It's partly about losing money. But what worries me even more is that we're heading in the wrong direction: by losing Donna and Hakan we surely become weaker and not stronger.

Depends who you're replacing them with. Maignan might not be better than Dollarumma but he's still a very reputable GK. Also, the GK position is not like the others. If you have a top class CF and then switch to a really good CF, the difference is too obvious. But if you switch from a top class GK (if Dollarumma is even that) to a very good GK then it's more or less the same.

For the AM position, if we sign De Paul or Zeiych, it's obviously an upgrade.

So, say, Maignan and De Paul/Zeiych for Dollarumma and Calhanoglu for me is an obvious upgrade.

De Paul and Maignan for Hakan and Donna is a downgrade on almost every aspect if you ask me. Ziyech is another question mark, and he does not occupy the #10 spot (or at least that's how I remember him from Ajax?).

But well, let's wait and see.

Gkeeper situation aside, think the summer transfer window hasn't really started for Milan.

Maybe there are targets who are participating in the Euros (maybe not). But I am not restless about this, have this feeling Maldini has a couple names not yet revealed.

That said, I appreciate the stance the club is taking with the players leaving on free. It is a new management and they are setting a precedence for future transactions, Raola has been warned I believe

You honestly think Maignan instead of Dollarumma is that much of a downgrade? I mean, the Italian is great and all, but let us not forget that he is also been prone to howlers and mistakes very often over the years that have cost us dearly. Think of Milan-Udinese or Milan-ManUtd this season, for instance.

And well, De Paul is clearly superior to Calhanoglu. Maybe by a little, maybe by a lot, but overall he is the better player.

Rumors about a Romagnoli - Junior Firpo swap with Barcelona.

Now, I get that we need a decent Theo backup, but if we let go of Romagnoli we need to invest in a quality third CB. We cannot think to go into next season with guys like Gabbia, Kalulu and Caldara as our subs.

Donnarumma leaving forfree doesn't look good for us, but in a purely footballing sense. It doesn't matter much imo. We've never been a club who has had top class GKs. Even during the heights of our success. A keeper is important, but not by that much imo. Donnarumma was extorting this club. His and his brother's wages are going to free up 14m just for next season. And had he renewed, even without his brother, it would have been 16m gross we'd have to set aside for the next 5 years. Not to mention the signing on bonuses him and Raiola wanted

I say good riddance. And in the long run this is going to be much more beneficial for us.

Re Hakan, the situation is more complicated imo as it's not so easy to replace him with someone who will easily slot into the system and offer what Hakan does. And we rag on him a lot here but Hakan is not simply about the goals and assists. He contributes a lot in terms of build up, dropping deep, pressing, etc. He's a hard working midfielder.

De Paul is the only one who I can think of who can do something similar and Udine are asking a lot for him. I honestly cannot see us splashing 40m on anyone this summer


Agreed. The Euros are definitely going to set the market back a bit.


If Romagnoli goes to Barca it would have to be cash + Firpo. No way it would be a direct swap

But again, this is the same situation as with Hakan. It will create another problem for the management to solve. We'd have to replace him, and we can't spend big money on a CB. I think having a 4 of Kjaer, Tomori, Romagnoli and Caldara is very good. Selling Romagnoli will cause more issues than it solves.

Obviously if he's going o cause problems with his renewal as well I'd rather sell him now rather than face the debacle we are going through with the others

Management better settle contracts this summer. Kessie, Calabria, Theo, Bennacer all need to be locked down on long terms deals. Letting all these contracts run down so much has created huge problems. This is the only area where I am critical of the new management

Bro, come on. He drops deep and presses? That's what he's paid to do. I dunno about hard working cos to me Hakan is the definition of a lazy player, but setting that aside, the guy is our #10. You do realise the weight such position holds. Yet this season he only collected 4 measly goals and 10 assists, 6 of which from set pieces.

His contribution to our success has been minimal. I can only hope that if he renews he'll have his mind set and be more focused. But I really don't like the quality of what he brings to the table.



Agreed. If a player doesn't renew their contract then just put them on the market. Simple as.

