Milanista

The narrative from Italy is that Botman is in total agreement with Maldini and that Lille want Milan to match Newcastle's offer, which Milan refuse to do, banking on the desire of the player to be patient. Milan are waiting for Newcastle to lose their patience and move on, leaving Milan's bid the only one Botman will agree to. To be fair, Newcastle could be doing the same, they could simply be waiting for Milan to move on, but the narrative in Italy is that Milan is waiting out Newcastle. Reports from France have now listed Botman as a target for PSG if they (PSG) do not buy Skriniar from Inter. I personally think this is evidence of Lille trying to manufacture urgency in the Newcastle and Milan camps. I will say, again, the fact that Newcastle are going after Ekitike and Botman means that you are being run by competent people. With reports over Cucurella's transfer fee to City coming out, an absurd figure for an above-average wingback, buying from other EPL teams is a waste of money. Milan, even before Maldini (in fact, especially before Maldini) when we had a man named Galliani in charge (he built Milan under Berlusconi) he was famous for waiting until August to buy players. This was called the "Galliani zone" and "vulture zone" as Galliani had a knack for getting players at the end of the window at insane discounts. For example, Galliani got Ibrahimovic from Barca for 24m the year after Barca paid 70m and Etoo for him. Maldini has done this before, and while last summer it did not work (we needed a RW and the player Milan wanted actually stopped going to training to force the move, which Maldini did not approve of, and dropped the deal out of respect to the other club) the point is: Maldini waited until the last weeks of the transfer window to go after our biggest problem area--it is a hallmark of Milan. Maldini is banking on patience because Botman is an unappreciated asset. For example: Chelsea need CBs. Are they linked with Botman? No. Because Chelsea are run like many other EPL teams, where name recognition seems to be key for management teams, when it should be limited to fans. The only reason Botman is linked with PSG is because Campos has taken charge of PSG and he put together that Lille team, and Botman was one of his gems. But PSG is still PSG, so they want the flashy (and overrated) Skriniar from Inter; I also think that Lille are planting these stories to entice Newcastle and Milan to bid more. The reason why Botman is a good buy for Newcastle is because Lille have had a terrible season, so their players are not coming off winning Ligue 1, they didn't even qualify for Europe, so the pursuit of Botman, again, underlines that Newcastle is being run properly. The more I've learned of Howe's tactics the more I see why you would go after Paqueta, he would work really well in Howe's system. Paqueta is a more flashy purchase, yes, but he makes sense for what your team is actually doing. Sorry for the unnecessarily long post reiterating the same things.

There's another factor to Lille's current stance: they are (or rather: were) under investigation by the DNCG, which regulates the finances in French football. Lille's accounts were under investigation and they just got cleared, so they are now able to actually makes moves in the transfer market. This is probably the most likely reason there hasn't been movement by Lille. The article, in Italian, is here. This is no small issue, as the DNCG just relegated Bordeaux, an important club in France, from the 2nd division to the 3rd division as a result of their finances. This was an under-reported element in both Italian and English press with their various theories (including my own) as to why there wasn't more movement on the part of Lille.

Yeah, we have a sell-on fee for Paqueta. The percentage is reported at 15% because we bought him for around 38m (some reports have it even higher) and then sold him for 20m to Lyon, which is a pretty hefty loss after a year and a half. I've never read anything about there being a link between Paqueta's sale and Botman's, Milan don't need money from other transactions to buy or sell. There are many Italians fans (and foreign fans) who vastly underestimate Milan's current economic power, Milan's management does not buy into the "pay a few million more" philosophy. They offer or they walk away. Milan don't really think in terms of transfer fees, because in accounting terms, the amortization of the fee, combined with the player's salary, that is how it appears on their books--and that is their primary concern, they don't worry about the money from this player coming in so they can use it to buy that player. Furthermore, Milan is set to release some huge earners, while Ibrahimovic is going to cut his salary dramatically (he was our highest earner after-tax, but not before tax) which combined with the new FFP laws, means that your spending is linked less to incoming and outgoing revenues (and your profit margin therein) but more in the ratio between your revenue and the percent of that revenue that you spend, so with various different situations you can spend between 70 and 90% of your total revenue. I'm sorry to get boring, but this is how the new FFP rules are structured. These rules greatly favor Milan, as well as EPL and La Liga teams that have managed their wage structure accordingly. It is really bad for Barca, Inter, Juve, Chelsea, though, because you can't just sell a bunch of young players to make things go away. I'm really sorry to have talked about a bunch of other things, but they are all related to how Newcastle or Milan will value Botman, look at Paqueta, and how they see transfer fees, salaries, and I hope it will help you dismiss a lot of the crap that is put out by journalists who seem to use FIFA logic to explain transfers, when transfers (and the numbers involved in them) are more linked to accounting, legal, and tax considerations than in horse-trading between clubs' transfer budgets.

