Milanista

Maybe if Man Utd actually had a real sporting director--and not just a "football man" which is code for some old guy who used to treat ACL tears with a wet sponge--but if Man Utd were smart, they would call up Edwards, ask him to name a number he likes, and pay him, then let him take over. I realize I'm going to sound annoying--my apologies--but why do you have to spend money? Casemiro is a great player, but an insane waste of money. 60m transfer fee and 18m salary? Why? Why do that to yourself? It's such an insane waste of money. Antony... for +80m? Why? He's good, but, my Lord. I'm a Milan fan (obviously) and I think what our club has shown is that proper scouting and creating a real environment can fundamentally change a club's fortunes. Liverpool did this with Klopp. I remember when Salah was going up for sale with Roma, (some) Milan fans preferred Suso over him. I remember Salah being described as a "squad player." You could see the talent from a mile away. 42m is a bargain in comparison to what Man Utd is paying for their targets. There's no need to spend. They just become impossible players to shift once they go wrong. De Gea should move on, you need a keeper who can actually handle the ball, De Gea is a great, world-class shot stopper, but he can't do the other things. But how can you move him with those wages? You can't. At Milan we brought in Simon Kjaer, who I did not want, but he was playing at a world-class level for us before tearing his ACL. He's back now, but he was a monster. I thought he was old and past it, but he didn't cost much. So if Arnautovic is who your coach wants, get him. Not sure why every transfer in the EPL has to be for a significant fee in order for it to be seen as quality. There was an AS Roma team that had an insane lineup, if they kept everyone, at one point they could have fielded a team like this: Alisson, Florenzi/Zappacosta, Marquinos, Rudiger, Digne/Emerson; Paredes/Cristante, De Rossi, Nainggolan/Pellegrini; Salah, Dzeko/Patrick Schick, Zaniolo -- some players have retired, but the point is that Roma have let go so many players, because they don't have the money--but so many of those players, like Alisson, Marquinos, Rudiger, Emerson, Paredes, Pellegrini, Salah, Schick, etc etc, they did not come for huge money. There's no reason you have to pay insane amounts to get good players. What is Milan doing? We're building our team like Roma or Napoli, we're just not selling anyone we don't want to, because we don't need to. If Roma didn't need to, they'd have one of the strongest teams in the world. Same with Napoli. Many Milan fans (particularly those in Europe) are opposed to this, because they are confused when we buy some random French CB for 500k and he turns out to be the best U21 defender in the world, and on the road to being a top 10 CB in the world. It's insane to me. And quite frankly, Newcastle have seemed to take on this approach, which confuses everyone, and I don't get it. Don't buy a player just because your fans want a player in that position. Let's say you panic and buy some RW (I see Newcastle fans want a RW) and you don't want to spend 60m or whatever on Diaby, because that's an absurd amount. Great. Then you panic and grab some other kid for 30m, he flops, and now you're stuck with him, great. That's the entire Man Utd cycle, over and over and over again. That's what Barca is doing. The difference is that Man Utd can afford to make these mistakes because they're run, on the commercial side of things, competently. Barca are a shambles. But the hard reset that is required at Old Trafford isn't going to happen when you have Maguire and De Gea and Bruno. You need to buy players for Ten Hag's system, you need to get rid of players who don't fit that system, take the losses, kick them out. Buy players that fit the style you want. Let's say Ten Hag suddenly hates football and retires, there needs to be a system and approach from youth to first team. To Barca's credit, they do that. Milan do that, too. Bayern, as well. That's why players from their academies feature heavily in their system. And if you look at the best teams, in history, including Man Utd's best periods, they had players from their academy. Milan's current captain is a hometown boy, who went to games as a child, and could only afford to sit in the section where Inter fans generally sit (Curva Nord--Milan fans sit in the Curva Sud) and he's not a spectacular player. He's not fast, he's strongish, but he's smart, tactically versatile (can play as a CM), he's a poor man's Lahm, he's not going to get his shirt number retired, but he fits our system. He is probably not going to become world-class, but he's a top 5 RB in Serie A, and he has worked his way to the first team, stuck around to fight for his place, and won it, and the captaincy. So I dunno. I find the idea that you have to spend money to ensure success to be weird. You don't. Why? Because transfers are not just about buying the right players. It's also about developing them, using them properly, and that's why it's weird how City wanted Alexis Sanchez too, but, it's clear the difference in the environment at City and that at Man Utd. Sorry for the length everyone, hope you're all doing well!

They've been closing that loophole, they used to do that in the Prem with image rights as a means to circumvent taxes, but that has slowed down considerably.