SWEDEN COACH ISSUES IBRAHIMOVIC WARNING

I have a feeling Giroud alone won't be enough for next season. Zlatan's problem with his knee is quite serious, especially at his age. He's definitely going to miss even more games than this season.

I really hate that almost every big club in Italy has a 20-goal striker, yet we haven't had one since Zlatan in 2012. It's quite pathetic, really.

Calhanoglu in press conference: "Maldini called me 3 days ago. I told him my priority is the Euros. Nevertheless, the main responsibility in this matter is theirs".

I'm done with this tw@t! Who the f*ck does he think he is?? He should be honoured to be wearing our glorious #10 jersey. These intimidatory comments are out of this world. Mr. Calhanoglu lives in another reality where he thinks he's Gullit or Maradona or something. Overrated piece of crap!

Pretty sure he's waiting for the Euros to be over so if he performs well other clubs will start bidding for him. The disrespect, man!

EDIT: Oh, and here's the link, in case Han thinks it's from some 3rd rate Turkish outlet.

On Donna: I think it's completely irrelevant if historically speaking Milan had great keepers or not. Dida was at his best when we were at our high, Rossi was a record breaking keeper (did anyone surpass him?). From what I've heard Galli was more then decent as well. But all this doesn't matter now. Because Milan does not have a single world class player like before (do I even have to start pulling out names like Gullit, van Basten and Seedorf?), no supertalent (Maldini, Albertini,...) or potentially really great player. What we have is very good to good players and on top of this was Donnarumma leading the new generation. I was all against him taking the captain's armband. I know he behaves strangely. But I'm not here to judge on how exactly he behaves because frankly I don't know enough. We were first led off to believe Raiola is the main culprit and scumbag, now things made a complete U-turn and all of a sudden Donna is the scumbag and Raiola did evidently nothing spectacularly immoral.

I'm not letting myself fall into the habit of becoming moral police here. As I fan i dislike Donna's supposed behavior but I won't act like it's getting us better or stronger to lose him. This will be the first time in decades Milan does not have a single Italian player in the NT roster. Counting even the worst days under Mihajlović or Inzaghi. We have no suitable captain in the team (other then perhaps Kessie, but I would not put that extra pressure on his shoulders). We signed Maignan for a suspiciously low fee and have a rusty and inadequate backup keeper. Now I hear we even decided to promote Plizzari as our 3rd option. Well.. this all makes me not celebrate Donna's departure. Maignan might turn out fine and my worries turn out to be unnecessary. Let's hope this happens.


The only thing I'm disagreeing here with you is the shocking manner in which you still regard #10 as important. That number died off with most teams. If you ask me who's the #10 at the top 5 clubs in the world right now I'd struggle. And especially Milan tarnished both #9 and #10. Who got the #10 after Seedorf? I struggle to remember. Was it Bertolacci? Boateng? Honda? The legacy is long gone and compared to the mentioned players, Hakan is miles away.

I get your criticism though and agree with you. Just that I don't see any alternative which would make a substantial upgrade.


Agreed. Yet I think we should sign someone young a fresh. Not Belotti and maybe not Vlahović because he seems the typical Piatek kind of inflated signing. Perhaps we could lend Leao to Marseille and ask for Milik in return?

What he said is that he respects Paolo and Massara and he'll give priority to Milan. Again, the translation makes it seem worse than it is

Am I happy with what he's doing? NO! But all this drama is unnecessary. I'd rather he just say he wants to leave so we can work on getting a replacement. It's obvious that he wants to shop himself around

The fact that we have not done the same to him as we did with Donna though leads me to believe that we are reluctant to dip into the market for a replacement for him. Once again, for me, him leaving would just create more issued. And I know you have your heart set on De Paul, but I think our chances to get him are pretty low. I don't think we'll be able to replace Hakan adequately.


For me, best case scenario would be he renews, we spend our transfer budget on more pressing issues. Think about replacing him next summer.

Filippo I agree with you, but my point was that we never had an iconic keeper like Juve for example with Zoff and Buffon

Our keepers were in the good category imo, but nothing spectacular.

