AC Milan Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

GTR63

I like Mexes and Zapata is ok but we could do with strengthening there. We have held meetings with some sports agency that have few players on their books (Rojo, Ola John and Kondogbia). No prize for guessing who i`d want.

GTR63

Apparently we've agreed terms with Ljajic on a 5yr deal & if we get him Niang is heading to Genoa likely on a 50% ownership deal(they are trying to offer 50% of Kucka as payment but we are a bit hesitant).
All rumor but we've clearly been pushing a bit for Ljajic but after what happened with Montolivo i'd imagine they won't want to give him too us much less on a free.

GTR63

Another defeat. Was Prince as bad as he was in Germany, certainly seemed that way on the match thread I was reading.
Fiorentina seem about as receptive as I expected them with our blatant persuit of Ljajic
http://football-italia.net/37532/viola-slam-inopportune-milan

Smithwicks Man

GTR63 wrote: »

Another defeat. Was Prince as bad as he was in Germany, certainly seemed that way on the match thread I was reading.
Fiorentina seem about as receptive as I expected them with our blatant persuit of Ljajic
http://football-italia.net/37532/viola-slam-inopportune-milan

Missed the game unfortunately but he was supposed to be very poor.

Galliani has responded saying "we haven't done anything wrong."

I don't think we have to be honest!

Just how good is Ljajic and where exactly would he fit in? Didn't seen much of him at all last season.

GTR63

Honestly haven't a clue where all these guys are meant to fit in. If we get Honda and Ljajic whats the formation. Neither are no.10's either they both play either side of a striker.
Watching Quintero yesterday was sickening but if he ended up at Porto no doubt he has got dodgy 3rd party ownership.

Seaneh

GTR63 wrote: »

Honestly haven't a clue where all these guys are meant to fit in. If we get Honda and Ljajic whats the formation. Neither are no.10's either they both play either side of a striker.
Watching Quintero yesterday was sickening but if he ended up at Porto no doubt he has got dodgy 3rd party ownership.

Honda is a #10, it's his best position.

Ljajic will be a striker and competition for SES and Robinho.

But yeah, we need a #10, so I understand signing Honda, Ljajic makes no sense if we just gave Robinho a renewal and have SES and Niang already with Mario and Pazzo back in a few months as well.

GTR63

Seaneh wrote: »

Honda is a #10, it's his best position.

Ljajic will be a striker and competition for SES and Robinho.

But yeah, we need a #10, so I understand signing Honda, Ljajic makes no sense if we just gave Robinho a renewal and have SES and Niang already with Mario and Pazzo back in a few months as well.

Always associate Honda as more of a right sided attacker but maybe thats just me.
I imagine if we get Ljajic we`d play Ljajic, Honda and El Sharrawy behind Mario(very attacking I know) as its unthinkable to drop Stephan or Mario and we are pushing very hard for the other 2.

Seaneh

GTR63 wrote: »

Always associate Honda as more of a right sided attacker but maybe thats just me.
I imagine if we get Ljajic we`d play Ljajic, Honda and El Sharrawy behind Mario(very attacking I know) as its unthinkable to drop Stephan or Mario and we are pushing very hard for the other 2.

if both were signed Honda would play in the midfield 3 I'd say. With Ljajic and ses behind Mario

GTR63

Mario picked up a knock in the meaningless friendly win over LA Galaxy(2-0 Balo & Niang scored). Hope that its not too serious.

Anyway soothe yourself by watching this

GTR63

http://www.football-italia.net/38157/balotelli-given-green-light
Mario is grand thankfully. He also got a new pet.





If you got half an hour to kill here is all 126 goals Pippo scored at Milan.

Smithwicks Man

GTR63 wrote: »

http://www.football-italia.net/38157/balotelli-given-green-light
Mario is grand thankfully. He also got a new pet.





If you got half an hour to kill here is all 126 goals Pippo scored at Milan.

Luckily enough!

Gonna watch that video later

PSV in the play-offs. Difficult enough tie but if there's any real quality to us at all we should pull through.

CSKA are very annoyed with us about Honda, as are Fiorentina about Ljajic.

Galliani's up to his old tricks again :cool:

GTR63

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

PSV in the play-offs. Difficult enough tie but if there's any real quality to us at all we should pull through.

CSKA are very annoyed with us about Honda, as are Fiorentina about Ljajic.

