Liverpool have offered €22 million for Balotelli, but not payable directly. First they want him on loan. Mediaset also suggests that we may agree to their demands, and with Balo gone we'll sign Cerci.

What about the striker position? Are we gonna play with frigging Pazzini? Sounds unlikable to me.

Wise move from Liverpool. Why pay a fortune for a player who is a total risk. He'll have to earn the permanent move.

But...reluctantly, I have to admit his loss will weaken us. We didn't snatch any of the strikers we were linked with and now it looks quite feasible Pazzo will be our main striker.

If that doesn't sum up our dire situation, nothing will.

If we take their meagre offer it will undo any good work we've done in the market. If right now some are expecting an 8th place finish we'd be bottom half material without Balo

I'm hearing it is a 17.5M up front offer. Not a loan.

It's still meagre for the quality Balo brings, yes he's a petulant idiot, so is Suarez, who's also a health hazard. 17.5m for Balo when they just got a cash injection of 80m would be an insult and an even more clear indication that Galliani has completely lost his marbles. It would be just as bad as the Thiago and Ibra deal and how he got ripped off on that one as well.

Anyways, Milan channel denying there was any offer. I think Balo is practically gone. We're now basically bottom half of the table material now. And Cerci is supposed to be his replacement? Talk about huge gaps in quality! Plus the fac t that our only striker will be a Pazzini who is still completely out of form from his knee surgery and doesn't look like he could be recovering it any time soon

If Milan Channel is denying there was any offer, then why is Balo practically gone?

I agree in these days of revolting fees sub-20M is not impressive, but problem is Balo doesn't seem to make a difference. He has quality, at times, but he doesn't have a sole percent of the impact Suarez did for Liverpool & Uruguay. He was the difference in these teams. Whether he's mentally unstable is not the point, the guy is an absolutely sensational footballer. He is the world's best player IMO. Balo isn't the best striker in Serie A nor is he even the best player at Milan. It's not a comparison which stacks up for me.

Because you know how these things go

Remember the 99.99% Silva is staying, or the Grazzie Presidente ceremony they did on Milan channel

If Galliani says Balo's staying, it's Galliani speak for 'he's gone and I even packed his suitcases for him'.

Let's be patient and wait. Don't turn this into the "Summer complaining 2014" thread.

You do know there's like 11 days left of the window?

So what?

So there's no time to replace Balo with someone half decent. We've wasted 3 months trying to sign an average Serie A player that any other team would have signed in a day or 2 max if they were actually serious about him.

We still have not addressed our biggest issue and we're about to create an even bigger one in attack. There's a lot of good reason to complain right now

I'm just saying: let's wait and see what happens. Then we can cry all day and night.

I'm sure we'll all be doing just that.

To sell Balo for that amount when they spent a total of something like 100m this summer on pretty average players would be utter stupidity

To the EPL followers, how much did Liverpool spend to buy Andy f@cking Carroll? Their answer should tell you enough of what state we're in if Galliani does go through with this sale

The thing with Balo is, his prize is dropping. But yes, it would be utterly stupid to sell him for that kind of money.

His price right now is probably at it's lowest because of the abysmal world cup Italy had, which was not his fault and he was one of the few who actually did something noteworthy

I'm confident that if he has a good upcoming season that his value would skyrocket.

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This is different. They're saying there's no offer. What good would it do them to lie? Most Milan fans don't want Balotelli anyway.

I don't think that's the case, I think most Milan fans hate his attitude, but they can acknowledge that's he currently our best player by a good margin and without him we're a terribly mediocre side

Not what >75% of what I read on Facebook tells me.

He made a decent Liverpool title contenders, and a rank Uruguay borderline world class.

He makes the difference for whatever team he's in - neither Ronaldo or Messi could make their national teams any better than they actually were.

Just think he's a force of nature. Mahhhhhhhhhh opinion 'naw that!

Milan channel saying we're negotiating with Liverpool to sell Balo. All big Italian outlets saying that the deal could be closed today for 22m f@cking Euros!! To the same team that broke the bank for Carroll and Downing! They spent more than that to sign Lallana FFS!!

What the hell are we doing exactly. We're in desperate need of money so we're about to sell our biggest draw on the cheap?? Just unfathomable!

How much do you think is Balo worth? We signed him for about €20 million plus bonuses.

tbh I'm with you both.

Balo has been a disappointment at every club he's been at, and recouping what we spent isn't the worst business. He's not a 20th of the player Liverpool lost. tbh Balo, the odd moment aside, has been a bit of a failure for us overall.