I found this article about how transfer news gets reported, I thought it was an interesting read: https://www.fourfourtwo.com/us/features/truth-behind-transfer-window-rumour-mill-those-know Reports in Italy are that Botman prefers Milan over Newcastle and that Maldini is telling Botman to stay patient. Another element is that Elliott, the hedge fund who owns Milan (sold it to Redbird, another hedge fund, who won't finalize their ownership stake until September) they seem to either own a piece of Lille or they are the financiers behind the hedge fund that owns a big portion of Lille (if not the outright majority) and the board battle over which bid to the crux. So, the way I look at it is this: Lille's ownership is beholden/indebted/intertwined with the ownership of Milan, Botman has been charmed by Maldini, but Milan are not going to go past a certain amount, and it seems that Newcastle are not going past their number, either. The faction at Lille that want to maximize profit are trying to drive the price up, which was why there were some random links to Man Utd and Spurs, and even PSG (attempts to drive up the price) but Newcastle isn't biting--which might be undercutting their position that Lille should hold out. The other faction, wants to sell to Milan to get their double-deal with Renato Sanches done, so that Lille can record that money on this year's books rather than next year's. So it seems like there is a complex game of chicken, everyone is looking to see who will blink first.

I'm sorry if I derailed the discussion here, so to the mods: please accept my apologies. The places where I talk about Milan, the rules over the proper place is much more flexible, much like Italian driving in comparison to English driving, lol. As far as Botman, I think Lille is the one who is trying to drive up the price. I think Newcastle's management are not offering the insane numbers that are being talked about in the press, and frankly, I think Newcastle are using very similar data-driven models on valuation. Yes, you paid a little extra for Bruno and for Wood (could be EPL tax plus a Newcastle tax [if we're being honest]), but, your pursuit of Botman versus other flavor-of-the-month type players points to a more RB Leipzig/Liverpool/Milan transfer approach than to some City/Chelsea/PSG style. Milan being recently bought for 1.2+ billion means that Lille assumes Milan has more money, but it seems that Newcastle and Milan are the two main clubs after him. I think the difference in bids are relatively minor, probably 25-30m for Milan and 30-35m from Newcastle, Euros. Lille needs money, and they have assets that are very attractive, besides Botman, there is Renato Sanches (which Milan have blocked off), Celik, and Jonathan David. David will probably be bought by a team like Arsenal, who will misuse him (he's a second striker but people pretend he's a 9) but he will command top dollar. Sanches is in his last year of his contract, and his poor time at Bayern and Swansea means that management teams will pretend he hasn't blossomed into an incredible player because of that tough period of his career--while Celik isn't a hyped name, but he's a very good player. Oh, and I realized that Howe used a 4141 while at Bournemouth, and while looking at some tactical breakdowns of Newcastle, his team has, while on paper been a 433, it actually shifts into a 4231 during the game, which really bodes well for Paqueta--it seems that your transfer strategy is quite coherent and in-line with Howe, which is good, it seems that you are actually giving him a real chance to grow this team under his vision rather than just letting him keep the seat warm. Oh! And as far as the Italian media goes: SempreMilan is not Italian media, it's an aggregator of news with an Englishman (I believe he has Evertonian