Serie A still has the power for big transfers, whether it's the 70+ million that Napoli paid for Osimhen, or the 85m for Vlahovic, and on and on but I think the approach of Milan has really shocked the league--but Juve is still going to spend, they've put a lot of money into salaries (that most of their players don't deserve) and Juve's management really love an overrated free-agent. The biggest issue is that Italy's biggest clubs (bar Juve) do not own their stadiums. That's 100m of lost revenue for Milan and Inter, while it would be between 60-80m for Napoli, Roma, and Lazio--none of them own their stadium, nor does Fiorentina. Italy is still producing amazing talent, but that talent is limited to keepers, defenders, and midfielders--but the prices being asked for Italian attacker players just... isn't it worth it. Sassuolo were asking for 30-40m for Berardi, which is just... absurd. Barella was around 45-50m (plus bonuses) and he was worth it. Tonali was 35m (was renegotiated to 17m, Maldini is a master) while Spinazzola was 30m and Bastoni was 31m etc, so Italian teams will pay for players when they're worth it, but Italy's problem is that it just isn't producing attacking players--for various reasons. We're not producing Donnarumma's and Verratti's in attack, no one comes close to Tonali, Giorgio Scalvini (my favorite young Italian defender), Destiny Udogie, or other young hot-shots. Scamacca is the only fit attacker who has talent in Italy. Zaniolo has talent, but, he's stagnating at Roma, even if he'll show flashes. Milan were supposedly interested in him, but Roma were demanding 50-65m, which is an absurd amount for a player who has torn both ACLs. Chiesa, who also tore his ACL, is the only other Italian attacker up to those standards. This is the problem. And those that show any sort of potential get slapped with ridiculous prices. Orsolini, back in 2020, looked like a great talent, and then Sabatini, the sporting director of his club Bologna at the time (who is very good at his job) when asked about his price, he said he was worth 70m. Yes, this is posturing, but was the kid worth 40m? 50m? Not at all. There is a lot of talk in Italy about foreigners being a problem, which I disagree with. Others say "oh, look at Italy needing oriundi in the national team," with the word "oriundi" meaning naturalized Italians from other countries, like Jorginho--showing the weakness of the team, but then people forget that in our 2006 world-cup winning team, which is the last "great" Italy team (which I don't agree with), Simone Perrotta was born in England, Camoranesi is Argentinian, and while he wasn't in the squad, Christian Vieri was raised in Australia before coming back to Italy, so the history of Italy and having various players raised outside of Italy is not unique or new. I can keep going, but I'll leave it at that, there's more to say, about how Italy don't modernize their style of attacker, like how Argentina still go after Maradona clones, but I also think that Italy has had a lot of bad luck with injuries to super talented players, not just Zaniolo and Chiesa, but many others, and that the ineffectiveness of Immobile for Italy is one of the great mysteries. He is a top 10 striker in the world, and he preforms for Lazio against big teams, small teams, in Europe, but put him in a Italy shirt and he becomes... a shadow of himself. Very weird period for Italy.

I think Juve is trying to rebuild, but they don't have a vision, they are just kinda... throwing money and names at the problem. Allegri's anti-football style is really defined by just amassing great players and just being better than other teams, by having better players, but nothing else. Inter seem like they are the verge of a Barca-like collapse, as their Chinese owners are terrible at business, and they are selling off any promising youngsters to prolong their Conte-assembled team. Which is why I am skeptical of what Spurs will be after Conte, but who knows? Napoli are stripping away players, Roma are adding big names, and the big question is can Mourinho really reinvent himself? He's relying on youngsters more, but watching how Milan blew Roma away, I can't see a big difference, unless Dybala stops being a mediocre player (for his price and hype). Atalanta is sorta like Italy's Leicester, and they're on the downward trend, while Lazio could quietly do well, but they lack depth in defense, so they're a little bit like West Ham, there's a question as to where they'll be. I think Milan and Juve (who will stumble into) being the top two teams in the next few years, while Inter will limp along with this good generation they have, prolonging a re-build that was expensive and yielded only a single league title and a cup win. I feel like people when talking about Inter forget that, without their best player (Barella) they beat Liverpool in the CL and were a really, really bad match-up for teams. The absence of Perisic is going to really hurt them. I will say this about Serie A: it is much more attacking than ever before. Italy has seen the impact of Klopp's attacking style and realized it came from Italy, with Sacchi, and now the young Italian coaches of note are not defensive masterminds, nor are they using tactical schemes to be solid, or anything like that, their plan of attack? Attack. Dionisi at Sassuolo, Italiano at Fiorentina, in particular, just attack, attack, attack, as do relegation sides now. I think defense, across the world, has become much worse, as one-on-one defending is a travesty. The excuses for Trent, for example, get on my nerves, as do comparisons of VVD with other "all-time" greats, when he makes basic errors. Everyone makes mistakes, even Maldini, but, teams defend as a unit now, there is far less one-on-one defending, and when there is isolation of players with defenders, it becomes ugly. Which is actually one of the hallmarks of the new tactical systems in Italy that are fixated on movement, breaking the press, and hybridization of pressing systems between ball-based press, and man-based pressing structures--Milan being the only team that does this at an elite level, lol. Serie A is showing a lot of tactical innovation, but unfortunately, the dire state of Italian football infrastructure means that our bright talents from our smaller teams are not staying in Serie A. Scamacca is at West Ham, he should be at an Italian team, but there are more Italian players leaving Italy, Lorenzo Lucca, an overrated young striker just went to Ajax, which is new, and different. Italy's midfield and defensive talent is still strong, but our attacking talent is poor, and maybe that's down to them not being developed properly? We'll see.

Everything is a "what if?" scenario. Inter, Juve, Milan, Roma, Napoli, Lazio, everyone is in a "what if" stage. There's also a bias against younger players, players are still considered "youngsters" at 23, where I feel like in England that is not the same. So there is a lot of skepticism over Milan, particularly because our transfers are not flashy.

Their defense is really poor, that's the issue. Their wing-backs are an impressive unit, but, their CBs, particularly Ibanez and Mancini, though Smalling, too, have looked really bad together. The question is over Wijnaldum and Matic being able to actually rediscover themselves, and whether Dybala and Pellegrini don't step on each other's toes. I personally think Inter are going to get ref-help into a win, Milan lack depth in the CM and CB areas, and unless those are addressed, I cannot be confident.

Lol, that's not what I meant.

Why didn't Botman start your first game? How has he looked in pre-season?

