Btw, milanapp is putting milan friendlies for free

It was an interesting game, watched most of it :-). The game was intense, more than you would expect of a friendly. The 4-1 result is not reflective of what went on. There were times when Monza looked better than us (two of our goals came in late on great individual performances, and we can thank Theo for saving us from Monza tying 2-2). The team had some good moments ... and times that were cringe-worthy.

Pagelle (CM and Rossoneri Live:
- A. Donna - 6 (CM), 5.5 (RL). I started watching after the 1-1 goal, but I can see why he is 3rd choice ... at best

- Calabria - 7 (CM), 7.5 (RL). I think he did well. Interesting how he seemed to play as CM after Kalulu came on. Unfortunately, if we sell someone he is more likely to leave than Conti (as he will generate a plusvalenza while Conti will be a loss on our books).

- Kalulu (came in late to replace Calabria) - 7. Did better than the game against Novara and scored a very nice goal. Not convinced we can count on him. He is fast, though.

- Bellodi - 6. I thought he did quite well for a youngster. However, he is going on loan to Ascoli.

- Duarte - 5. I think both CM and RL are being generous. Generally a bad performance, and he is credited for being responsible for all 3 goals we took in in two friendlies.

- Theo - 6. Played the full match. I think he did well, but he got "dinged" on not being as fast and effective as in the past.

- Kessie - 6 (CM), 7 (RL). CM dings him for being less involved in the action than he normally is.

- Pobega (came in late to replace Kessie) - 6.

- Benna - 5.5 (CM), 6.5 (RL). Dinged by CM mostly because he is lacking form.

- Krunic (came in 2nd half to replace Benna) - 5.5 (CM), 6 (RL). Did better than I have come to expect from him.

- Roback - 6 (CM), 5.5 (RL). I did not see the Novara game (where apparently he did wonders), but I was not overly impressed. Yes, he is very young and Monza played well defensively.

- Laxalt (came in late to replace Roback) - 6

- Paqueta - 5.5 (CM), 6 (RL). I was not impressed.

- Diaz (came in late to replace Paq) - 6 (CM), 6.5 (RL). He had a couple of interesting moments, but he obviously needs time to fit in.

- Maldini - 6.5 (CM), 7 (RL). His goal was rather impressive, and he seemed to gain confidence after that. However, I do not believe is ready for prime time.

- Samu (came in late to replace Maldini) - 6. A few good exchanged with Diaz.

- Ibra - 6 (CM), 5.5 (RL). I think CM is being generous, he has had better days.

- Colombo (came in late to replace Ibra) - 7. His goal was impressive, other than that he did not do much.

All in all, some of our young players may not be starter material (yet) but they are close, which means they could help with "depth". I would give them a chance to mature and improve, rather than spending money on mid-level talent (which is all we can afford for some key roles) or geting more players on a dry loan. After watching this game, I think a solid CM and someone to replace Samu are the highest priority right now. Paq and Duarte need to go. Krunic also needs to go if we bring in a 4th player for the double pivot role.

Just to add to this my thoughts about certain players.

Maldini certainly isn't ready for big time neither is Roback. But, Maldini I think will be a player for the future with us. He has a simplicity to his game which is quite and showed that could score the nice goals. I see him more of a trequatrista in the future perhaps though.

Colombo's goal was amazing, I really like his player and his mentality. I think he's something we should really look into in more details.

Donnarouma's brother is no good at all, even for a 3rd choice keeper and for his wages...but anyway.

In other news ...

Linked to Bale. I really hope that does not happen. This is no longer the same player who used to terrorized EPL. This is the player that refuses to go on matches and sleeps while he is on the bench. Injury prone and lazy. No thanks.

Linked to Bale. I really hope that does not happen. This is no longer the same player who used to terrorized EPL. This is the player that refuses to go on matches and sleeps while he is on the bench. Injury prone and lazy. No thanks.

Rumored that Mino is trying to get Donna on a renewed contract for 10m as well (up from his current 6 or 6.5).

Thoughts?

Not gonna happen.

So you expect that he'll leave or we'll settle for 9 or something?

Cuz with his contract up soon, one way or another a negotiation or a decision is going to have to be made.

Latest rumor is that Raiola already has an agreement with Rube for Donna to go there next year on a free transfer..

Raiola is a dirty b*stard, the worst of his kind. He'll do anything to get as much $$$ as possible for himself and his clients.

So an agent working in the best interests of his clients and himself.