Galliani's up to his old tricks again :cool:

Fiore seem really, REALLY pist with us, i`m gonna take that as a good sign for us. Honda will have to wait until January cause we have bid the max amount for the remaining 6 months he`s under contract but they said we have mistreated them & they wouldn`t sell him to us for €10m, which is a bid so large that it ain`t coming. We`ll be grand vs PSV imo.

Smithwicks Man

GTR63 wrote: »

Fiore seem really, REALLY pist with us, i`m gonna take that as a good sign for us. Honda will have to wait until January cause we have bid the max amount for the remaining 6 months he`s under contract but they said we have mistreated them & they wouldn`t sell him to us for €10m, which is a bid so large that it ain`t coming. We`ll be grand vs PSV imo.

Can't really blame them!

First we took their best player on a free transfer after agreeing terms with him long before his Fiorentina contract had ended.

Then, we absolutely robbed them blind of 3rd spot and the CL in the last 10 mins on the final day. (Within the rules of course but a hard pill to swallow)

And now we're trying to snatch their brightest young talent for much, much less than his true value.

I'd be pretty pissed at us too if I was them :pac: Could be the makings of a very good rivalry for the next few years!

The way the CSKA owner left it, “Whoever wants to can contact me when I’m on vacation…” leads me to believe there's still a small chance of it happening.

I think so too, but PSV could be a tricky enough customer if we don't perform in the away leg. Any idea is the first game Tuesday or Wednesday?

AC Milan will face PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League play-off round! The first leg will be at the Philips Stadion in Eindhoven on Tuesday, August 20 at 20.45 CET, and the second leg at the San Siro stadium on Wednesday, August 28.

GTR63

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Can't really blame them!

First we took their best player on a free transfer after agreeing terms with him long before his Fiorentina contract had ended.

Then, we absolutely robbed them blind of 3rd spot and the CL in the last 10 mins on the final day. (Within the rules of course but a hard pill to swallow)

And now we're trying to snatch their brightest young talent for much, much less than his true value.

I'd be pretty pissed at us too if I was them :pac: Could be the makings of a very good rivalry for the next few years!

Tbf we got screwed with a peno vs them when Ljajic dived & Osvaldo scoring a late winner vs them cost them 3rd as much as anything else. €8m isn't that bad for a guy that is out of contract & YEAH i'll admit we negotiated a deal already. We are now the 2nd club they don't want anything to do with after they stopped Jovetic going to Juve.

Smithwicks Man

GTR63 wrote: »

Tbf we got screwed with a peno vs them when Ljajic dived & Osvaldo scoring a late winner vs them cost them 3rd as much as anything else. €8m isn't that bad for a guy that is out of contract & YEAH i'll admit we negotiated a deal already. We are now the 2nd club they don't want anything to do with after they stopped Jovetic going to Juve.

Awh I agree but I can understand why they'd be extremely reluctant to let Ljajic join us. That being said, the ectent of their reluctance is leading me to belive that Ljajic may be even better than I thought he was. Similar situation to Suarez really but on a lesser scale. They just don't want to strengthen their direct domestic rivals, which is fair enough. Would be nice to get him on the cheap though!

Seaneh

Good news from Kojak yesterday that Niang won't be going on loan this season.

Kingsley Boateng seems to be off to Samp for the season too, which is good for him, looks a decent prospect but very raw, the gametime, if he gets it, will do him a world of good.

GTR63

Seaneh wrote: »

Good news from Kojak yesterday that Niang won't be going on loan this season.

Kingsley Boateng seems to be off to Samp for the season too, which is good for him, looks a decent prospect but very raw, the gametime, if he gets it, will do him a world of good.

I have more time for the King Boateng than the Prince nowdays, a loan at Samp will do him well. Glad Niang is staying too, it'd be cracked to let him go now in a co-ownership deal.

Seaneh

Kingsley Boateng has been called up by Italy U20's for the Four Nations tournament.

I'm a bit surprised by that, thought he'd end up playing for Ghana, but he's been in Italy for a while now, maybe he "feels" Italian?

GTR63

http://www.football-italia.net/38194/real-madrid-want-de-sciglio
Madrid linked with €12m rated De Sciglio. After what they spent on the quite frankly terrible Coentrao i'd want 4 times that at least.