Am I happy we lost Donnarumma? Obviously not, but his situation was not sustainable for us. We can offer that kind of money to a proper star outfield player like Dybala for example. It would make much more sense than giving it to a keeper, no matter how good he is

Magnan looks great from what I've seen of him. Lille are also owned by Elliot so there could be things going on behind the scenes we don't know about



As for superstars in the side. I think Theo, Tomori, Kessie and Bennacer all have the potential to be that

Kessie especially is really being talked about right now, especially in EPL circles. That's why it is hugely important to lock him down on a long-term deal

It's so sad to see Locatelli and Cristante playing for the national team...former Milan youth products..we add Donnarumma to the list now.

Hakan has been terrible for Turkey today. Uninspired.

Yep. We've let so many good youth players slip through.

Cristante I've never been a huge fan of. But Locatelli was idiotic. Now he's worth 40m.

Calabria should be in this squad though. He's been the best RB in the league all season. Florenzi, Emerson, and Di Lorenzo don't come anywhere close to him.

Spinazzola is insane on the left though. A really good player.


To be fair to him Turkey didn't have a sniff at the ball.

But glad to see his plan to show himself in the shop window is going well...

Spinnazola was amazing i agree

I don't get why you keep defending him. The guy's acting like a complete tw@t. He said that the ball is in our court for the renewal, meaning give me what I wanted or f*ck off. There's nothing lost in translation.



Actually, Lille are owned by Merlyn Partners SCSp.



Meh. Cristante is mediocre, even Roma fans admit it. Locatelli is insanely overrated.

There are rumours circulating that Zlatan might need to undergo surgery, and in that case his career might be over...

They didn't have a sniff of the ball, but come on as a leader you have to show something more. Italy are looking pretty good?

I'm not worried with Zlatan, if his career is over, I'm sure he is ethical enough to cancel the contract. But that is sad news

Locatelli overrated? Maybe? But he js still pretty good. Have to admit we don't really need him with Kessie/Bennacer/Tonali.

Hakan played? Didn't notice it.

In other words, we're royally fucked. No trequartista, no right winger, no center forward. Sixth place here we come again.

Because he's still our player and as I said multiple times, I'd prefer if he renews. And that's is not what he said btw

I agree that he's being a little b!tch but sorting this out by him renewing would be what is best for us going forward

I thought Elliot were part of the Lille ownership in some way...

Agreed on both Locatelli and Cristante. My point here is that he would have been OUR overrated player worth 40m.


Still, you have to take into account that the Turkish team simply could not play out. The entire midfield was basically stifled out

Italy were great. Macini has done wonders with that team. They play beautifully and effectively as well


I'd only want him so we could sell him for big money



Anywhoo, Embolo looks great today. Would he be a possible cheap option if the Ibra problem is as big as they're saying it is?

This is why we need Hakan to renew. We're already juggling lots of problems. An added one of having to bring in an AM is not needed this summer

Anyway, I'm not that worried about the Ibra situation. If he can't continue, he'll bow out gracefully. We just need to be creative on the transfer market. There are striker options we could look at who could come on loan for the first season.


Belotti would still be my first option. He'd be ready to come in and start next season

We should go for Belotti, I agree. He's worth now, what, 25 million?

The problem is that this management acts like a bunch of cheapskates, or as Italians would say, morti di fame. I look at Chelsea spending 80M for Havertz or Atletico willing to splash 80M for Lautaro, yet we can't even spend 35M on someone like De Paul. We contemplate about spending 28M for someone essential like Tomori.

I read somewhere that our budget for this summer would be 70M. How the hell can you make a mercato with 70M? That's only one player's worth. Unless of course you want to act like Cagliari or Sampdoria and buy 3rd rate players.

I guess my question at this point is: how do we intend to build a competitive team by being so reluctant to spend?

Who saw what happened with Eriksen?

Yeah, quite terrible and shocking. Thankfully he's all well now.

Great leadership by Kjaer by the way. Everyone's talking about it.

Football world lauds hero Simon Kjaer after Christian Eriksen collapse

Kjaer showed true leadership in that moment.


Anyway, hope Erikson recovers fully. Can't believe they played that game when they did tbh.

So proud of Kjaer right now.