sympathies?) at the helm. Italian news sources vary wildly in terms of their accuracy for each specific team. SempreMilan simply poorly translates news from all Italian sources and posts them with misleading headlines. For transfer news, it's where things have become hyper-localized, and while yes, the larger Italian papers and names will talk about "oh, so and so is close to x club!" They are just on a pop-level of journalism, and they have genuine scoops (by virtue of their size and fame) every once-in-a-while. Each club has a journalist or two who they rely on the most. As I wrote earlier, Vitiello is, by far, the most reliable when it comes to Milan. For Juventus, it is Agresti, for example. Longo (for Milan) is more disputed, I think he captures rumors and breaks them first, but, he's not getting first-hand information from the management--but he seems to know things. Also, there is a growing sense among Milan fans that they are giving up on Botman (and Bremer), and will put more faith in Kalulu, purchase a more developmental CB, as it seems that Kjaer's rehab from his ACL surgery has gone well. With Tomori, Kalulu, and Kjaer, the need for someone of the quality of Botman may become less urgent. Though, we do need a CB, as Kjaer's return is not certain. Kalulu is also a very strong RB, with many Milan fans (I'd say most) wanting to start Kalulu as our RB over our current incumbent (and next captain, youth product) Davide Calabria. It also must be said that under Maldini, Milan's transfer targets seldom get drawn out this long. Giroud might be the only transfer that was talked about as much as this, but that was haggling over a 1m transfer fee that Chelsea tacked on, when he should have left for free. Most of Maldini's purchases happen with very little notice, and the names that we have been the most strongly linked with, even by more reputable sources, tend to not materialize. We were supposed to get Angel Correa, Vlasic (now at West Ham), Wesley Fofana, Mohamed Simakan, and others, and none of them came to Milan. Tomori, Kalulu, Adli, Leao, Tonali, Kjaer, Maignan, all were sudden and rapid. Maignan is the most glaring, as Donnaruma left Milan at the end of his contract, and Maldini did not even entertain games from the late Raiola, who tried to ask Milan to reconsider, Milan had signed Maignan before the season ended, with only a random report months previous (that most forgot) hinting at the interest. He was also from Lille. Milan fans, and there are many Dutch ones, seem to think Botman's preference is Milan. However, if his first choice is not Newcastle, that should not bother you. There are countless stories of players not wanting to go to x or y club, who have become legends there. Wasn't Jamie Carragher an Everton fan before going to Liverpool? So who cares? Finally, my "dig" at American fans was not serious, it was just a joke. So to any American fans here, please accept my sincere apologies, I learned my English in American international schools, and my English accent is very American, so it was as much a joke at my expense as it was at yours. I apologize, also, for the length of my posts, I'd just like to offer as much background to your competition over a transfer and towards Lille as possible, as well as allow you to not waste your time with reports from Tuttosport (nicknamed "Tuttoshit"), Gazetta, CorSport, or other sources, they are a waste of your time. Also, Milan is not exactly a darling club of the Italian media, so they're not going to get the "top 6" treatment. The clubs who get the most beneficial coverage and the most "benefit of the doubt" are Juve and Inter, by far. By far. Napoli does, locally, but their owner is a madman and has squandered 10 years of great fortune with players and coaches. Roma, Lazio, again, locally, but not by national sources.