Oh, and another reason you don't want Berardi: he loses his head. He gets red cards, all the time. For a winger, I feel like you have to try to get sent off. After a friendly game, Berardi went after a fan who insulted him, trying to fight him, no joke: That's how he deals with the scrutiny of Sassuolo, what will he do someplace more high-profile?

I wrote way too much.

For those interested in the world of Serie A, I will write about the teams-of-note in Serie A, and even though I am a Milan fan, I will try to be as fair minded, even if I will mock others, in this preview! Inter: They have added a young prospect named Asllani, a player I coveted. He is finally the Brozovic backup (and should be eventual successor) that they needed, as without Broz, Inter look... terrible. They have overpaid for players like Correa, losing their MVP in Perisic, while being unable to sell players (when everyone knows they need to) while adding an error prone GK in Onana, and the return of their mystical Lukaku in the most cringe video you'll ever see. Their starting XI looks strong, Handa; Skirinar, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Broz, Hakan, Gosens; Lukaku, Lautaro. Can their new RWB (a former Milan youth product) Bellanova help out? Can Darmian keep up? Will Correa stop being trash? Will their horrific backup CBs be able to help out? With Mkhi, their free transfer, actually help out? Do players who return to their original club after a transfer-gone-wrong workout? Who knows? In Italy, Inter are the favorites to win Serie A. Why? Because everyone loves Marotta, their CEO, who has engineered their horrific financial situation, but somehow, is praised for his work? Why? I have no idea. Inter's season hinges on a few things: they stay injury free like last year, Gosens can replace Perisic, Brozovic doesn't get hurt (they really look terrible without him), and that Lukaku returns to being the Lukaku under Conte. If they can stay healthy, and Fake Inzaghi stops being a bad manager when refs have helped Inter consistently (VAR saw Belotti get kicked, and magically did not penalize Inter--this happened a lot last year.), and most importantly: Lukaku and Gosens are hits, then they will challenge for the title. They lack depth, even with Bellanova and Asllani, because after their starting line of CBs, their replacements are poor. Inter also are an ageing team, that aren't getting better, and more importantly, there is the looming reality that they need to sell players. Apparently they need to sell these players by the start of next summer, so this might be their last hurrah? Inter have looked terrible in pre-season, results aside, they look disjointed, and the idea that Gosens will fill in for Perisic is oddly not as big an existential terror. It must also be said that Marotta, Inter's CEO, lobbied successfully to make a change to the rules, that if the top two teams are tied on points, they do not go to head-to-head or goal-difference, but to a play-off. Milan and Inter could have finished last year on equal points, but Milan held the head-to-head advantage, which would have made them win the title. This change makes me... quite suspicious. Juventus: Juventus, business-wise, are the best run club in Italy. They have scouted and signed many of the best Italian talents (they're like Chelsea) even if their youth academy is bad (so unlike Chelsea), they own their own stadium, they have maximized their revenue, they should... be killing the league. They have had three different coaches the last 3 years (Sarri, Pirlo, and a return of Allegri) and Allegri plays... anti-football. You know the stereotypes you have of Italian football? Defensive? Ugly? Cynical? That's Allegri. He has signed Pogba, and Pogba has gotten hurt. I don't root for injuries on any players, no matter who they play for, but Pogba's decisions and how Juventus look at it, it's a big gamble. They have also signed Di Maria. They let go of Dybala. Their midfield is poor. Their defense is worse. They have signed Bremer, who was awarded the best CB in Italy last year. He was good. He played in a back three system. Juve plays a back four. Bremer, in pre-season, has looked... lost. He just has. Their FBs are old. Cuadrado as a RB is exciting, dynamic, but he's 35. Alex Sandro on the other side? Not great. Danilo? Ditto. Bonucci is not a reliable CB, while Juve do have a young Italian CB who was in Serie B, and played for Italy against England and he looked... strong. He didn't look out-of-place. If Gatti can be the defender they need, that will help, but Bremer, Bonucci, and the FBs look bad. Their keeper is one of the best in the league, and I'd say, top 10 in the world in Szczesny. Derided for his time at Arsenal, he was young then, he's developed into a great keeper at Juventus and he keeps them in games. Their midfield options are... poor. Rabiot? Off to United, rumored to be replaced by PSG's Paredes. Also, not exciting. Locatelli has been a miss for them, as he's not a regista (think Pirlo) when they need one, Arthur has been a disappointment, while Fagioli is a good prospect, but Allegri isn't really great at developing young players. Zakaria, another CM they have, has been okay, while Rovella, another young Italian talent, could be very good. Will Allegri maximize Fagioli and Rovella? Will Paredes hinder them? Will Locatelli blossom? Will Zakaria do what they hope? Will Pogba return fit? Will their defense gel? These are the huge questions, and that's not even getting to the fact that they have lost Dybala, which is fine, but Vlahovic isn't scoring like he did for Fiorentina, not even close. It seems that the key to stopping him is to just be a little physical, he then loses his head, and he becomes ineffective. Di Maria is a great player, but he's 35, while Chiesa, who is their most exciting and dynamic attacking player is coming off ACL surgery. Moise Kean is a confusing player, because at PSG he looked sharp and strong, but rumors of a lack-of-discipline have emerged. Like Inter, there are a lot of question marks over all the new parts at Juventus, and more importantly: why go with Allegri? Why give him the keys to this? All he does is grind out wins, but even the best teams can concede fluke goals when they're up 1-0, and Italy has become a much more attacking league. They have tried out several different formations and setups, ever