Kabak seems to be very highly rated, he's only 20, and can even play as DM in case of emergency. Schalke are asking 25M for him, which IMO is a very decent price.

We should stop acting like cheapskates, throwing a 15M price-tag on ever CB we're being linked with. We'll never get good players this way. We already got a good 50M from Suso, Paqueta and Rodriguez.

We're talking about 25M, man, not 75M. In today's market 25M is peanuts. And this is a position we desperately need to cover. If we can't afford even a 25M signing then we might as well throw the towel and aim for the EL again.

If I recall correctly, we offered somewhere around 35M for Fofana (so clearly we can go above 15M, and we are willing to do that if we want to :-)).

Bakayoko to Napoli is almost official. Dry loan at 2M.

So... How come we missed this? Even on a dry loan, he would have been a great signing.

#5 should have gone to the new CB. Oh well...

No idea how good this guy is. Anyone seen him play or read anything about him?

Nope, just saw a few clips on YT, looks similar to Theo in the way he bombs forward, not sure how good he is defensively though, seems to be a winger almost in the way he plays

Well, you don't recall correctly. 35M was the asking price from Saint-Etienne. We offered much lower, and eventually the player went to Leicester who matched their request.

Same argument for Tomiyasu. Bologna ask 25M, we're not willing to go beyond 15M for him.

And if you really wanna talk about player value, then Transfermarkt, arguably the most reliable external source about player values, has Kabak valued at 29M, even more than what Schalke are asking.

I repeat, we should start increasing our bids if we want to get some decent players.

Latest rumour is that we are now offering 18M + bonuses for Kabak, with a loan + obligation to buy formula. Both parties seem to be getting closer. Here's to hoping.

Milan brought Moncada in to set up and lead a global scouting network. [...]

The ability to assess a player’s “scope for improvement” is what Moncada looks for in his scouts. “If a 20-year-old player has a terrible game, gets a four out of 10 in the ratings, but has great potential, that’s more important to me. I like it when a scout looks at it that way and says to me: ‘Look, he didn’t have a good game today, but he’s gifted’. We keep tracking him and watch him again.”

And that’s not all.

“I don’t need a scout who only goes to games,” Moncada explains. “I need one who watches training, talks to the parents, the academy directors. It’s too easy to go see a game, write your report and be done with it. We can do that from the office. We have to have the intel — the contract situation, what’s the family like, the small details make the difference. Human relations make the difference.”

Moncada and his team follow players from under-17 level up. “In the space of two years they’re either reserves or first-team players. By that time we’ve already been watching them a couple of years. I want to know the story behind them, their background.”

Old school scouts tend to be sceptical of and in some cases hostile towards data, rolling their eyes when metrics like PPDA (passes per defensive action) and “xG throw-in” come up in conversation. But Milan’s analytics department, which is staffed by a small group of bright 20-something analysts and uses StatsBomb data, has the optimum level of synergy
with Moncada while working independently of each other to avoid biases.

“In the end we have a comprehensive report with all the info and the statistics,” Moncada says.

The Frenchman then reports to Maldini and shares his expertise with the technical committee as they go through potential targets.

“All of these things; the clear vision, the clear strategy, the clear philosophy backed by strong processes give us confidence in the decisions we make collaboratively and collectively with Paolo Maldini as the reference point,” Gazidis explains.

Bakayoko to Napoli is almost official. Dry loan at 2M.

So... How come we missed this? Even on a dry loan, he would have been a great signing.

We wanted the option to buy inserted and Chelsea were putting on a 35m price tag on him when they don't want him, he hasn't been part of their squad for 2 years now and he'd be in the last year of contract. I'm sad that we missed out on Baka, he was great for us and would have been very important to the team, but it is what it is.

Di Marzio saying now our offer to Schalke is 12M +3M bonuses.

I wonder who's ultimate decision it was to leave the Napoli team back home and lose all points.

And if they lose out on CL places by a small margin, who's head would roll

#ACMilan have won their first three Serie A games to start the season without conceding a single goal for the third time in their history, after 1971-72 (under Nereo Rocco) and 1952-53 (under Mario Sperone).

Strange stat considering all the great teams we've had since then

In other news,

Juventus signed Chiesa.

No signing in defense.

Romagnoli
Kjaer
Musacchio
Gabbia
Duarte

This will be our defensive line-up in the league, cup and EL. Let that sink in.