I think he used Milan as a vehicle to pursue his political aspirations, no doubt. But I have a tough time associating him with buying success, not only because Milan were a massive club before he took over, but also because the spine of his super teams were actually highly reliant on our youth system, to name a few: Baresi, Maldini, Costacurta, Albertini, Galli--with other academy graduates being big parts of our success, like Brocchi, Abate, Antonini--but Berlusconi also prided himself on getting talent from obscure places in Italy, like coaches in Sacchi and Capello, and players like Tassotti, Ambrosini, Gattuso, Marco Simone just to name a few. Did Berlusconi spend money in the 80's and 90's? Yes. But Moratti at Inter spent even more, and won very little, as did the Angelli's at Juve, while Napoli, Parma, Sampdoria, Roma, and Lazio all were bankrolled by Italian industrialists during this time. I personally hate Berlusconi, not just due to his politics being antithetical to my own, but also due to his horrific management of the club at the last 10 years of his ownership, where he failed to modernize anything about the club, making himself front-and-center to satisfy his fascistic tendencies. However, with Franco's Real Madrid teams of the 50's and 60's, or the Angelli machines of the 70's buying players left-and-right, I find the idea that Berlusconi invented buying success to be odd, especially as it was his Milan teams that actually went against conventional thinking, whether by employing psychologists and cutting-edge science towards player health, or through huge risks on tactical approaches that flew in the face of what Italy's identity was at the time.

No apologies necessary. I'm overly defensive over Milan, I apologize.

Oh, if people want to say that he "flopped" at Milan, then they are grossly mistaken. He was a very young player who was brought in to save Milan, with no support system around him. He came in January of 2019, and when he first came in, he was great. Didn't score enough, but he had some nice assists, and everyone was buzzing. Summer of 2019, big changes, and that's when he suffered, coaching changes didn't result in him rediscovering his form, but I think he just had a tough time at Milan, because Covid hit the second part of that season (which is when we had our new coach) and he worked hard, but, they just couldn't iron out where to put him, especially as we had Hakan Calhanoglu, who was playing very well for us in the CAM spot. Edgar Davids, Patrick Vieira, and Kluivert, among others, had come to Milan had failed, before moving on to have strong careers--the idea that because a player had a bad time at some club makes them a "bad buy" is silly to me. Being compared to Kaka did not help, it heaped pressure on the boy, and that's where Ibrahimovic coming in helped, because he took all the spotlight, and our young players didn't have to deal with the crushing expectations of a revival. Milan fans are different to Real Madrid or Barca fans, Milan fans will pick your performances apart. Spanish fans just say you're rubbish and tell you to take a hike, but Milan fans pride themselves on their tactical knowledge, and so the dissections of why you are having a bad game must be annoying, particularly to young players who are much more aware of the opinions due to social media. Bruno being at Newcastle will help Paqueta settle. I just think playing him as a CM in a 433 would be a mistake, akin to Man Utd playing Pogba as a CM. Where Bruno Fernandes plays for Man Utd is where Pogba should have been playing for Man Utd, so Bruno F. was a waste of money, as was playing Pogba out-of-position. Paqueta is like Lampard, not in style, but role. I don't consider Lampard a particularly gifted passer, I think Scholes and Beckham were much better (Beckham impressed many skeptical Milan fans during his tenure with us), but Lampard was great because of what he did in the attacking third. If you play him like that, where there is this fiction that he's a "box-to-box" while having Makelele doing the actual defensive work, then that's how you would best utilize Paqueta.