since last year, and they haven't seemingly found a system that features all their parts. Allegri is a pragmatic coach, but he's lost a lot of players, and the replacements don't fill anyone with confidence. Allegri hasn't really imposed a style-of-play, unlike Inter, Milan, Atalanta, etc, he's really relied on defensive organization and stifling play while relying on his riches in attack to bail his team out. The one time he played Inter toe-to-toe, he lost, but Juventus looked deadly, the lesson he learned from that was that it was a bad idea. That's the issue with Allegri. Napoli: Their owner (ADL) is selling off players left and right (Fabian Ruiz and Koulibaly, while also letting Insigne leave) and he made sure to say offensive things to African players (saying if they want to play for Napoli they shouldn't go to AFCON and promise not to) which has made what he wants to do with Napoli just... confusing. Sure, he signed Kim from Fenerbahce to replace Koulibaly, and brought in a very exciting Georgian winger (Kvaratskhelia) who will suffer from the same horrific attempts to spell his name as Armenian Mkhitaryan, but reports are that he's very impressive. Problems with who they want at keeper doesn't help, as they do have a good RB in Di Lorenzo and a strong CB in Rrahmani, but the loss of Koulibaly cannot be understated, he was the heart of this Napoli team. Fabian Ruiz was also one of their most impressive players, and they will have to hope that Elmas can step into the void that comes with him moving to PSG. The loss of Ruiz and Koulibaly are gigantic, there's no way around it. Will Kvaratskhelia become a star? Napoli must hope, but it seems that ADL has gotten very upset at the fact he's paid so much money for Napoli and lost to Milan. "I made a calming speech and reaffirmed my confidence in the technical and medical staff. I said we have to fight, because I see opponents that are brighter and more prepared and it’s not acceptable. Milan pay €96 million in salaries and we pay €136 million…" In short: ADL has continued to be, well, ADL. His team in the 2010's under Sarri were one of the most exciting and beautiful teams to watch. He's meddled and ruined those teams, which should have pushed for the Serie A title and gone deeper into the CL--his ego is the biggest problem at Napoli. Roma: Mourinho hype is in full swing. After winning the Europa Conference League, Roma has added Wijnaldum and Dybala, and Matic, some bullish Roma fans think they are a CB away from being title challengers. Roma's defense is still... shambolic. How Dybala plays, and how healthy he will be, will be a huge element, as will Wijnaldum's form. Can he play well enough? Will Roma be able to sell Zaniolo? Can Mourinho really push Roma to the next step? We'll see. Tammy is a very good striker, and rumors are that Roma will sell Zaniolo for 55m + Tanganga from Spurs. Milan were linked with Tanganga, as well. Roma have an exciting young Polish LWB, if he can make another jump, plus with the return of Spinazzola, the star LB from Italy's Euro 2020 triumph, plus the Turkish RB Celik, they will have a better team. Their issue is that they are, again, bad at CB. Smalling has done well, but Mancini and Ibanez are disasters on either side of him. Also, how the team will accommodate Dybala and Pellegrini (their natural and great CAM) is to be seen. If Roma play like this GK; Mancini, Smalling, Ibanez; Celik, Matic, Wijanaldum, Zalewski/Spina; Pellegrini; Dybala, Tammy -- that could work. It really depends on whether Matic can make it, or will he be an expensive drain, will Cristante get upset? Will Wijnaldum work in that system? Will Dybala stay healthy? Who knows. If they can pull it all together, if everything goes to plan, I can see why people are so bullish on Roma. Dybala is the big mystery, for me. If he can play like the Dybala of four years ago, they have one of the best players in the world. If they have the Dybala of last year, they'll be a tough team and should push for 4th place. Lazio: Sarri, the professor, is there. He hasn't lost Luis Alberto, the most overrated CM in Italy: Sergej Milinkovic Savic, and Immobile, the most deadly rubbish striker in the world. For Lazio, he has been one of the strongest strikers in world football, both in Italy and in European competitions. Why is he so bad for Italy? Who knows? They have added Alessio Romagnoli to bolster their backline, while still being rather threadbare. They got 5th place, over Roma, and yet they aren't getting nearly as much attention as Roma. They have bought less high-profile named, like Casale (a defender) and a personal favorite RW Matteo Cancellieri. The young kid has a stunning debut goal, and if Sarri can coach him to his potential, they have a very exciting player on their hands. Depth is their issue, but they are a fun team to watch, and Sarri is still one of the more daring and exciting managers in Italy. Lazio should fight for 4th place this year. Fiorentina: they play exciting, brash football. Their owner is an Italian immigrant to America who became a billionaire who is outspoken and unafraid to mix-it-up. They lost Vlahovic, but they keep attacking. They'll have to deal with the extra games of the Europa Conference League, so we'll see how they do. Their coach is one to watch. Atalanta: Last year, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong for the most fun team to watch in Italy, or, they were. Fiorentina, Lazio, Sassuolo, Milan, all have taken on the ultra attacking influence from Gasperini and went with it, hell, even relegation sides have done it, and teams like Empoli have made it their signature, to attack, attack, attack. Atalanta finished 8th, with most predicting them to be a locked-in top 4 team. Injuries and management problems between coach and directors, led to a frosty situation. Gasperini staying as coach was surprising. Without European competition to bother them, they could be one of the strongest teams in Italy again. Or, maybe Gapserini's magic is wearing out, with players like Ilicic slowing down, Zapata being injured, and Boga not living up to his price tag, Atalanta are the big mystery. So, how about Milan? Of all the teams, Milan are the most stable. They have lost Kessie for free to Barcelona, who are struggling to register him. To be honest, Kessie was terrible for 80% of last season. He was a good, reliable