He was mentioned about 3 weeks ago from Gazzetta.

Link

Okay, we'll see what happens.

And what about Kessie? If he leaves this winter, we'll have to find yet another midfielder to replace him or are we gonna sacrifice our depth again?

Who knows. Our management is as cryptic as they come.

Several rumours linking Belotti to us for next summer, when his contract expires.

I'd rather get an unknown talent than Belotti, in all honesty. Guy is borderline mediocre.

Can't we just sign Haaland?

Well you guys always dreamed about him..

Back in the heyday.

Rumors of a Belotti/Pobega swap in January. At this point, I would even ask for cash for Pobega in that swap. What's up with Belotti this season with Torino? He hasn't played much?

Peroneus tendon injury.

What's up is that he's finally seen as what he has always been: the overrated striker that he is.

The club had the AGM yesterday, where the 2021 financial statements were approved with a loss of 96,4M. Last year it was 194,6M.

Just to put some perspective, Inter closed 2021 with 245,6M losses, and Juve with 209,9M losses.

Great work by Gazidis and co.

Gazidis stated that agents and players have been acting like Covid never happened. Referencing Donna and Kessie?s demands this year. He also stressed that sometimes its better to let the players leave for free and focus on economic sustainability of the club. The goal of the management is to bring Milan back to where it was, but in a sustainable model.

He also stated that some mistakes were made, but all decisions were taken for the good of Milan.

I think this clearly shows where the management is going, they will not be held ransom and will built on the squad YoY to reach a squad capable of challenging both domestically and in Europe. Its gonna be a long journey, and we are at the beginning of that journey.

Two strikers we're being linked with recently.

Julian Alvarez, 21, River Plate

Yuri Alberto, 20, Internacional

Agreed. Especially considering both of them had CL football last season while we didn't

Their wage bills are astronomical compared to ours, and we've offloaded Donna and Hakan as well from last season's, while Inter added our dead weight on 5m per year

Just look at all the sponsorships he's brought in, and I'm sure others will be added. They probably are looking for a great deal for the back of the shirt as well (not a fan of that but it could potentially bring another 10m a season)

We really need to offload Emirates as well. The deal is too low to be our biggest and main sponsor, even if we have more freedom in terms of getting separate partners for training kits.

Lazio got a great deal from Binance and Inter's with Socios is pretty big as well.


I still think it's a terrible business plan to let them go for free. What we need to do is to not allow deals to go into their final season. We should have issued an ultimatum to Kessie before this summer, either sign or find a new club. Simple as that

We cannot keep losing 100s of millions worth of assets for free. Even if so far we have been lucky to come out smelling like roses in both cases.


I really don't think we need to be going in for a striker in January

We have shown that we can adjust to either, Ibra, Giroud or Rebic leading the line. It's hardly a position of import right now.

A decent backup to Diaz and a proper RW should be what we're concentrating on.

Faivre is just waiting there on a plate in France and he's been doing very well. Not shelling out the little extra will hurt in the long run as they'll want more for him now.

Also, I thought that Alvarez kid was an AM?

Alvarez is a CF. I think you're mistaking him with someone else.

Perhaps Ricky Alvarez?

And well, I disagree. We need a mobile striker. Giroud is on some occasions good and tactically a solid choice, but in others we truly lack mobility and the surprise factor. Only makes me wonder why we even bothered signing this Pellegri guy who seems to be crossed off completely.

Agreed. Rebic has been that mobile striker for us thus far, but we need him to rotate with Leao. We also really need a fast-paced RW who can dribble past opponents, score, assist. That right-hand side of our attack is so, so weak compared to the left. We end up being predictable.

If we can get both Faivre and one of these South Americans in January it would make a world of difference. They're not world class, but they're very promising, and it's the best we can afford right now.

And hopefully Messias starts playing FFS!

Barella, one of the best midfielders in Europe and in the Ballon d'Or list has just renewed with Inter for 5M annually. Kessie, who's had one decent season in his last 5 years, demands 8M.

I am honestly disgusted by certain people.

RW would be top priority for me. AM as well. Diaz alone isn't enough, look what happened when he was out.

Strikers we can rotate the 3 we have plus the Rebic factor

I also want Pioli to think outside the box and just play Rebic on the right. He's a great crosses, has played that position before for Croatia and will give you the defensive work rate as well as the attacking threat that Alexis simply doesn't right now.