I have a lot of thoughts on Paqueta. Full disclosure, most Milan fans are hoping that you overpay for him, because we have a 15-20% sell-on clause. Paqueta, when he first came to Milan, was a revelation. People compared him to Kaka--he's not like him in the slightest, it was lazy, he was just Brazilian and played as an attacking midfielder. Italy is obsessed with tactics, we talk about it a lot more than I think English or Spanish fans do. The tactical expectations on players is overwhelming, it can choke players. Paqueta unfortunately came during the early period of our new owners, when they were entrusting Leonardo (of PSG "fame") as our sporting director. We changed formations (and coaches), and Paqueta was moved from a winger (who was really a CM who pushed up) to a mezzala, who is usually a LCM or RCM, but who might attack a little more than defend, but still defend, think Seedorf-style. Paqueta came when Gattuso was our coach, and while contrary to his reputation as a player, his football was initially suicidally attacking. He then became very pragmatic after entertaining (for neutrals) but brutal losses--Leonardo gave him very poor pieces--and using Paqueta and Piatek (another failure) Gattuso missed out on the CL by one point. Gattuso said that his team needed veterans, the management disagreed, Leonardo was let go, Gattuso left (sacrificing all his pay as a manager, but ensuring his staff were paid), and Maldini was now in charge. Maldini made his biggest mistake by hiring Marco Giampaolo, the worst manager I've ever seen. This man played an archaic 4312 system, but did he play Paqueta as the CAM? No. He played a RW there. He played Fabio Borini as our RCM. In short, he was a moron. He talked shit to Antonio Conte, who said he wanted his teams to put their heads down and run, Giampaolo said: "I want my teams to keep their heads up and play." Quite the bold statement. You would imagine that with Paqueta in your squad, a stylish Brazilian midfielder, that you would play him as your CAM? Wrong. He was played as a LCM, and then Giampaolo said that Paqueta should be "less Brazilian." Which the boy (rightfully) took as an insult over his nationality. Giampaolo was fired only 7 games into the season and Pioli was appointed. Paqueta would have fit perfectly into our 4231, but I think by that point, the damage was done and Paqueta's spirit was broken and the expectations from a year earlier, comparing him to Kaka, had nosedived. Maldini sought to take care of Paqueta and let him go to Lyon, where he has shown the quality that led us to pay 38-40m for him. Paqueta is not a CM in a 433. Can he do it? Sure. He can. But his passing range isn't precise enough, at least not in Italy. I think that with the pace of the EPL, he would not have a problem, pace isn't his problem, but I don't think he does well as a true CM in a 433. He is a fancy player, but sometimes I get the sense that he's a tad clumsy. He works hard, though. He runs, and he doesn't give up, but he seems like the sort of player that uses his energy and athleticism to overcome his inconsistent first touch. Don't get me wrong, he can do some truly skillful things, but I feel it is his shooting, tricks, and guile that he is best at, being a CM who passes and is expected to link play, it isn't what I would use him for. He's a smart player, and there's a reason he plays for Brazil, but I think the only reason you should buy him is if you plan to play with a CAM, that's where he is best. If you play a 4231, that would be where he would thrive. Because he can tuck in, when out-of-possession to provide defensive help for your two CMs, he isn't lazy, and his workrate is top, I just think he thrives not having to play as a true CM in the 433, but if you give him a little more freedom from having to link-up play as a true CM, he can delight you when he's on song, and if he has a bad game, he will put in a shift to fight for your team. Can he play as a CM? Yes. He has done that for Lyon, but, that's with a much weaker Ligue 1. Ligue 1 is a fast and physical league, so getting players from Ligue 1 to the EPL, they aren't going to be shocked by the speed or bite of the EPL. Paqueta isn't going to, either. If you play him as a CM, it can work, but I personally think, to get the best out of him, you let him sit in front of two CMs behind him, like he does for Brazil and (mostly) for Lyon. Paqueta should have been a great fit for our 4231, and there is remorse over him not being at Milan, I can't remember a Milan fan delighting in him not being in the squad. If anything, there was confusion as to why he wasn't given more of a chance when Pioli came in and started playing players in their natural positions. That's why I went into detail about the background, because I think there was just tough things going on, and unlike previous Milan eras, there were no Brazilians at Milan to help him when he came to Milan. Bruno being at Newcastle should be a huge help, because he's not just Brazilian, but he's a teammate from Lyon. Sorry this was so long.

All fans are like that--Milan fans are no different. Hell, look at Real Madrid, and their tears over Mbappe--side note: I find their tears over a player choosing money to be hilarious coming from them, when that's the literal identity of their club. Anyways, I will be honest, the warm welcome that I have received here is unmatched by any fanbase I have ever interacted with. You all have been super kind, and especially over a player that both of our teams want. There have not been snide remarks or any mean banter, and I will be honest, I worry whether Milan fans would be as gracious to a sanctimonious know-it-all as you all have been to me (a sanctimonious know-it-all). Ashley endeavored to kill the spirit of Newcastle fans, he was a terrible owner, and his tenure was beneath the stature of a club like Newcastle. The fact that your fanbase survived that is a testament to the sincerity of your fans. With money, now you'll just have to deal with American tourists who will not know basic facts about Newcastle, but pretend to be fans. If you get an American player? Oof. If he's good? God help you. Lol. I truly wish you all the most success, I just hope we don't meet in the CL final, as I am seldom-if-ever gracious in defeat. I guess we'll just have to alternate winning it.

