Milanista

His opinion is the most common about Tonali, by far. This is true even before he was sold, I have to be honest. Even amongst those who were the most offended at the sale, many concede that they think he's an expendable player that you overpaid for. I do not share this opinion, I think he can be world-class. My opinion is a minority opinion. Also: reports in Italy are particularly firm about the idea that you paid 70m Euros (at minimum) with bonuses to get to 80m, some tout higher numbers, but the consensus is 70m plus easy bonuses to get to 80m. This is true even among the most virulent Inter fan journalists. It seems I have become a punchline here, so I'm not sure if I'll be as active as before, I don't want to be rude in my responses as I am a guest here. I don't take kindly to jabs at Milan, and some of the responses I've read seem mean-spirited... so many of you have been so genuinely warm and nice to me, I'd rather not spoil that by lashing out. I'm Italian and emotional and I'd rather be cordial.

I'm a guest here, I think you're underrating Milan and our prospects for silverware too much. Enjoy Tonali, he's a wonderful player.

Vitiello just confirmed that this deal is advanced, and that Milan want more than 70m. He also says that the salary offer is "more than double" what he currently gets at Milan.

Di Marzio confirmed it, it looks like it's done.

He doesn't want to leave Milan, that much is abundantly clear throughout the reporting. The kid plays with venom, even when he was with Brescia, he always had that extra... bit of being a bastard, in a good way. He's not a dirty player, not at all--but he just... fights. Even if he has a bad game, he's going to cover every blade of grass. But have no illusions that he's leaving Milan because he wants to. It seems (and is being reported now in Italian sources) that it is our CEO Furlani and our owner Cardinale that are pushing him out.

Schira (tier 2-3) has said Newcastle are confident they can close, 70-75m and 7m salary, that's net, so 14m gross.

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We never sold anyone during that time, that's why we all found it fun.

One of the significant parts of Di Marzio's report is that Pioli, our manager, was not consulted yet. In Italy, the manager seldom gets a say in the transfer market, and Pioli, after Maldini got fired, was publicly given more trust and say in the transfer market. That's just some context, and perhaps hints at Di Marzio's source?

To be fair, this is the Italian reaction to most things.

This is what Di Marzio reported: "At the moment there isn’t any agreement for the sale of Tonali. Milan met the player’s agents today to discuss how to adjust in case the serious interest from Newcastle and Chelsea in the player turn into concrete offers. It was decided that Milan would listen to the offers and only then the different options would be proposed to the player. Pioli has not been informed about a possible departure of Tonali. Tonali asked his entourage to be left calm at this time since he is busy with Euro U-21."

I'm trying not to lash out, it's interesting to see the reactions here, though. I'll try to be as honest as possible: I've never wanted Botman. Tonali is not someone I ever wanted to leave, he's a great player. Comparisons to Aquilani are lazy, he's nothing like him. There are significant factions of Milan fans who actually think anything above 70m is a steal--many of them have been talking about him being overrated (before this transfer) and are celebrating this sale, I am not one of them. I worry about our owners. They really think they have broken the code on transfers through data, and it seems they're going to use us as their grand reveal of their supposed genius. I am skeptical.

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It looks like you're going to get Tonali. I'm quite shocked, not because we sold a player, but because we need Italians, in particular. He is an incredible player. He can be a DM, he can be a box-to-box in the true marauding English style. Maybe not Gerrard exactly, but think young Roy Keane. Our new ownership really does think they are smarter than everyone, and it seems that firing Maldini was truly a sign that they think they are smarter than everyone and are apparently going to go full-force into Moneyball. We haven't sold a player under our previous owners, who are bankrolling our current owners--it seems that our new ownership structure is clearing out everyone who doesn't fit with their project. I realize I'm going to get stick on here, and that's fine, I've tried to be gracious--but it seems our new ownership has very different plans to Maldini. I'm truly in shock. Oh, and just as a note, salaries in Italy are reported in net, not gross. You've just got a hell of a player, our fanbase is quite shocked.