Imprison him immediately for being good at his job

So an agent working in the best interests of his clients and himself.

Imprison him immediately for being good at his job

Tonali transfer is finally official.

I don't know him particularly well - a good signing?

I am excited about Tonali. Inter had announced his signing months ago (big event in Piazza Duomo). Then Conte threw his temper tantrum and asked for established players, so Inter delayed closing the deal ... and Milan came in with an offer. Some Inter fans now claim that the guy is worthless, but many will admit they are bummed. Mancini considers him good enough to make the NT.

If we keep playing the 4-2-3-1, Tonali will fit in the double pivot, so he will start as a replacement for Benna/Kessie, or possibly as part of a rotation. That will give him a little time to adjust and develop. With the busy season and 5 subs, I believe he will see a lot of playing time. With a 50M clause, it is quite possible we may lose Benna next summer, by then Tonali will hopefully have developed well.

We also got a 2nd GK today, which is good because Donna #2 is completely useless.

We now need CBs (for depth) and upgrades to our right. Arguably we also need a "vice Ibra", but I am not convinced. Not clear if we are also going for one more player for the double pivot (Baka or someone else).

I think we put it there since the beginning.

And also a big NO to selling Bennacer. Why should we? I mean, if we're trying to become a better side, selling our best players doesn't really comply with that ambition.

We should try out as soon as possible the Bennacer-Tonali partnership. There's no reason to think they are not compatible. One does not rule out the other.

Time will certainly tell... But he definitely has the qualities & the potential to become a great player. He's somewhat of a cross between Pirlo & Gattuso imo (obviously I mean their styles and not necessarily skill at this point).

He's quite young; just turned 20 in May, and debuted 3 years ago in Serie B with Brescia. So this is certainly a step up for him. He's a long time Milan fan, particularly of Gattuso growing up. He even called Gattuso asking him for permission to use his #8. Gattuso himself said he didn't need to ask, but understands the sentiments (as he too did the same with Donadoni).

He has also been praised by the likes of Totti to become a world class central midfielder.

So there's a lot of pressure and expectation, but it comes with the territory for quality players. So fingers crossed.

Sounds significantly (along with the stats) like he could do a lot better than us, and he joined because he's a Rossonero himself.

Those situations are always advantageous.

Looks like the Silva - Rebic exchange is finalized. Silva is already official, Rebic is more complex as the Viola are still part owners.

Btw Forza Milan! Congrats on becoming a grandfather!!

With regards to Paolo and the management in general, I'm honestly highly impressed with how they are going about their business.

I still think we need to work on sales so we can bring in better quality. Ideally we sign a CB, RB and RW as well this window. We'll see if we'll be able to manage it but some players have to go before we're able to sign more players. our roster is getting a bit too large atm

I'm curious about the Silva-Rebic swap. So, Frankfurt made it official that they purchased him but no price has been reported. On the other hand, once they sell us Rebic, they have to pay 50% of the fee to Fiorentina.

So, it's not exactly a swap, is it? Cos then we could have simply valued both players at 1 euro each (for the sake of argument) and we'd both be happy.

Latest rumor is we are selling Silva for 9m (which is a loss of 4.8M), but we are getting Rebic for 0M. Fiorentina gets half of that, so ... 0M. Not surprisingly, Fiorentina is now saying that they are no longer selling Milenkovic or Chiesa.

Source

More indiscretions about Raiola asking 10M for Donnarumma.

LINK

I think we're gonna lose this one. No way in hell we'll cave to those demands. If possible we should sell this mercenary right away. Someone who has achieved NOTHING in his career, who's never even played one game in Europe, and has also accompanied his overall great performances with some frequent and horrible howlers does not deserve a penny more. He's been earning 6M since he was 18 for crying out loud. Not sure if even Messi earned that much at that age.

And then he acts like he cares about this jersey. Fire that thug of Raiola if that's the case.

Mirabelli backed us into a corner with that 6m contract. We'll have to up it each time we renew and we cannot afford that.

Imo, best thing the management can do with Gigio is to renew with him for whatever price he wants this season with a long contract and sell him next summer for a big sum. We cannot be held hostage by him anymore. He's a goalkeeper. H's not worth the money he's earning imo. And we should try to swing this in our favour asap.

Rumours have it that Raiola wants to add a 30M release clause in his contract...

Rebic officially confirmed, contract until 2025.

Zlatan likely to be out of our upcoming EL game (injury), no Rebic either (3 game suspension in EL).