Smithwicks Man

GTR63 wrote: »

http://www.football-italia.net/38194/real-madrid-want-de-sciglio
Madrid linked with €12m rated De Sciglio. After what they spent on the quite frankly terrible Coentrao i'd want 4 times that at least.

If he is sold it would be a catastrophe but if he was sold for anything less than €35m it would be absolutely unforgivable. Left Back/Right Back he is up there with the best already and he's only 20!! Add in that he is supposedly more than capable of playing CB and he is unsellable imo.

Keeping what we have and getting rid of the deadwood (Traore,Nocerino/Antonini etc.) should be the main priority now and then looking to strengthen the central defence should be next.

Honda is coming in January which will be a boost but, despite the appeal of the move at such a low price, there is no need for Ljajic at the moment.

Boateng should be moved on if he is not going to be needed/is unhappy and no more strikers should come in.

Can see us lining out against PSV with:

---

Abbiati
Abate-Mexes-Zapata-De Sciglio
Montolivo-De Jong-Poli
Niang-Balotelli-El Shaarawy

Amelia-Constant-Silvestre-Nocerino-Boateng-Robinho-Petagna

Would be happy enough if that was the case!

Any idea what the latest on Saponara is?

GTR63

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Can see us lining out against PSV with:

Abbiati
Abate-Mexes-Zapata-De Sciglio
Montolivo-De Jong-Poli
Niang-Balotelli-El Shaarawy

Amelia-Constant-Silvestre-Nocerino-Boateng-Robinho-Petagna

Would be happy enough if that was the case!

Any idea what the latest on Saponara is?

Man I hate most of our bench nowdays.....don`t know where Saponara is

Seaneh

Saponara is injured.


Milan submitted their squad for the qualifiers today.

Abbiati, Amelia, Gabriel; Abate, Antonini, Constant, De Sciglio, Mexes, Silvestre, Zaccardo, Zapata; K.P. Boateng, Cristante, De Jong, Emanuelson, Montolivo, Muntari, Nocerino, Poli, Traorè; Balotelli, El Shaarawy, Niang, Robinho.


Delighted to see Cristante in there, hope he gets a run out!

cson

Seaneh wrote: »

Good news from Kojak yesterday that Niang won't be going on loan this season.

How good is Niang? His stats arren't hectic but that's why I'm asking as they don't often tell the full story.

GTR63

Hope we can get Traore shipped off to Anderlecht, he really is the shìts.

Seaneh

cson wrote: »

How good is Niang? His stats arren't hectic but that's why I'm asking as they don't often tell the full story.

for an 18 year old, he's been exceptional.

His stats are skewed because he only actually played as a striker a handful of times and spent most of the season playing as a right winger. I expect very big things from him this year and he should be starting most games with El Shaarawy and Balotelli.

Seaneh

Lads, don't get too excited now but I have some important news...

Christian Maldini has been promoted to the Primavera squad for this season.

There is a very high likelyhood that we will be seeing a shirt with "Maldini 3" on the back of it again in the near future.

3rd generation of Milan legends hopefully!

GTR63

No pressure for him at all
Our 1st leg with PSVay is next tuesday, its crept up fairly sudden.

GTR63

http://www.football-italia.net/38408/honda-and-ljajic-not-top-players

Honda & Ljajic aren`t top players according to Milan "Legend" Pancaro.

Smithwicks Man

Would rather El Shaarawy than Ljajic any day of the week!

PSV worry me, hopefully we don't underestimate them because they're so young

GTR63

http://football-italia.net/38451/kingsley-boateng-catania
Kingsley Boateng is going on loan to Catania, good move for him assuming he gets game time.

Smithwicks Man

Will be a tough game tonight. De Sciglio is out, as is Robinho so I'd imagine Constant/Urby will slot in at LB.

Antonini and Traore have both been left out of the squad so hopefully they're being shipped off.

PSV are missing Bakkali according to La Gazzeta so that's good news

Hoping Poli starts ahead of Muntari in midfield and Niang starts ahead of Boateng wide right in a 4-3-3

Seaneh

Hoping for the following lineup tonight.

Abbiati

Abate
Mexes
Zapata
Constant

Poli
De Jong
Montolivo

Niang
Balotelli
SES

I reckon the only doubts are whether Urby starts ahead of Kevin and an outside chance that Sully might get the nod ahead of Andrea.