Obviously this leaves us in the pickle of not have an alternative for Leao though. Letting Hauge go to Germany was really pointless


We don't really know what Kessie is demanding and what we're offering

I don't know what's going on but I'm more p!ssed off at the club than Kessie. Kessie can get that kind of money easily in England. Barella is an Inter fan, just like Tonali is a Milan fan. He's faught to be there from the beginning and won't leave

I honestly think we're lowballing Kessie or we're going to renew the others like Theo and Bennacer before we offer Kessie a huge deal. They don't want to set a precedent with him but watching him play these last few games when he's back in form it's obvious how hugely important he still is to us and we cannot lose him from the midfield. Tonali and Benna are great when they are next to him, together they leave too many spaces. Kessie is the perfect partner for both. Losing him for whatever reason would be idiotic.

Either way, the management needs to grow some balls and get this BS over with by January. If he still won't renew by then we need to try to sell him. Spurs under Conte would jump at the chance to get him. We need to make it clear to his agent that either he goes now or he sits for the rest of the season and we bring in a replacement. It might cost us a bit more if he still doesn't want to move, but at least we make a point

Reliable sources say Kessie is just asking too much. The club has gone way and beyond what they can offer, but he keeps shooting very high. His agent in particular seems a very difficult person to deal with.

I heard that when Maldini and co. came in for Fassone and Mirabelli they started to renew the contracts of some players who were promised a renewal and slight adjustment. Kessie was the only one they told to f*ck off because he was not Milan material. Remember this was back in 2018. Kessie had an offer by Monaco at the time and his agent flew in France but they couldn't reach a deal. So, he stayed with us and gradually improved his performances.

That is why the relations between Maldini and his agent are not the greatest, and why it's becoming so difficult to renew his contract.

Seedorf takes a dig at Kessie stating he hasnt helped the team out of their CL group where they sit at rock bottom. And he has not contributed to a Scudetto win.

He has the right to demand whatever economic terms he wants likewise Milan management have the right to cap their offer to something within their economic means.

Safe to say this is Kessie?s last season with Milan.

In other news, Sheva is the new coach of Genoa. Weird choice.

Interesting, will love seeing Sheva

Winger drops strong hint he is preparing to join 'great club' Milan: "When Maldini calls you?"

Bruh, he's already talking as if he's a Milan player.

Gazzetta have reported that Romagnioli has relieved Raiola from his services and enter negotiations with Milan directly for a renewal. This as apparently Raiolo is no longer welcome at Milan.

Good news. Romagnoli is awesome as third CB option.

Very interesting. I read he actually earns 6M, we're offering max 3.5M, he's demanding 4.5M. Maybe we can reach an agreement at 4M.

Not crazy about Romagnoli, but as third choice he's OK.

Agreed, we need to keep him. We can't lose him for free. He'd probably end up at Juve. Which would be idiotic of us seeing as they need a Chiellini replacement ASAP.


I cannot believe that Mirabelli gave him that kind of contract!!! This is why we're having such a hard time renewing these contracts that were previously handled by him. Romagnoli cannot be earning that kind of money when Tomori, Theo, Kjaer, Benna, etc are on peanuts. This kind of thing offsets the balance of the wage bill.


I don't know if you guys saw the Di Marzio report re Kessie. He's saying that his agent is demanding 9m now. I personally don't believe any of this now. If this was the case we would have already pulled our offer off the table. What I do know is that we absolutely have to take a hard line with him. If he doesn't renew be January, we have to sell him, if he won't go because he's waiting for a big pay day as a free agent, then we need to sit him on the bench and use him as a rotation player only. We also need to take away penalty duties from him, and this should be done now not later. Why are we letting him stat pad off of us. Just assign pens to Theo or Tonali or whoever, as long as it's not him

Agreed re Kessie. I would have benched him even earlier to be honest. His overall attitude wrt the contract renewal has been ridiculous. I think he's forgetting that this is AC Milan, a legendary club, not some Udinese or Atalanta. He should show some respect.

My idea is to sell him in January for some cash and then spend it on Kamara of Marseille. The guy's contract expires in June but I read Bayern and Juve are also interested.

In other news, the Public Investment Fund (PIF) confirmed that they were interested in purchasing Inter (they also talked with Milan and Bordeaux), but then backtracked because according to their analysis the Serie A "is in disastrous conditions".

Source

Kamara would be great, that's why we shouldn't wait till June imo because that will invite stronger competition. We should allocate funds for him and a RW in January. There's also Renato Sanches who imo would be a great pick up and Lille are in financial difficulty so would be open to selling him.