BUT going by today's insane fees like Carroll for £30M or Luiz for £50M you'd think we could get more.

More than that, the prices that Liverpool have paid this summer for average players like Lovren for example, which is more than what we're going to be getting for Balo.

Going by those prices, I would say at least hold out for 30m, Liverpool are desperate for a striker, Galliani just does not know what negotiating means. Either he tries to low ball too much when trying to purchase, or overpays horribly, and when it comes to selling our players he's even worse, the 2 for 1 deal on Ibra and Thiago, now this


That's my main point, I understand why people won't be crying over losing Balo, although he's easily the biggest difference maker in our squad and we're just plain old mediocre without him, but to sell him on the cheap (which is what 22m is in this market) is just pushing it.

Galliani is just a cancer to this team, he's ruined it completely, the fact that everyone knows we're p!ss poor and are desperate for any money because of how he goes about trying to make deals is enough to show any club out there that they should go in with a small bid for our players because it's more than likely that Galliani will automatically accept anything over 10m

It wasn't two for one on Ibra/Silva, it was £40M for Silva and £20M for Ibra. PS we PAID that amount for Ibra. And we paid 10M for Silva.

That sale profited us by £30M+.

It's a 2 for 1 sale because the 60m we got was absolutely ridiculous as Silva was easily worth that amount on his own, forget that Zlatan was/probably still is the best CF in circulation atm

Let's move on with the discussion. Say we sell Balo and buy Rabiot, Douglas Costa and Dzemaili/Pandev. What do you guys think, would that be satisfying?

Not in the slightest

We're not getting Douglas Costa as he's worth more than what we're going to apparently be getting for Balo, so that's completely out of the question, Cerci is the more likely mediocre outcome if Cairo lowers his overestimated valuation that is.

Rabiot didn't even impress me on youtube, I doubt he's all that good tbh, plus the situation with PSG is very complicated as he doesn't want to renew while they're threatening him with a year in the stands before letting him go on the cheap (key word there when it involves our management)

As for Dzemail, I'd take him but it would just be another body in a sea of average players that won't really make much difference in terms of how we'll perform.

Pandev is one huge NO! Can't think of a more mediocre and unfit player that we could saddle ourselves with atm

Farewell Balo, you will (not) be missed.

Now, where does this leave us in terms of forwards? El Shaarawy, Menez, Pazzini, Niang for three positions. Obviously we need a CF given Pazzini's mediocrity, as well as a right winger.

Mediaset suggests that we're interested in Negredo (loan, but he's out injured till November), Jackson Martinez (again, loan), Carlos Bacca (Sevilla), Wilfried Bony (Swansea) and Doumbia (CSKA). The money from Balo should also allow us to sign Cerci, but keep an eye out on Lavezzi.

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Martinez would be my choice given Negredo's injury.

I think this is all BS. Cerci, Dzemaili and Pandev is what we should expect. Porto are an actual smart selling club, they don't sell their star players on the cheap like complete idiots. Martinez would easily cost over 30m, the other names are just completely depressing, I'd rather just Pazzo

If Silva was 'easily worth' £60M then you're as bad as all the rich clubs for devaluing money.

And Zlatan was 30 when he moved. You just don't pay more than about £20M for a 30 year old. No one does.

Think you're trivialising the deal completely for the sake of attacking Galliani. And you know I can't stand him either. But that was a good deal.

Swansea will want silly money for Bony after how fantastic he was last season. I'd have liked us to fight Napoli to bring in Michu on loan.

Yup, especially since Galliani was under pressure to sell the players, which makes it harder to negotiate. (If anything, I blame the Berlu family on this one.)

As for Balo, I am not a huge fan (he has been a big disappointment AFAIAC), but if it was up to me I would have held on to him one more year in the hope of getting a little more out of him in the future.

In any case, we need to see who we get now.

Yup, Michu would have been great (a bit injury-prone, though).

You're thinking English money, we got 60m for both of them, that's euros, not pounds.

Zlatan was 30, who cares, he's a born winner and he's still the difference maker now at PSG, we bought him for 24m from Barca, sold him at a loss, plus gave them Silva for a mere 40m when they bought Luiz for 50m pounds FFS!!

How am I as bad as rich clubs? So you mean to tell me that just because the state of football has been reduced to what it has been we shouldn't be getting our fair piece of the pie?? So you think Porto, Atletico, etc are bad because they milk clubs ike PSG, Real, Barca, Chelsea, etc for all they're worth when they're selling their best players? No they know how to do good business in this current climate.