I hope that we can get into the lead and give Cristante and Petagna a run out.

GTR63

I'm bullishly confident as we literally cannot afford this game to go array for us.
Watching the BT Serie A preview, I assume James Richardson will be standing in for the tool presenting this come this season, a lovely lady on the panel though (swoon).

Smithwicks Man

Seaneh wrote: »

Hoping for the following lineup tonight.

Abbiati

Abate
Mexes
Zapata
Constant

Poli
De Jong
Montolivo

Niang
Balotelli
SES

I reckon the only doubts are whether Urby starts ahead of Kevin and an outside chance that Sully might get the nod ahead of Andrea.

I hope that we can get into the lead and give Cristante and Petagna a run out.

Exact same team I hope to see play.

Will be disappointed if Muntari or Boateng start ahead of Poli/Niang

Don't mind too much at LB as they're very similar


Bakkali being out is a big plus for us

Moneymaker

Score draw wouldn't be terrible for Milan tonight imo.

Smithwicks Man

Moneymaker wrote: »

Score draw wouldn't be terrible for Milan tonight imo.

Yeah, a 1-1 draw would be grand and 2-2 would be even better.

An away goal is a must though

GTR63

MILAN XI: Abbiati; Abate, Mexes, Zapata, Emanuelson; Montolivo, de Jong, Muntari; Boateng, Balotelli, El Shaarawy.

Bench: Amelia, Zaccardo, Constant, Poli, Nocerino, Niang & Petagna.

inforfun

PSV line up:

Jeroen Zoet; Joshua Brenet, Jeffrey Bruma, Karim Rekik, Jetro Willems; Georginio Wijnaldum, Stijn Schaars, Adam Maher; Ji-Sung Park, Tim Matavz, Memphis Depay.

Smithwicks Man

Strong team is it InForFun?

Wouldn't know a few of them lads, Maher will be a threat


Poli and Niang should have started

Moneymaker

That Milan kit is offensively ugly.

How do you fuuck up white?

GTR63

Moneymaker wrote: »

That Milan kit is offensively ugly.

How do you fuuck up white?

They've had the same away adidas kit style for 15 years they are bound to ruin 1. Be grateful we left the gold kit at home.

inforfun

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Strong team is it InForFun?

Wouldn't know a few of them lads, Maher will be a threat


Poli and Niang should have started

That 17 year old that is missing, Bakalli was their biggest threat so far.

PSV had great results but havent had opponents of Milan's calibre

GTR63

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

Poli and Niang should have started

Make these changes now, off with Boateng and Muntari for the sake of my sanity.

Smithwicks Man

Allegri to blame in my opinion. We're very far behind them in pre season and the players were obviously going to tire in the 2nd half. How did he respond? By making his first change in the 75th minute and the 2nd in the 84th.

He didn't even make a 3rd change?!? Niang and Poli both should have been on with a half an hour to go, earlier even.


PSV could've had several goals but the one they got came from poor Milan play, dropping off in midfield and inviting them to shoot, De Jong and Montolivo got what they deserved when the ball landed in the net.

Few good performances, El Shaarawy was good as was Abate. Zapata and Mexes were reasonably solid.

Montolivo had a bad game and Balotelli showed glimpses of what he can do, but disappeared for the most part.

Fairly confident we can get through but if we play like that, the group stages is as far as we'll get.

I'll put it down to lack of match sharpness as it's the 1st game of the year but that excuse will only last so long

Seaneh

Good result, bad performance.

G.K.

I keep forgetting you've signed Poli.

GTR63

Smithwicks Man wrote: »

He didn't even make a 3rd change?!? Niang and Poli both should have been on with a half an hour to go, earlier even.


Few good performances, El Shaarawy was good as was Abate. Zapata and Mexes were reasonably solid.

Montolivo had a bad game and Balotelli showed glimpses of what he can do, but disappeared for the most part.

Monty was bad but better than De Jong and Muntari. Boateng a player who talent wise is the worse no.10 we've had in years & attitude wise is no better. Poor performance even though we're a bit behind them in fitness, like a lot of our performances in europe the last 5+ years, below the standard required.

Moneymaker

Why Muntari was picked ahead of Poli is beyond me.

GTR63

Moneymaker wrote: »

Why Muntari was picked ahead of Poli is beyond me.

Beyond us all. Legs apparently even though he looks older than Allegri or Cocu