My sense is that Newcastle fans are such... I don't want to say insular, because that has negative connotations, but you are a group of fans who are united and tight-knit, but Newcastle are a genuine group of people, and (please correct me if I'm wrong) Newcastle represents a lot of larger social elements about what it means to be from the North of England, to be a Geordie, and to me, there's such a strong identity to what it means to be a Newcastle fan, that the biggest "danger" will be North American fans coming over to watch games and you'll have to hear them say "bloody" and "mate," lol. They will be annoying, because they'll buy old Newcastle shirts and talk about how they were a fan of Newcastle since Michael Owen was there.

Ibra just had ACL surgery, he played the last 6 months without tendons in his knees, drained his knee every week, could only physically train once-a-week, he literally bled for this team. He is such a huge presence for our team, that even with him being out until 2023, they will re-sign him to another one-year deal, and he will stay as long as he wants. He has pushed all of our players to new heights, giving the young players an example as to how to train, how to win, and my sense is that Trippier is that "pace setter" for your club. Data is important, being smart on the transfer market is important, but there is a human element to this game, team spirit, leadership, mentality, while these are easy excuses from lazy pundits to explain problems in tactics and personnel, they are crucial intangibles.

Newcastle has the sort of genuine fanbase that deserves the success that I hope your team has. City fans suffered, and I feel for those genuine City fans who were around before the money came in, but they were a much smaller fanbase. I find City fans weird in that they pretend they don't want the CL, as a shield to them being so bad there. Newcastle is a big club, there's no way around that. Your fans are genuine, your club means something to you all, it represents more than just millionaires playing a game, and to survive Mike Ashley speaks to the sincerity of your fanbase. Our young players who saw our fans for the first time this year (due to Covid) and saw them when we finally won, that positive energy from our fans is what is pushing so many of them to sign extensions. My only advice to Newcastle fans is to maintain your passion for your players, to support the young ones when they have bad games (which the English do much better than we do in Italy), and to just continue being who you all are. City and PSG are very manufactured, Chelsea had a few things going for them prior to Abramovich, but Newcastle has weight to it, and you have such a distinct culture to your club, that I don't think money will change the character of Newcastle, it will just make your team better, but your fans are still a huge base, so I look at Newcastle as diametrically different to City and Chelsea.

The most reliable Milan sources have said that there will be meetings over Botman, but it seems that Milan might be turning towards Bremer--the sense is that Milan is trying to have Botman wait out Lille so that they will fold and accept Milan's lower bid, while being comfortable turning to Bremer. My impression is that Milan's management is losing the battle for Botman and are turning to Bremer.