player, but he was asking for more money than Rodri gets after his renewal with City (and Barca are paying him around that [more if you add bonuses]). Kessie was overtaken by Sandro Tonali as the first choice CM, and Tonali is one of the best U21 players in the world (along with Kalulu, Milan's CB) and he was incredible last year. Milan have the strongest defense and the best keeper in Italy, Maignan, who is one of the best keepers in the world. Theo Hernandez is probably the best LB in the world, while Tomori-Kalulu are one of the most ferocious CB pairings in the world. Davide Calabria, the new captain, and boyhood Milan fan who came up through the academy is a tidy, intelligent player, he's like a discount Lahm. With Kjaer, the captain of Denmark, returning from his ACL surgery, and the loss of their overpaid captain Romagnoli to Lazio, Milan need a CB so they can send Gabbia (a promising prospect) on loan for experience. Milan also need a new CM, even if they added their homegrown talent (returning from an impressive loan at Torino) Italian international Pobega. He will need time, but the club just extended him, and his stats compare favorably to Kessie. Milan missed out on Renato Sanches (my first choice) once Campos and Galtier took over PSG, who were the duo who re-launched Renato's career after his epic failure at Bayern. Milan have also added Charles De Ketelaere, a player who can play as a RW, CAM, SS, and CF. They have also added a CAM/CM player in Yacine Adli, who has impressed everyone during pre-season. He is like Modric, just taller. He's still green, but he has impressed everyone. Milan have also added Origi to their striker unit of Giroud, Ibrahimovic (won't be available until Jan 2023), and Ante Rebic (who also plays LW). Milan also welcome back Rafa Leao, Serie A's MVP last year, and one of the best LWs in the world. Milan fans would like to see Ziyech come in, which may be possible at the end of the window, as Chelsea get more desperate (it seems they just let Werner go for 20m) and Milan are in the market for another CM and a CB (Diallo from PSG is my personal first choice)--if they can get those players in, Milan will be seen as the favorite for Serie A, or at least, they should be--how the reigning champions are behind Inter and Juve in many peoples' eyes, I have no idea, but, it shows how disruptive Milan's success has been. To be quite frank, if Milan had gotten Renato Sanches, Diallo, and Ziyech, I think we would be able to make a huge run in the CL. Unlike the Bundesliga, Ligue 1, or Portugal, teams that have competitive domestic leagues, like England, Spain, and Italy, makes CL runs difficult to handle. And Milan's biggest issue was the massive disparity between muscle injuries in Milan's players and those on other teams. If Milan has another injury-hit season, and I'm not talking ACL tears (that can happen to anyone) and other massive injuries, but muscle pulls, strains, the sorts of injuries that athletic and medical staff should be able to prevent--is the biggest issue facing Milan. Will the young players be able to make another jump? Will Origi help out? Will Leao be able to replicate his success? Will De Ketelaere be worth the massive investment in him? Can Tonali make good on the amazing promise he showed? Will Bennacer stay healthy and show why City, Liverpool, and Man Utd all covet him? These are the big "What ifs" over Milan's season. ------------- I'm not good at predictions. Terrible at them actually. But as you can see, there is a lot of flux in Italy right now. Last season really upended the normal order of things, which was punctuated by Milan's dominant team. In Italy, and among Milan fans themselves, they think that this Milan team is some sort of fluke. Most Inter and Juve fans think the same. They forget that Milan got 2nd the year before, and that it was a lack-of-depth that year that cost them from challenging for the title, and that it was a few purchases (Florenzi, Giroud, Messias, and a trust in their young players growing) that made Milan leap to the title. If Milan had "splashed the cash" to grab their players and build their team, people would be asking if this Milan team was poised to become a dynasty. Instead, many pundits have tried to equate Milan with Leicester, which is an unfair comparison. Pundits in Italy who are playing it safe are saying that it will be Inter-Juve to fight for the title, with Milan behind them (some include Milan in the pack) while saying that the battle over 4-7 will be intense. Do I expect Milan to win the title? Injuries are the huge concern, and to be quite frank, I fear Inter will get some corrupt calls in their favor, as they did last year. Juventus are their own worst enemy, as entrusting Allegri with their rebuilding is foolish. They should have kept Sarri, allowed him to build a system. Or better yet, grabbed Italiano (coach of Fiorentina) and let him rebuild. Juve don't seem to have the stomach for that after their experiences with Sarri and Pirlo, which shows how skittish and weak their current leadership is, and if Juve had been in the hands of another coach, like Sarri or Conte or Pioli, I would be much more worried about them. Serie A is all about unknowns, as in the last three years, the usual order has been flipped completely. The Juve dominance from 2012-2020, where Inter and Milan were in the wilderness, leading to Roma, Napoli meekly attempting to challenge is giving way to a slow return of the Italian "seven sisters" which traditionally consists of Milan, Juve, Inter, Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio, and normally Parma, but now Napoli, plus Atalanta are the teams that are starting to really fight it out. Roma and Fiorentina are American owned, as are several other smaller clubs in Italy, and of course, Milan, which has jump started their competitiveness. If Italian teams can build stadiums, and stop fighting over TV revenue, and start exporting their brand like they should, Italy's dominance might return--but Italian bureaucracy over stadiums is the biggest hurdle towards the infrastructure of football in Italy. Only Juve in the top 7 of Italy's top flight own their own stadium, which is absurd. Of course, the transfer market is still open, and things can change drastically, so, this preview is really just about things as I see them, as they stand, in early August.