Also, I've been reading lots of reports about Toro wanting Pobega, they are very happy with him. I think we should sell him with a buy back clause and in the negotiation try to get them to give us Bremer, he'd be an excellent Tomori alternative and would make our CB options complete as we'd have 4 quality options. Especially since Kjaer isn't getting any younger. Maybe give them Gabbia on loan in the deal as well. He's wasting away when he should be getting regular time to develop.

As for the league in general. Unless there's a complete overhaul of the dinosaurs that run the lega, things will continue to get worse. How bad is it that a top league with such historical teams who are supported all over the world cannot sell its TV rights in the Middle East and instead they are airing games for free on Youtube FFS?! Just inexcusable to have such complete ineptitude at the helm. And this will continue to drag clubs down with it.

This is why something like the Super League is a must

Agreed on the Lega commentary.

But regarding Kessie, I think emotions are prevailing. Benching him permanently and taking away his penalty duties will only hurt Milan in the long run and not Kessie. Benched or not benchen, penalties or not, this is not the Milan of '04 with plenty of capable men stepping forward. If we want to win the scudetto, we do need Kessie because he is much better then Bakayoko and adds different qualities then Tonali or Bennacer do. So he is a vital part of our squad and I really don't see what benching him will achieve other then "send a message" which will ultimately end in us 1) missing more penalties (remember Ibra) 2) lacking his qualities during games and 3) further the wedge between club/team and player.

No. We need to settle this at once. We need to extend his contract or end negotiations and sell in January. Up until then we should use Kessie according to our needs and then find a fast replacement. Kamara? I don't know the guy. Do you know him as a good player?

I agree regarding the Bennacer-Tonali duo. I don't think it's the way forward. They're both great, but they need a player like Kessie next to them. Could Bakayoko be the answer? I don't know, I think if he regains top form he's just as good a player as Kessie if not better, when at his best obviously. We saw how great he can be during his first stint with us, he's just a player that needs to feel appreciated and important.

I just don't think Kessie should be the first name on the team sheet anymore, not with the way he's behaving towards the club. This is exactly like the Hakan situation. He gave us 1 good year out of 4 and expecting to be rewarded as if he's a Ballon D'or candidate. They can all just f off. Theo is reportedly close to accepting a 4m per year deal. And imo Theo is a top 5 player in his position which Kessie is simply not. It would be ridiculous to go anywhere over 6m per year for him.

My only issue with the sell him in January premise is that he could refuse to move in January. Which will leave us with our hands tied. I get you point re team unity and such. But we should stop being a doormat in these cases. We've already done this with Donna and Hakan. We at least need to take some sort of stand with Kessie because this sends terrible signals of weakness, to other clubs, agents and the players.

As for Kamara. He's very talented and highly rated. He's very good on the ball, much better than Kessie from what I've seen. Not as physically imposing but still a strong presence in the midfield. We should sign him in January and make Kessie a non-factor, just like we did with Maignan-Donna.

Not emotions, but logic. Kessie's performances have been sub-par, in some games even horrendous. Coincidence? Either his great season last year was a one-off wonder, or he's just not mentally involved anymore. If he was performing well like Dollarumma last year I wouldn't have had any gripes, but as things stand right now he's a liability for us, not an asset.

We need to give a proper direction to this situation. As we've been saying, either sell him in January, or relegate him on the bench if he hasn't renewed since then. The club is bigger than the player.

Agree on Kessie, his wages are being paid and he adds grit and solidity to the team. He links both defensive and offensive, and works hard off the ball.

The club will most likely sell him in Jan, till then he is a key player for the club.

I really don't think the club is going to sell him in Jan.

Which boggles the mind even more that we're letting this situation hang over the rest of the team for the rest of the season and losing him for free at the end of it. What kind of business plan is this? Why not just give him what he wants and then sell at the right opportunity? Just doesn't make any sense that we're willing to let another big asset walk for free.

At least if we're not going to renew him, let him sit. Simple as that. I'm not saying send him to the Primavera, but at least use him as rotation and take away his penalty duties

But consider this: suppose we renew Kessie's contract at his terms, that is the 8-9M whatever insane salary he's asking. Do you honestly then think any club will come knocking on our door with an offer for Kessie and meet his salary too?

I really don't believe that. Because first of all Kessie is not a highly desired and requested player. It took him to becoming a free agent for other clubs to get interested. Nobody really considered him beforehand. And consequently, the only reason clubs are interested is because they'd be getting his services for free. They'd only have to pay his wages. And the only clubs interested thus far seem to be PSG (no sh*t) and Tottenham (after Conte's appointment).