This campaign has been a disaster. We got fooled by the Tonali signing, but aside from Zlatan and Rebic who aren't exactly new signings, we only got Hauge, Diaz and Dalot, two of them on dry loans.

De Laurentis, apparently (according to CM). Probably because he did not want to play Juve without a full squad. That's the kind of decision that could backfire. I believe is is a 3-0 win for Juve, and Napoli may get penalized a point for not showing up. Expect legal battles ...

We had three relatively easy games, even if you consider the squad was tired because of EL :-) The real test is against Inter after the break. Hoping to see Zlatan and Roma back by then.

OTOH, the games we had are the kind of games where we would drop points in past years. Also, Inter has not impressed me in any of the games I have seen. Sure, they have a great team ... on paper. They also struggled against Fiorentina and should have won against Lazio (given how the game went).

Mixed feelings about Chiesa. Have seen him play well but also disappear in some games. All in all, I would have liked to see him here. Will see how well he does at Juve playing in a more defensive role.

No signing in defense.

Romagnoli
Kjaer
Musacchio
Gabbia
Duarte

This will be our defensive line-up in the league, cup and EL. Let that sink in.

This campaign has been a disaster. We got fooled by the Tonali signing, but aside from Zlatan and Rebic who aren't exactly new signings, we only got Hauge, Diaz and Dalot, two of them on dry loans.

It appears we actually had just 30 million to spend in summer and January rather than summer only.

Man Utd making a move on Hakan. The past 6 months he's become an asset. He's one we now don't want to lose.

Very worrisome rumours circulating. Apparently his agent's demands are deemed too excessive by the club, and some say he will move to ManUtd with Dalot as part of the deal.

Two things:

First of all, it would be ridiculous to let him go, for free even, now that he's finally reached that potential he was so much struggling to achieve over the past three years. We need to find a way in-between. If I'm not mistaken, his salary is 2.5M per year. Even if he's demanding 5-6 million, we should accommodate him. We don't wanna lose someone so important for our game at this point in our progression.

Secondly, I also have to say I find it kind of disrespectful from Hakan's side to be wanting to move for economic reasons now that he's back on demand. Yes, I know football is a business and players only look after their own interests, but we stayed by his side through thick and thin, and believed in him for all these years despite him being at times absolutely rubbish.

I'm not saying he should bow down and play for free, but some sense of belonging to a club who believed in you is dutiful, and it would be an act of class from his part.

Also, what kind of message are we sending by letting him go? That any player who becomes good with us and wants more money can just leave? How are we going to become a big side again if we can't hold on to our best players? Who's gonna be next? Kessie? Bennacer? Theo?

Well, I think in all fairness players have a right to stick around or move on. It's not that the club does not want to renew, it's also the players desire to wait it out.

That said, I do hope both renew in these coming two months.

But, if we want to return to the top, you have to at the very least be able to keep your important players. It makes no sense for this Elliot project to even exist if we cannot keep the key pieces of the puzzle that make or break our chances for going back into the CL

Another question. How do you guys asses Diaz so far?

Well you have to balance the books and make shrewd deals/investments. I think it's not very realistic to expect we will extend and upgrade contract for all of Donna, Kessie, Ibra, Theo, Bennacer and Hakan. Don't you think? So giving Kessie a upgrade one year is a business decision.

Another question. How do you guys asses Diaz so far?

Sure we'll have to sacrifice some of these guys who's value has sky rocketed, that's the model Elliot want to follow like they do at Lille, like what Leipzig do, etc but losing players for free would be a huge blow for us financially.

Say what? I think Elliot has said many times their objective is to get Milan to the top, then sell it to some rich buyer in order to make a big profit. That's how they operate. Selling valuable players will only hinder things.

I still think that if a good offer arrives we'll sell and replace with another promising player. Leipzig do this all the time while staying in the CL. Same with teams like Dortmund. They're constantly flipping players

First of all, we're not Leipzig or Dortmund. Secondly, those clubs have top scouts which we don't.

You really think we'll turn down big offers if they come in?

It depends. For example, if Hakan renews and ManU comes knocking in with a 50M offer I wouldn't say no.

They won't. I'm more worried about big offers coming for Bennacer and Kessie at this point. Those two are pure gold and most teams would kill for mids like them

Anyway, I think this Man U talk is being pushed around by Hakan's agent, plus the reporter saying this is apparently the one that was talking about Thiago renewal with Bayern being practically done in the summer, and we all know how that turned out

Unless Di Marzio or Romano say anything, I'm calling BS for now.