Thank you! The EPL is very strong, and the revenue from the TV deals is going to make that gap larger between leagues, but I think the massive drop from top 4 in terms of revenue, will become a ceiling for what the EPL can become. Most Italian fans shrugged at the Super League, for example, because the gap between Juventus (best run club, financially, in Italy) and Liverpool or Man Utd, is still pretty large. Milan, if they do all the infrastructure stuff that Juve have, will be closer (Milan is a bigger city, bigger international fanbase, etc) but I imagine Milan's best case scenario is to have Bayern-like revenue. Bayern, however, destroy the Bundesliga's ability to challenge La Liga, the EPL, and Serie A because they obliterate their competition. While Dortmund, RB Leipzig, etc do shoot themselves in the foot, I find the fact that Bayern poached Lewandowski from Dortmund, for free, the same sort of tampering that Barca complains about, when they do it themselves. Serie A is at a crossroads, Juventus is the only of the "seven sisters" (Milan, Juve, Inter, Roma, Fiorentina, Lazio, and now Napoli) who own their own stadium, them and Atalanta, and a few random midtable sides. There is a big clash, as most Serie A teams didn't see stadiums as important, and so municipalities owned them, and rented them out to clubs. Stadiums for big teams can bring in around 100m in extra revenue, and as much as I love San Siro, it is decaying, and the costs in refurbishing San Siro would exceed the cost of building a new stadium, making it untenable. The fallout from failing to qualify for the World Cup, again, might be the trigger to allow these Americans (who own Fiorentina, Roma, and other clubs) to finally get their new training facilities and stadiums. Leao is our great young talent. He is ironing out his inconsistencies, but Ibrahimovic was a huge part of his jump in quality. I think Ibrahimovic has this caricature (that he has fostered) around this massive ego, but it is (mostly) in jest. When he is seriously answering questions, he is thoughtful, introspective, and clearly a hell of a leader of men. If you haven't seen his speech after Milan won the title, it is a glimpse into the sort of man he is. Ibrahimovic is a physical freak, and even at his age, when he's healthy (which is rare now) he still is a top striker, which while a testament to his class, it also is because I think the striker market is very poor, and this generation of strikers are particularly poor, which is why Cavani, Suarez, Ibra, Giroud, Benzema, Lewa, all these older strikers are still leading the line for big clubs. I've watched Ekitike, who I know you all have been linked with, and he's a very good young striker, for today, but, you all are Newcastle fans, you've had Shearer, you know what a top striker looks like, and none of these boys, Ekitike, Darwin Nunez, Scamacca, etc, are at the level of strikers from a few years ago. Scamacca is a poor man's Ibrahimovic, as is Ekitike to Lewa, or Nunez to Cavani--I don't rate Darwin as a 100m player. True strikers, true 9's, are really rare today. That Spezia game was a travesty--I still can't get over how bad the ref was in that game. Anyway, this is long, again, I'm sorry.

No we don't allow those people in our city.

Thankfully it seemed like both transfers worked out for us! Thank you for your welcome, you are a very nice bunch. He was! Underrated player.

Thank you for your kind words, you are too kind. This makes me wonder if Newcastle's bid really isn't that much different than Milan's, unless Chelsea or someone else come in for him, I think it is pretty much between us two. There were these random rumors that PSG want him, but, I don't think they need a CB. I really think Lille is trying to make Milan and Newcastle raise their bids. Also, Milan are known to abandon transfer deals when they reach their max price, so I can see Lille trying to perhaps drive up Newcastle's price, thinking that "okay, well, if Milan withdraw their interest in Botman, then I can ensure that Newcastle pay me top dollar for him." There are even rumors about the board at Lille debating when to account for the transfers for Botman and Renato Sanches, before or after July 1st, for financial reporting purposes. In short, there are so many things going on, that most journalists don't really know, they just throw things out there, even if there is real truth to the interest from Newcastle and Milan. Oh, and Del Piero is a class player, so I can't blame you there, he's a true gentleman. Unfortunately, I cannot agree with you on Materazzi, lol, he's known as "the butcher" on our side of Milan.

Lille really need money, so they are trying to drive up the price of Botman. It is probably them trying to create an auction. They even tried to rope Spurs and Man Utd in, where both clubs later told reporters that they weren't interested.

My impression of Botman is that he's essentially VVD in terms of style. Watching him for Lille, you can see that he can pass, but Lille this year were terrible. He is very aggressive, and I think what many saw as mistakes on his part, were really him covering up for his teammates defensive mistakes. He's a very strong player, there's no doubt about it. My only worry is that if you play a high-line, I don't think he has VVD's speed. VVD is fast, particularly for his size, and his positioning his excellent. Botman is slower than VVD, so he will have to make up for it with his positioning. He's a player that you will have to develop and be patient with. If you expect him to come in and lead the backline from day one, I fear he might have a tough time. I also get the sense that he would thrive either in a low-block defensive line, rather than something more aggressive. Unless you can pair him with a faster CB a la Wesley Fofana or Fik Tomori.