On it!

Why should you even look to other Prem clubs to do transfer business? With all due respect, the EPL is an overpriced market. The fact Cucurella went for 60m or whatever, is absurd. Patently absurd. "EPL proven" is an overrated mantra that makes no sense when like 66% of players in the EPL are from... outside the EPL to begin with. Players can be world-class, but if you misuse them, if things are going on around them, if you're asking them to do things that are different to what made them desirable, they're going to fail. The idea of an "EPL tax" is controversial, and I think a big part of that is looking at what teams will spend in the EPL versus in other leagues. So striker X comes to Everton, for example, striker X came from a ball dominant, title-chasing team in Portugal or Holland, it's a different style. Lukaku was used in a counter-attacking, speed focused 352 at Inter under Conte. The 343 at Chelsea is slow, labored, and terrible for all attackers. Lukaku is still a good player, but he's being misused. He scored a lot at West Brom and Everton, and in his first year at Man Utd, so it's not about Lukaku suddenly being unable to deal with the EPL, it's really about fitting in players, and a whole host of other factors. Maguire is exposed at Man Utd because his team is supposed to be on the front foot. He's expected to do some more one-on-one defending. For England, I'm sorry, but Southgate plays like a coward. England played with a 5-man-backline. England was at their best when they were attacking relentlessly, but I digress. The point is: Maguire looks good when he's playing in a system that allows him to just be the extra defender, a glorified sweeper. Everyone thinks that Newcastle is going to spend, and that you'll spend way more than you have to, and frankly, the Wood transfer didn't help that perception--but obviously the fact that your owners are PIF, people are going to play hardball with you. The only thing you can do is build patiently and preach the FFP mantra, and your management has to show that they will be disciplined and walk away from deals, wait until January, or the next summer. Patience is going to be required, and I say this because Milan's management and yours seem to follow very similar approaches. They're not going to be bullied, they're not going to overpay, they're not going to be emotional or overreact about what they need. Milan fans are kicking-and-screaming, but I don't think they appreciate that when your club gets bought for 1.2 billion (and that's for 60-70% without a stadium) other clubs are going to think you have more money. Just like clubs think Newcastle has more money. Which, in fairness, both clubs most probably do. But patience is required, though. Look at Man Utd, they're about to get Rabiot? Why? He's a good, tidy player. But he's not what they need. Is he better than Fred and McTominay? Yes, but is that saying much? Also: they need someone who can handle the ball better. Rabiot is skilled for a defensive-CM (he's not exactly a DM, he's like a Matuidi-type [but not as good]) but he's got a terrible attitude, so why bring him to Manchester? When attitude problems abound? Arnatuavic, the child's drawing of Ibrahimovic, is good for mid-table Bologna, but he's a jerk. He causes trouble. And maybe at 33 he's finally calmed down, but he's not what they need (personality-wise)--he wouldn't be the worst thing, he might actually be useful (style-wise), but, he's tailor made for a smaller club, not Manchester United. When our owners first came in, we had Leonardo (of PSG... "fame") and he bought a lot of players. He brought in Samu Castillejo for 25m, Mattia Caldara who was supposed to be the next great Italian CB (tore his achilles [I don't hold major injuries as flops, personally], exchanged for Bonucci, so 35m), Piatek (35m), Paqueta (35-40m), Diego Laxalt (20m), Higuain (18m loan + 36m option to buy) which we thankfully cut short, and other various loan-spells, spending around 180m--and it was a disaster. We lost money on every single deal. Anyway, the point of this post is to provide yourselves (and myself, lol) some reassurance to take a longer-term view, and to realize that judging transfer windows by the amount spent, the names brought in (are they familiar to you? Have they been hyped by fans and pundits?), is the worst way to look at the transfer window. We "lost" the battle with you over Botman. Personally, I think in January we wanted Botman, badly, but our defensive scheme changed drastically from January to the summer, with the emergence of Kalulu (who we paid 500k for) to pair with our English darling Fik Tomori, and we now have the best defense in Serie A. The point is, Botman will fit your system better than he will fit ours. We could have went into a bidding war, but what's the point? Lille just wanted to extract more money from whoever. And frankly, Botman wasn't that expensive for the EPL, when you compare the prices of other CBs. Getting buy-in from a player is more important, and walking away from a transfer "over a few million" is going to have to be the norm, otherwise, you'll be in a worse spot in more deals later on. The football world is a small place, word gets around. Leeds offered 40m for CDK, our new player. We paid 32m. We were patient and were willing to walk away. The kid wanted to come to Milan. I fear he's doomed because of the comparisons to Kaka, who he doesn't play like at all, Kaka had blistering pace, anyway... The EPL has a reputation for overpaying and Newcastle has the biggest target on its back. If you buy players just to have one, you'll be stuck with them. It's better to trust who you have, even if you suffer short-term, because there's no need to overpay. Man Utd have overpaid, as have Barca, and they are stuck with them. So have Chelsea. Werner has obscene wages. Barca are trying to threaten De Jong with "criminal litigation" because they want to screw him out of wages that he's owed, while they are using borrowed money to pay 55m for Kounde and 50m for a 34-year-old Lewa, and they're wondering why he won't forgo wages they owe him. Our management has shown us they are to be trusted, and so, if yours has, then give them the benefit of the doubt, and leave behind the mentality that has led to absurd wages and transfer fees. Man Utd has been run as if Man Utd fans have been in charge, they all pretend they weren't excited about CR7 or Fred or Maguire or Wan-Bissaka or Sancho and on and on. It seems Newcastle is being run like any other business where the price of players is finally featuring the possibility of failure as a factor. Newcastle's expectations aren't the CL--so there's no need for urgency. You're not in a "win now" scenario, risks don't have to be taken, you have to build up the spine of your team, and that's going to take time. Pushing for signings means overpaying, because players that you love today, might become failures tomorrow. This has gone on way too long, anyway, keep the faith, stay the course, you all are so, so nice to me and kind people, I really appreciate the hospitality.