Everyone campaigning for him to be our captain next season. And personally I can't think of a better man for the job

A true leader and a great man. Not to mention him being one of our best players since he came last year

AC Milan have eyes for Embolo

He cost Borussia 11M two years ago. Current market value is set at 16M.

I saw a few moments of him yesterday and he did look good indeed.

Watched the entire game. He looks really good. Great at holding up play, good with his feet, good vision, quick. He'd be a perfect replacement for Ibra on the cheap


Anyone watching this Netherlands game against Sheva's Ukraine? The most erratic game so far. Both sides look like they can concede bucket loads of goals against an organised side

Embolo is like Leao. Useless most of the time with some flashes of brilliance.

Speaking of Leao, looks like Maldini met with Jorge Mendes. He has a couple of offers from England, namely Everton and Wolves. We value Leao at 25-30 million.

Here's to hoping.

We shouldn't low ball it. If English teams are in for him ask at least for 35m. I like Leao, and it will be sad to see him go, but he's never going to become what we need him to be imo.

Looks like we're going to be prioritising sales along with sorting out the current loan deals

@NicoSchira: Cagliari and Hellas Verona are interested in Mattia Caldara, while Andrea Conti is courted by Genoa. Udinese are monitoring Tommaso Pobega. Wolfsburg and Watford are in the race for Jens Petter Hauge.

Laxalt to Moscow pretty much official. We're actually getting money for him. 4m which is not bad considering we usually let players like him go for free

Conti is definitely out
Caldara I'd like to see us give him a chance, but if something decent comes in, he's gone
Same situation with Pobega. If a good offer comes, he's gone. Or I can see us using him in a deal. Especially if Udine are interested
It would be really sad to see Hauge go, but Pioli doesn't seem taken by him and since Brahim looks like he's staying, I can't see Hauge getting too many chances considering we're looking to buy another winger


As for the players we have on loan

Tomori is basically a done deal. 28m total
Tonali as well. We'll pay Brescia another 10m this summer and potential add-ons of 5m (really good work to reduce this to 25m total rather than the initially agreed 35m)
Brahim seems like we're close to agreeing a deal with Real. Another year loan with an option for 20m being mentioned.
It also seems like we're trying to do something similar with Dalot

Can't see anyone spending 35M for Leao. Personally speaking I'd be extremely happy with 25M.

Thing is, if we let go both Leao and Hauge we're left with only Rebic on the left.

It is still too early to say who is coming and who is leaving.

What is a certain so far, Tomari and Tonali are affirmed.

The pandemic has put pressure on all clubs, so I'm not expecting big money transfers this summer. That said, think Milan have some names in mind and will do their utmost to secure them.

What this team needs the most is some experience.

Looks like the Tonali deal might fail. Maldini had an agreement with Brescia for 15M but Elliott do not want to spend more than 10M. It is being reported by Mediaset and other outlets.

I am so disappointed with our signing campaign thus far. Not so much about the fact we have not signed anyone but rather the attitude we keep displaying. Acting like a bunch of cheapskates even for 5M. It reminds me of the last Berlusconi years?

You think clubs/managements act that way voluntarily? Berlusconi splashed money all around us when he was able to. In the last years he just run out of it. It seems to me that Milan is in a similar position. This is why a hedge fond isn't a ideal owner. I think our owners are taking COVID-19 and everything around that into considerations and want to play it financially and economically safe first. Maybe they're even willing to risk the sporting results here.

Look at what happened at Inter.

With Donna gone for 0 cash, Hakan on his way out for free as well, with Ibra maybe not returning, I must say I don't see us doing well.

Aston Villa signed a midfielder for more than 30m. EPL clubs have money. So if anyone from that league comes for any of our players we should always start high because in most likelihoods they'll be willing to pay

Unfortunately we do not have money to splash around right now.

I'm personally not worried about Tonali. We'll get it done

I'm more worried about having anything to spend for that RW and getting someone else to cover Kessie. The AFCON is going to absolutely cripple us in January if we don't find someone good

Unlike popular belief, we are in a very stable financial situation. First and foremost, we have only 104M of outstanding debt. For reference, Inter have 630M, Juventus 458M and Roma 552M. We have no problems of liquidity whatsoever and an ownership that can freely pump in capital. Since Elliott's takeover, they have injected 650M in capital. We've also reduced the wage bill considerably.