With all due respect, if you told me that the EPL would overtake Serie A in the late 90's or hell, even in 2005, I would have laughed at you. These things are cycles. As far as Serie A teams, it is really about the old entrenched interests, government-owned stadiums in particular, that really hold back Italian teams earning the money they should. As I said, American investors are betting heavily on Serie A, and in particular on breaking into the North American market. They're investing billions, because you can't buy the big Spanish clubs, nor can you buy the big German ones, it's really only in Italy and in England that you can buy big clubs. What will happen in the future? I'm not sure. I just know that money is coming into Italy, and the vast majority of it is American and they seem to banking on the American and Chinese markets, where Italian teams do very well, actually. However, I'm less concerned with how Serie A does, as Juventus will be fine, while Inter are... well, they're in shambles like Barca. However, Milan's financial growth is... impressive. We've increased our revenue by like 37% per year, for two years. With a stadium, alone, the projections are that Milan's revenues will more than double what they were at when they were taken over. The growth of our sponsorships are also, about to double, next year (at least). If you want to talk about numbers, I'd be more than happy to share them. I did not want to get into a tiff (is that the right word?) but the idea that we wouldn't challenge for top four is... hilarious to me. City and Liverpool are, currently, top class teams, no doubt. Sure, City and Pep can't beat Lyon in Europe, but who cares? That's just the team that has won the EPL like 4 out of 5 times. Being bounced out by Monaco isn't embarrassing, of course not! That being said, I don't think, right now, we could challenge them in the league. Maybe in a 2-3 years, but not yet. Otherwise: am I supposed to be afraid of Chelsea? Hell, are you guys afraid of them? Or how about Spurs, who are littered with Serie A rejects like Bentancur and Kulusevski? They've become top players in your league. Now, I could bring up how Bruno Fernandes was a failure in Serie A, or that Mohamed Salah scored more in the Prem than he ever did in Serie A (Lukaku scored more for West Brom than he ever did for Inter in the league); but those are arguments devoid of context, because I think different players suit different teams, regardless of league. Origi is a depth signing, most strikers today are terrible, you're acting like we're making Origi the center of our squad, lol, rumors are that we want this kid named Scamacca, long-term. I think Milan would finish 3rd in the EPL, over Chelsea, but behind City and Liverpool. I just can't see us being behind Man Utd, West Ham, Spurs, and Arsenal. I think we would beat those teams, comfortably. We've played against better Conte sides, and beat them, forgive me if I am not afraid of Arteta, Moyes, Conte, or whatever burning fire of garbage is happening over at United. If I'm bullish, I think in 2-3 years, we should be able to challenge for the CL. Maldini took over 3 years ago, and it took him a year to challenge for the title, first season he got 6th (first manager was terrible, he got fired), then we got 2nd, mostly due to injuries and a lack of depth, but underestimate us at your peril.

I block that game from my memory. Not sure what you are referring to.

Lol, no, it's not. I know he's been a failure, I've seen some of his misses. I'm just saying I understand the logic of why he was bought, his ability to win headers, knock-downs, that sort of stuff he was doing with Burnley. It was perhaps taking data to the extreme, but it seems Newcastle's sporting executives are being smarter than other EPL sides with money.

Oh, I forgot to write this: the fact that you are also fighting us for Botman reflects very highly on your scouting and transfer team. Yes, Bruno was an obvious choice, but, Botman was not an obvious choice to typical management teams. Your team isn't being run like City when they got money, let alone the ineptitude that is Man Utd. It seems you are all very data driven. While I imagine many of you do not like Chris Wood, he was a data-driven purchase, for sure. Every sporting project will have transfer misses, but, it seems that whoever is in charge of your sporting-side of things is very sophisticated.

Thank you for the compliments, I really appreciate it. You are all a very nice bunch, very kind--what they say about your hospitality rings true. Thank you.