Kessie and his agent know this too well, hence they've got the leverage in this situation. He'll never renew knowing it's because the club wants to sell him afterwards. So, all that's left for us at this point is to just negotiate, or let him go. The club's hands are tied.

And it was the same for Dollarumma and Capanoglu.

We all have to accept the fact that football players have become greedy mercenaries that care only about money, and get easily manipulated by their agents. People like Tonali, who accepted a reduction in salary just to play for Milan, are a rarity nowadays.

True, but one thing I do not believe is the 9m demand. I just don't. We wouldn't even still be negotiating with him if that were the case. We'd have already cut him off imo as we can never reach anywhere near that kind of figure. Not with all the renewals still to be completed of players who can demand even more than that based on their potential and marketing value (Theo, Leao). I personally think we're sticking to a 4m offer. Which is what we're also offering Theo and Benna. They want to keep a wage structure, and Kessie is most likely demanding 6/6.5. I understand both sides in this case but Milan need to make exceptions for a few players. And imo Kessie, Theo and Tomori all fall under that unbrella, maybe Leao in a few years as well. We simply cannot continue to lose players for free.

Interesting quotes from Di Marzio.

I do believe the club took a stand with both Hakan and Donna. And we came out the better for it in both cases. But we won't be able to continue to strike lightning each time. Kessie imo deserves some sort of exception. Hakan was not worth what he was asking for, simple. Donna and his agent were more trouble than he was worth. But we cannot continue to hemorrhage assets that cost lost of money

As for Kessie. Man U need a profile like him more than water at this point. I'm sure they would be interested in January if we were to offer him at a decent price if it came down to it

Most reports suggest he's increased his demands to 8.5M. We're bound to believe them because we have no other sources of information.

I don't think we're offering only 4M when we reportedly offered 5M to Capanoglu.

Good riddance. I hate players who think they're bigger than the club.

We're being heavily linked with Renato Sanches these days.

Two things that could prove an obstacle: 1) his price - Lille are asking for 30M; 2) his injury record - he's very injury prone, always being injured many times in every season (he's missed a total of 26 games between 2020 and 2021). Link

I'd look elsewhere. I think he's a great player but he's not worth it at that price if he's always gonna play half the games due to injuries. Let's get Kamara for free like the cheapskates we are.

This guy should learn to STFU and show some respect.

When Seedorf was transferred from Inter to Milan in 2002 he told a journalist who had asked him an Inter related question that "when I was at Inter I talked only about Inter. I know there's rivalry between the two clubs, but now that I am at Milan I only want to talk about Milan. Don't make me questions about such rivalry because I will never answer. In fact, if you make me any such questions I could even fine you".

That was the class of Clarence Seedorf. The Turk obviously doesn't even know the meaning of that word.

Renato would be my dream purchase and an upgrade on Kessie. He literally had him and Benna by the balls last season when we played Lille. He brings all the physicality of Kessie and adds to it some serious skill and vision.

I'd take a chance on him and Lille are in big financial trouble plus we have a good rapport with them. The fact we got Maignan for just 16-18m iirc is proof that they will sell if an offer comes. Imo he is worth a lot more than that, especially knowing now that other clubs were interested in him


Re Hakan, he's an idiot and lacks any class, let's not forget that he had bitter episodes in Germany as well. What irritates me most about him is that he thinks he's better than he truly is. We've seen the Inter fans already start to turn on him, a crappy penalty in the derby which they didn't even win won't erase another 30 subpar games. I wanted to keep him this summer because I was worried about finding a replacement, but Brahim has proven to be a much better player and the numbers attest to that. Good riddance to bad rubbish and Milan fans need to stop giving him any more oxygen and air time on social media. That banner they put out about his wife was stupid as well. He's not worth the effort as he was never that special or that important at Milan. He said so himself, only Pioli wanted him to stay, the rest didn't make the effort.

So his injuries don't bother you?

Btw, since we were looking for an AM this entire summer, I wonder if letting Paqueta go so soon and easily was a mistake. He's really turned into a great player for Lyon. I feel like we should have been more patient with him. He's certainly better than Brahim.

They do, but that's why it's a risk, one that's I'd take personally.

Paqueta I got the feeling Pioli never fancied him, plus doing it in League 1 is a bit different than Serie A. He's good, and I wish we'd have inserted some sort of buy back as well, but I don't know if he'd fit in with us tbh

I think he would. The guy just lost confidence and self-esteem after an impressive start. Players tend to drop in performance in such cases. But now that he's back to his usual self he's playing really good. A pure trequartista, fast, hard-working, strong physically, very skilled, great vision and shooting. What more do you need? Some English club will sign him soon for an insane amount, I'm sure of it.