He is utter garbage. He's slow, freezes up whenever there's the tiniest bit of pressure or something on-the-line. Yes, he puts up impressive numbers, but, there's a reason not a single big club in Italy has seriously went after him. Last summer Fiorentina offered 15m for him, they wouldn't go higher. Italian players go for a premium for homegrown rules and all that, but the fact that Roma, Napoli, Inter, Juve, Milan, none of them have seriously went after him, he's 28, he "burst onto the scene" years ago. I think many of you know that I tend to shy away from the idea that the EPL is some other-wordly league, but, I will say that speed is incredibly important when you're... a winger, but he would get eaten up by EPL speed, he just would. He's not skilled enough to overcome his lack-of-pace, and I think a big reason why he's been able to survive, even in Italy, where the pace can be slower (but the tactics suffocating) is because Berardi is actually a big boy. He's taller than you think and I think he's used his frame and skill to good effect, but if he's not your focal point of your team, he's terrible. Also, the rest of his team's attack is filled with pace. Hamed Traore (who is the better player), Raspadori (who I don't rate [I'd say that's an unpopular opinion in Italy, but one I would stick to]), Frattesi (a CM), and even Scamacca, who is fast for his size, all are able to compensate for his lack of speed. We bought De Ketelaere the new Belgian star, and it seems we will be using him and Yacine Adli, another gem we found in France, to add to our attack with Rafa Leao. Plus, our made-for-a-movie story of a former delivery man turned professional player Junior Messias is looking like he'll be much better in his second season. Anyway, the point is, several teams in Italy have needed a winger, not just Milan, but Napoli as well, and they've both snubbed him. The fact that only Fiorentina wanted to take a punt on him, and only at 15m, while Sassuolo demand 30m for him--it just goes to show you that he's just... he's not that good. Yes, he's capable of doing a job for a club, and he'll do it well, but not a single club in the European places in Italy want him, doesn't that tell you everything you need to know? Everyone misses, but, he missed this, against Macedonia: I cannot get over it. Italy was plagued by injuries in this game, and there's a reason why when we won the Euros, it was mostly down to Berardi being benched in favor of Chiesa--who is Italy's best attacking talent, the only issue being that he tore his ACL, just like Zaniolo (twice), which is why Berardi even gets game-time. When you look past his stats, you see a limited player. Even when you look at a lot of his "assists" they are other players doing incredible things. Yes, Berardi has his moments, he does, but, would I pay 30m for him? I realize that 30m for the EPL (25m pounds) is nothing, but, to me, that's a lot of money for a player, especially from a team that is in 8-10th place. We bought Rafa Leao for 29m, and he's looking like one of the best LW in the world right now. We bought Tomori for 28m, or Theo Hernandez for 20m, and these are all world-class players. So, I just don't think he's worth the money. Congrats are your first win of the season by the way!

Calcio e Finanza and Il Sole 24 Ore are the best sources for financial reports on teams. Capology is good, but still off, for example, they didn't seem to factor Romagnoli's salary properly--granted, neither did SwissRamble or other Italian papers until it was revealed that he was earning 6m net. I'm not even sure what you are trying to prove though? That English teams can pay more than Milan? If so, I don't agree. I also don't think wage bill totals, considering the tremendous tax advantage Italian teams have, is an accurate reflection either. I have not disputed that EPL salaries average higher than Italy. I simply find the idea that Leeds, West Ham, or Leicester can financially muscle, in the words of tifo "the Italian champions AC Milan" to be... wrong and inaccurate.

I don't think those numbers are accurate for the Italian clubs, they don't look right for Milan, that much I will say. Milan has drastically cut its salaries, by getting rid of many underperforming players--our wages used to be bloated. We pay our superstar LW Rafa Leao 1.5m, for example, instead of the 3m we used to pay Suso, for example. Leao (along with many others) is in line for a massive pay increase. The other major factor here is that Milan has taken full advantage of a new tax law that means that Milan pays tax only on 50% of a player's earnings. This is why our wage bill has dropped drastically, and why we can offer better wages after tax than other clubs outside of Italy. So a player who makes 1m net costs us around 1.2m gross, versus approximately 2m in England or France (except Monaco, who have no tax). This cuts down on our costs, tremendously. Leeds highest earner is on 3.5m gross, which is the sort of salary we used to pay squad players under Leonardo, before Maldini came to town.

