he was only brought here for his goals, and nothing but. Up till now, let's just say I have been underwhelmed with him. I know he has all half of the season to prove otherwise, but yeah, I expected more.

Sorry guys for this being late, been so busy with finals and winter training camp

Anyways, lets get started. Some interesting stuff has come up, what do you guys think of all the latest talks?


News:


-Nene is leaving psg on a free.

"“I think we can soon reach an agreement and I will be free from my contract.”




Allegri: "We won't sign any midfielders in January. Unfortunately we lost De Jong, but Muntari is recovering and Ambrosini is doing well."

Allegri: "I think that the player that will arrive in January will be a very important one."

Allegri: "Most likely he'll be a player that participated in the CL, so he won't play with us there"

Allegri: "Anyways, it all depends on Galliani's travel to Brazil which will determine if this new player will arrive or not"
-The italian media believes that Balotelli or Pastore is who he is referring to.




-The media in brazil is reporting that negotations will take place on Sunday as Galliani will depart to brazil this weekend. Talks will be about a co-ownership for Pato.

They are also reporting that Santos is going to bid 10m to seal the deal for Robinho. Its expected we will agree to this deal as Robinho is now really pushing for an exit.




-David Villa has been offered to Milan. Barcelona are willing to negotiate for around 10m. The only problem is the wages.




-Luciano Moggi was interviewed yesterday, this is what he said:

"You said Drogba is maybe going to Milan in January?"

Moggi: "No, I didn't say maybe, I said he is forsure going to Milan in January."

"What about Balotelli?"

Moggi: "He will most likely join Milan in June"





Berlusconi: "

“Efforts will be made to retain at least one of Pato or Robinho,”

“But I understand their nostalgia to return home.”

QUOTE

Welcome to FFP people, it is very real...

"The club is excluded from participating in the next Uefa club competition for which they would otherwise qualify in the next four seasons (i.e. 2013-14, 2014-15, 2015-16, 2016-17)," a statement read.

"In addition, Malaga will be excluded from a subsequent Uefa competition for which they would otherwise qualify (in the next four seasons) if they do not prove, by 31 March 2013, that they have no overdue payables towards football clubs or towards employees and/or social/tax authorities, in accordance with the Uefa Club Licensing and Financial Fair Play Regulations."

UEFA

mn/cm/tmw/ms/fi/goal

I think everyone expected Pato and Robinho to be our main strikers for the start of the season. I remember posting various line-ups that had those two leading our attack. Robinho has always been a starter for us in the last couple of years, alongside Ibra, and Pato was considered 100% recovered after participating in the summer olympics. No-one expected that Robinho would get injured against Sampdoria for such a long time, and that he would turn in such a mediocre player upon recovery, whilst Pato, whose injuries were supposedly solved, started getting injured again and again. In the end, we had to rely on El Shaarawy, and Pazzini didn't even start that many games for us.

Traoré: "The club has confirmed me that I will stay".

Link

LOL, I don't know how to interpret this.

Duh.

"No one wants me, I get to leech money off these idiots!!!"

Ugh.

Why do we sign these pointless players? Just give a kid a run out if we run into a huge injury crisis.

I seriously do not understand it either.

I can think of two plausible reasons.

1. Re-selling. Give them a few run outs and then sell them to some mid table side for a million or 2

2. Hope they can actually turn out half decent. Boateng is a great example of a gamble working out for us. No one was really expecting anything out of him and yet he turned into a great buy

Galliani: "It was Pato and Robinho who asked to leave. In case they do leave, I already know what's gonna happen".

Link

Yeah, we'll probably sign Matri and call our mercato an excellent one.

not even matri, probalby just weiss and call it a day

I'm sure it has nothing to do with Pato's contact expiring in 2014.

I think the Anderlecht game that was supposed to be Pato's game according to Allegri turned out to be his final game for us instead. I'd like to think we will sign Dzeko if we sell both Pato and Robinho, but it's more likely we will sign an old "champion" even though we were not gonna make such signings anymore.

Dzeko for me is not a Robinho/Pato replacement. He would have been a good Ibra replacement. We have Pazzini now. No point in getting Dzeko as well when what we need is a supporting forward type player rather than a prima punta. I'm not Pazzini's biggest fan as you might have guessed. But he is here, why spend even more money in that area?

We need to give Bojan more time. Him, Pazzini and SES looked good together yesterday once he came on. I'd rather we bring in a creative midfielder at this point than another striker

Yup. We also have Niang. Midfield and defense is where we hurting the most.

Galliani:

"We’ll see how the negotiations for Pato and Robinho will go. They both want to return to their home country."

"Balotelli? It's difficult, primarily because of the financial aspect. We will see what happens."

Probably more of the latter. I would also add:

3. The need to cover for injuries without a decent transfer budget.

BTW., I have a feeling that injuries over the last few years may have been caused (at least in part) by the horrible pitch at San Siro (Inter had their share as well). Also, I believe that getting the team on a more solid financial basis will reduce the pressure to go "bargain hunting", so I am hoping to see a more sensible transfer strategy in the future. Then again, I could be wrong on both points (only time will tell).

Many thanks for all your updates. I enjoy reading transfer rumors, and you seem to be able to find a lot of interesting ones.

Let's hope we do something to really improve the team this winter, as it is quite obvious that we need some changes. (However, I still believe that most of all we need a new coach.)

I seriously do not believe this "I want to go home" excuse for Pato.

There must be something else going on which we're not being made aware of

We'll see.

But Galliani is once again covering Allegri with this "unusual match" talk! While in fact this was a typical Allegri match we've seen tons of times.

exactly, i just searched google for "barbara berlusconi and pato" and came up with this. its dated 6 days ago.

http://www.vogue.it/en/vogue-starscelebsmo...i-back-together

Milan ponder Stekelenburg