Having confidence in my team is over-inflated ego? I never wanted Botman, so I was happy we didn't get him. He's a great player for your system, I don't think he would have worked as well for ours. Milan is on the rise, I mean... if you think I was this confident in 2018... lol, I wasn't. But... there's a difference between being an optimistic person and having a reason to be optimistic. Currently, I think our team is building back to where we were, with proper management. I mean, we don't even own our own stadium. The amount of space we have to grow commercially... is huge. So, I'd like to keep my interactions here as cordial as possible, and I'd like to refrain from name-calling, please.

And this year there was an Italian team in every European final possible. Two Italian teams in the semi-finals of both the CL and EL. These things go in cycles. I also don't even care about Serie A teams, lol. Milan have won more CL titles than Inter and Juve combined, so, it's not like their relative performance means much to me. Milan has been absent for most of that time period, and it's incredible how fast it took us to get back to the CL after finally having some competent management for the first time in a decade.

Just now, Pietro Mazzara from MilanNews (a good source, but Mazzara is not our top guy, that is Vitiello he's as close to official as you can get, although Longo and Moretto are moving up in the world) he is reporting on a "monster offer" from Newcastle to Tonali. He says that Newcastle is offering to double his salary and that Milan will only open negotiations if the player is interested--i.e. they don't want or need to sell. He also reports that if Tonali is interested, Milan will need more than 60m to even consider. If Tonali wants to stay, Milan will not entertain offers. Before you get too excited, this sounds very... soap opera-y (as is typical) and designed to show how magnanimous the owners are and how Tonali is turning down Newcastle to stay at Milan. Maybe I'm wrong? Midfield is an area we need to improve upon due to Bennacer's knee surgery, and we also have a problem with homegrown rules, so... I find the idea of a sale of Tonali to be unlikely.

Lol, okay. I think you underestimate Milan, but that's pretty typical of EPL fans.

Not yet, no. But Horncastle is a very serious journalist. I respect his work. Barella situation I'm unfamiliar with, but everyone knows that Inter need to sell and they need to sell high. Inter paid like 45m for Barella, so the idea they'd sell a top-class midfielder for 50m is laughable, even in their position. I don't doubt that Newcastle bid, it's entirely possible. The offer is... very low. But if you do run a tight ship, then... my theory is that our owners are leaking it, so that they can seem magnanimous about turning down an "evil EPL offer" as they try to justify firing Maldini because our owner has an ego problem and now wants to prove Maldini wrong about ambitions and winning.

Okay, you think it was inevitable, but are you going to pretend like Pep hasn't crashed-and-burned with City, with great teams, constantly?

It really is a hot-take though. He has not achieved the maximum at Milan. Our goals are to win multiple league titles, and multiple Champions League titles. We just extended Rafa Leao, who stated that he's at Milan to win... the CL. I honestly think many of you overrate the appeal of the EPL, first of all. He's a boyhood Milan fan, this is his dream, and he already has made history at Milan, and he's a kid... he has many years to do more at Milan. Even though he's not from our academy, he's treated like one of the players who is from our academy, players like Baresi, Albertini, Maldini, Costacurta, etc. I don't want to be rude to Newcastle, but none of us are looking at our semi-final run as... a success. Most look at it as a failure. Sure, it's a nice stepping stone. But the team wants to win the CL, not be like Tottenham. If you told me you saw Milan winning Serie A before we won it, and that you thought we could get to the semi-final, then sure, maybe I'd take your "I don't see Milan getting to the final" line more seriously. But we are building in a way that doesn't grab attention. No one cared about Maignan before we bought him, or Leao, or Theo, or even Tomori. Milan is being built differently, smartly. But our goals are the same. To win. Tonali is like Shearer, he's from this area, he loves this team, and while he didn't come to Milan at the same point of his career as Shearer did when going to Newcastle, but there's no way Shearer was going to leave Newcastle... so why would Tonali leave?

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