Tifo Football Podcast mentioned it. As do several pundits when talking about the fact that Leeds are offering 37m while we are holding firming between 30-33m. The formal dispute is over our revenue. I believe they listed it at around 216m while Milan said that last year we made 265m. Forbes valuations of clubs, to me, are just absurd. We just sold 60-70% of our club for 1.2b, when we don't even own a stadium--their valuations of our worth are off, as are their evaluations of our revenues. The lack of stadium ownership in Italy is actually the biggest problem Serie A faces. Milan built San Siro, but the city of Milan owns it. My argument is that fans believe that EPL teams pay astronomical wages, and that smaller teams can pay more than the top teams in Italy. Which just isn't true. They fixate on the TV revenue as if that is the only place where teams get their revenue. I think fans compare English salaries, which are gross, versus Italian salaries which are reported net, and then make the wrong conclusions, yes. Many Milan fans say it is humiliating that we are being outbid by Leeds. They want Maldini to overpay so that we aren't humiliated, and they believe (as does Tifo [who are supposed to be smart guys]) that Leeds are offering more because they have more money than us. Much of the damage to our bottom line comes from the Chinese ownership era where we spent something like 250m on transfers, and nearly all of them were horrific flops. We have been working our way out of that mess, where the club went into default, to our current owners, over a 300m loan the Chinese ownership used to buy the club from Berlusconi. They made new kit deals, which were less than previous ones, and all sorts of other stupid decisions, as well as giving players eye-watering salaries. Romagnoli, our young captain, was making 12m gross--he cost us more than Ibra, for comparison--as was Donnarumma. Donnarumma was one of the highest paid GKs in the world as a teen. The previous ownership was... horrific.

Man Utd actually thinks about the media exposure, that's why they have been so poorly run. They finally made a sensible transfer for that LB from Feyenoord and I saw Man Utd fans get mad, because he wasn't expensive. I was confused. Who cares if you got a good deal on him? It seems like Man Utd fans forget how much they paid for Wan-Bissaka. Or Fred. Or Pogba. Or Sancho. Or Martial. Or... lol.

Serie A teams, in general, pay players less. I've just kept hearing about this whole "well, a team like Leeds can outbid AC Milan for a player!" But AC Milan makes more money, per year, than West Ham, Leeds, Leicester, etc--the latest Forbes figures were actually disputed, formally, by the club--and even in our rebuilding phase, we made more money than them. So it's not about spending power, but a conscious decision on the part of Milan to not overpay. Edit, forgot to add: Yes, EPL teams make insane money from TV revenue. But Milan is projected to make around 300m+ this year, last year, 265m+, which is more than the above clubs, while we are projected to make, at least, 360m next year. Milan being run, y'know, with basic competence has made our revenue grow a lot, who would have thought? Once we build our own stadium, they expect we should add over 100m, per season, alone. Italian salaries are reported net, while English ones are reported gross. With the way things are reported, I didn't expect, Fabinho to only make 5.45m net (euros) for example. Brozovic at Inter makes 6m, for comparison. Until he renewed at 7.3m, Rodri was making 3.75m, which again, is not an insane amount--and not an absurd overpay in comparison to Brozovic, or his midfield partners in Barella (5m) and Calhanoglu (5m+1m bonuses). With the way EPL salaries are reported, you'd imagine the gulf would be huge. That's all. I just think it's weird that Leeds is offering 37m for Charles De Ketelaere but are offering him less money than Milan, salary-wise. Another example, Ziyech from Chelsea makes 3m net, but the more stupid Italian journalists are saying that his 6m net salary is the problem for Milan to pursue him, but that's because they think English clubs report their salaries as net, as well. These are obviously the less... sophisticated journalists in Italy. I think English clubs overpay in transfer fees. Newcastle might be one of the more sensible clubs.

Scammacca is one of Italy's few true talents in attack. He is essentially a knock-off Ibrahimovic. I'm not sure if West Ham is the best place for him. I think he will flop for West Ham despite his talent. He has an absolute cannon of a right foot, does the sort of dirty work you'd want from your CF, isn't as good with his head as you'd think, but isn't weak. I just think West Ham is a weird fit. I'm also shocked at how low the salaries are in the EPL, considering what you all pay for players--it seems that English teams put way more money into transfers than they do for salaries. Obviously, the average salary in the EPL is higher than in other leagues, but this narrative has taken hold among Milan fans that we are being outgunned, financially, when time-and-again, it has been shown that we walk away from deals over "a few million." The worrying thing is that PSG are now run by someone who is actually competent. They turned down Scammacca over a few million and went and got Ekitike for less money. If that was Milan, they would have said that we lost out on Scammacca over a few million, when in reality, the smarter thing to do is to walk away once the other club is asking too much. I get the sense that Newcastle is doing the same, you don't seem to be pulling the trigger as people thought you would.

Zielinski is amazing. Napoli is a suffocating place to play, and he does run himself into the ground, very highly rated in Italy.

Osimhen is insane. He should score more than he does. He is blindingly fast. He is relentless. He will chase after lost causes, harass defenders, the only issue is that he tends to get freakish injuries. He fractured his cheekbone last year, and the year before that he hurt his shoulder really badly. Both kept him out for several months. He would be worth more than what is listed above. Napoli paid like 70-80m (euros) for him (on paper, at least) and Napoli should hold out for more than Darwin.

Sorry if this is late. At first, I was confused why Newcastle wanted Paqueta, but, after seeing how Howe's 433 morphs into a 4231, Paqueta could most certainly fit into your system. He's a hardworker, he's not a classic 10, I don't think those really exist anymore. 10/CAMs today are just Lampard-like players. For Milan, for example, we use a 4231, and our CAM is used to press, since with Ibra and Giroud, our strikers aren't the most mobile. Giroud works hard, but he's not fast. We have used a CM/DM in the CAM spot to work as an anti-10, the mark and disrupt a team's regista (CDM, Pirlo-type) like Brozovic at Inter, where he literally sets the tone for the entire team. I get the sense that Joelinton has taken up that role. However, Paqueta would be a serious upgrade. He has skill and the guile to match a workrate that would suit Howe.

American schooling, plus my mother moved to America when she was young, while my university and graduate work was all in English. So, I'm nothing special, really. But thank you so much for such nice words.