Our main issues derive from revenues, especially commercial and sponsorships. That's where management has failed thus far, but the frequent change in ownership over the last 5 years clearly has not paved an easy path for a clear plan.

Given our minimal debt, the fact that FFP for the time being has been suspended and its future implications remain uncertain, I see no reason why we should continue acting as if we have a knife by our throats when it comes to spending. Especially since we hit a milestones after the Champions League qualification, and this is the precise moment for investing and strengthening our roster. Otherwise we run the risk of not making top 4 next season again.

And since you mention Inter, let me just say that what happened to them is completely unrelated. Inter were very unlucky. Since Suning's takeover, thanks to an excellent business plan, they managed to increase commercial revenues from a mere 39M in 2015 to 145M in 2019 (source). Overall revenues in 2019 were 417M against Milan's 228M.

Why did I say unlucky? Because partly due to Covid, but especially due to the restrictions that the Chinese government imposed on foreign investments last year, Inter suddenly found themselves unable to sustain their business model. Now, I don't know all the details, but just look how commercial revenues decreased from the 145M in 2019 I mentioned earlier to 82M in 2020 (source). Net losses went from 48M in 2019 to more than double in 2020, at 102M. Add to that the accumulated debt most of which, if I'm not mistaken, was inherited since the Moratti and Tohir years, and you've got severe clash flow problems, and the need to cash-in as quickly as possible from the sale of 1-2 top players.

I think the goal is to remove the majority of those losses though

I don't think we're going to see any splashing of the cash. Certainly not this summer. We're most likely going to improve the squad enough to ensure we stay in the top 4, but nothing highly ambitious

Until we have a few CL seasons under our belts it's still going to be lean times at Milan

I'm personally not worried. Because I never really had any dream of making big transfers, certainly not this summer. Paolo has pulled off transfers like Theo and Bennacer out of nowhere, and that's where the focus will remain for now. Unfortunately that is all we can look forward to at this current time


Anyway, De Paul to Athletico done for 35m

Define big spending. In this day and age, 35M is not big spending. It's a relatively fair price for a very good player. But we can't even afford, or rather, are unwilling to splash any decent amount of money for key areas that need urgent spending. Hence why we were so easily beaten by Atletico who, after their first 20M offer was rejected, simply met Udinese's demands and closed the deal.

Now, I know the summer transfer campaign has only started, but the overall feeling is not good. I'm very worried, because we're getting weaker and no way we're going to make top 4 again with this squad. That is absolute.

Yes, agreed. I'm also very worried. We're not going the direction to ensure CL football for a few seasons but the opposite direction. Napoli just got stronger with a clever and able coach. Juventus should also be back on track and the way I see it, Lazio and Roma will also be stronger. Inter (because of obvious reasons) and Milan are the only two clubs that are looking to be weaker come next season.

Oh and by the way - are we all on board for signing Tonali? Would it be the end of the world if the deal does not go through? Just asking...

That wouldn't be very smart, simply because with CL and the African Cup in January, we need to have 4 quality mids in the center. And we all know how much a good mid costs these days.

At least with Tonali (who is still very young and a future investment) we'd only have to look for one more. Moreover, we've already paid "half" his value, so letting him go would be a loss if anything.

Let's not forget that his loan spell ends in two weeks, meaning if we don't finalise things by then, then he becomes a full Brescia player again.

What truly pisses me off is that we had a contract with Brescia last year: 10M loan + 25M redemption (including bonuses). They lowered their demands last week for the redemption part to 15M, yet now we're acting like little bitches and want 10M. If I was Cellino I'd tell us to f*ck off.

I keep hearing that we want to save as much money as possible, that even 1 little million can make a difference. Are we that desperate???

We've made an official offer for Amine Adli: 5M. Toulouse want 7. There's a good chance the deal will be finalised soon.

Saw a few bits of this guy on YT. Honestly he looks like one of those players that will be eaten alive by Italian defenders.

Italy are excellent this year.