And I wouldn't consider playing in France as a sign of "having it easy". After all, aren't we making all our signings from France lately?

Even your dear Sanches would be coming from Lille.

Sanches is a dream signing for me, but I think Tonali should be given more time on the pitch instead. Afterall, he will only get better if he is given the space to grow like that.

Kamara sounds interesting to fill the Kessie gap, and recalling Adli to finish off the season with Milan would not be bad as well.

Whichever way Maldini and co decide to handle the Kessie issue, I think they will have thought about the chance for a Scudetto this season. If they decide to keep him till the end of his contract and Milan secures Serie A, then it would be worthwhile. Selling him midway through the season and having a rough patch in Jan/Feb/March potentially loosing the ground in a Scudetto race would be detrimental.

Thats the sort of consideration that will be taken and I trust the management to do what is right, after all a Scudetto is worth 10x what Kessie?s sale would bring in 6 months left on his contract. I would think.

I don't think League 1 means you have it easy, but the pressure at Milan was simply bigger, and while he was olay in Gattuso's 4-3-3 he really failed to imporess as an AM in Pioli's system.

Don't know, maybe he could have turned out great, but I doubt we'd have given him the time he's had at Lyon to develop as he has. Hakan was still here last season and he was Pioli's first choice, Paqueta wouldn't be as far ahead as he is now if he had stayed. Maybe ideally we should have loaned him, but I think the management are going to keep taking these calculated risks on players who they think they can flip, even if it's for a small amount or just breaking even

True re Sanches, and hey, you never know, he's struggled at Bayern and in the EPL. Buying players is always a risk though. You just have to hope that the benefits will outweigh the costs and not the other way around


Don't think we'll recall Adli, that's all just media speculation. We left him at Bordeaux as a sign of good faith, otherwise the deal would have fallen through. I don't see us going back on that. Plus leaving him in France for another year was the best option as he'll get much more time there than he would have with us.

Re Tonali, I just don't think the Tonali-Benna pivot is a strong one. We need a player with a similar profile to Kessie to play next to either one of them to get the best dynamic imo. Bakayoko can provide that, we just need to get him fit and playing a bit more than he is now.

The issue with Kessie also is that he's going to be gone for a month at AFCON. So that's already going to hurt our chances for the scudetto. Ideally we should offer something for Kamara and bring him in January. Marseille are in a similar position as us with him. They risk losing him for nothing this summer, plus paying for him eliminates the competition from other clubs who will be more willing to throw signing on bonuses and agent commissions at him, which could see us getting easily priced out at that point. Plus this way has the added benefit of anticipating Kessie the way we did Donna and simply make him a non-factor for us

It looks like we're going to announce a big sponsorship deal with Budweiser soon. We've made such great progress on this front compared to the sad state of affairs we were in during the last 2 years of the Berlu era and even worse under the Chinese.

These were the days when we lost Audi and had no motor partner for a while, lost Gucci and signed on with Diesel (awful stuff), lost Adidas and went for a much smaller deal with Puma, nearly halved our Emirates deal.

At least we're making very good strides and broadening our portfolio of partnerships

I think we've added so far under Gazidis' stewardship

BMW
BitMex
Lete
Oppo
EA Sports
Skrill
Dubai Expo
Hermont & Blaine
Getorade
Socios
Nexen
Clivet

And I'm sure there are a few smaller ones which I cannot remember

Excellent work

We just need to start building that new stadium ASAP at this point. It's going to make a world of difference.

Renewal news:
- Raiola met with Maldini today at Casa Milan. He said that for both Romagnoli and Ibrahimovic anything is possible.
- Pioli's renewal is expected to be announced soon. 3M + bonuses until 2024 (from 2M actual).
- Leao, Theo and Bennacer's renewals are also imminent. Plan is to sign them before Christmas.

I'm very unsure about keeping Zlatan for another year. I think the guy is at his limit, and if we wanna develop a more modern and dynamic football to compete in the CL next season we need fresh players upfront. Someone like that Alvarez kind for example.

Personally, I wouldn't renew it. Bring a top CF upfront. Have Giroud as second choice for another season. Maybe bring back Colombo (who's doing well in Serie as third option.

Audi? We never had a sponsorship with Audi. We had Opel but we lost them because Opel was on the verge of bankruptcy.

As for Ibrahimović, I really think he's aware of his limits. We might sign a cheaper deal with him and also bear in mind that keeping Ibra will be a good magnet for players like Vlahović who already consider him an idol or are being named as his heirs.