We are just horrible negotiators, and yes FM, Galliani was under pressure to make the sale, but who gave Zlatan an 18m per year deal before tax when he knew we could never sustain those kinds of figures on top of what we were already paying the senators after the last CL win who all got big bumper deals while already in decline

To do this 10 days before the Serie A kick off is just insane, Galliani better have some sort of plan of how he can replace Balo plus cover the areas that we're sorely lacking in or the San Siro will probably be empty once the season kicks off, it's already at an all time low with just 10000 season tickets sold. And I can't imagine we're making a fortune in merchandising either.

If we could get Rabiot, Cerci and Martinez I would be happy. Probably gonna end up with only Taarabt and Pandev, though.

Martinez is out of the question, Porto want big money for him, while with Rabiot it's a complicated story because of his issues with PSG

I'd prefer Grenier over him if we're going to go after a French player anyway

Glad balotelli is out! Decision obviously involved Inzaghi, as the replacement is probably already in agreement with the club, just not publicized in the media yet.

Wideman or central midfielder, don't mind either, just that he fits Inzaghi's 4-3-3.

On the 4-3-3, it has been adapted within our youth ranks and is to be set as a blueprint for easy integration of youth graduates into the first team.

I don't want Rabiot. I'm pretty shocked at the low cost of the transfer and the timing. My only reasoning is that Berlusconi definitely wanted him out.

I don't get why they randomly chose 4-3-3, we've never had the players for it, we still don't considering our p!ss poor midfield and lack of real wingers (aside from Menez)

As for the Balo deal, I don't understand how some of you can actually think this is good, but whatever. Other Milan boards have gone nuts over this because they all know there won't be an adequate replacement, and neither will the money be re-invested into other areas (especially considering how meagre 20m is in today's market)

Exactly. For me there are two things at play:

1. Pippo doesn't want Balo. And wants a traditional striker.
2. The reverse-Pato. The Berluscas want a player out. Out he goes.

Yes, but what happens now, we don't have the money to buy a new striker who brings the same level of quality, we still have major issues in midfield, we still don't have the right winger Pippo wanted oh and here's the gem of it all, we still owe City 12m for Balo

Fee confirmed at £16M. That's about 22M Euros. We've done worse deals.

I'm with them both. Had enough of him in the end. And thanks to his antics, dismal world cup and general lack of impact at Milan the past year, I think his price went down naturally.

I just want someone decent in for God's sake, who'll give 100% every match and not just those he fancies.

Are you sure? They're saying 20m Euros

The only worse deal we've done is Silva and Ibra.

We've just sold Our main striker 10 days before kick off, the Azzurri main striker for 20m Euros FFS when Liverpool paid 20m pounds on Lovren, 25m pounds on Lallana and 15m pounds on some Belgian kid from France, I mean the epic levels of fail of this deal is unfathomable.

I mean I understand why some don't care much, but how can you not care what a terribly awful financial agreement this was for us, Liverpool fans are laughing their @sses off for how cheap they got him


Who do you think that should be?

I still think we could have gotten another 5 or 6 million more. This only means we wanted him out more than Liverpool wanted him in.

'Those in the know' saying this deal would not have gone through without a replacement being ready and signed. I call bullshite. The days when we had that degree of strategy in transfer market seems long gone.

I imagine we will get Cerci. And probably some lesser striker. We shall grind and graft our way hopefully to a EL place this season.

el sha: I fancy him playing the central role now, we mostly just appreciate the defensive work he does on the wing, he's no world class winger, he's got the finishing and speed..... and pippo can indeed coach him to become a good striker.

douglas costa: he's willing to move here, he would be that creative bright spark we haven't seen in this team for about 3yrs...tired of seeing out lethargic build up play. let galliani come up with one more extended structured deal to make this happen.

chicharito: a young penalty box striker who is really alive to tuck away chances.

taarabt: why not? he's cheap and can offer something

dzemaili: we need a cm badly.

In fairness:
- Balo right now is not worth all that much (I think it is not right to blame Italy's WC failure on him, but many did, and that on top of his reputation for not being a team player). And, FWIW, I would take Lallana over Balo any time.
- Balo's contribution to date has been far from consistent, and his good days have not been all that many. I don't believe he will be missed all that much. Of course, we are not likely to get a decent replacement, which is the part that will really hurt.

I have to wonder why Balo would go to Liverpool, where (most likely) he will warm the bench watching Sturridge and Lambert, but that is his problem.