Sven Botman back late December/early January 'at the earliest' (Howe)

[Manxst]

1 minute ago, Flip said:

 
 

Honestly,  you said it would be daft as fuck to pick Milan over us. What you are calling project is in fact money. What we as a club have over Milan right now is money and the prospect of playing in the PL. I, just like others, am saying that picking Newcastle over Milan in the current situation is picking money over football. Not only myself, but most in here apart from you seem in agreement that for at least the next five years Milan will be ahead of us and will most probably win more titles. They also have new ownership who might be willing to make invest in them and make them compete at the highest level. We are quite a few years away from that.
 

So just to finish it off, it wouldn’t be daft at all for him sign for Milan over us. In fact that would be what even a majority of Newcastle fans in here would feel is the right decision. 

Unless of course, Botman just happens to prefer the English game, and is drawn to playing in the PL as he believes it suits his style and character. Not everything about moving to us over Milan would be about money. 

[Flip]

2 minutes ago, Manxst said:

Unless of course, Botman just happens to prefer the English game, and is drawn to playing in the PL as he believes it suits his style and character. Not everything about moving to us over Milan would be about money. 

Of course, I did state the prospect of PL as well. What I mean though is in terms of football club, Milan is far bigger and far more likely to succeed for the next few years and saying players would be daft to choose Milan over us should be punishable by law.  

[Hanshithispantz]

3 minutes ago, Unbelievable said:

Milan is part of the elite like

 

They may not be as good as Liverpool, Man City, Bayern or Madrid, but nobody should be surprised to see them regularly in the CL quarters or semis and win domestic honours in one of the best leagues in the world. Us, we’re a project, a doer-upper. We could be elite in 5-10 years time, but it’s hardly guaranteed and for a player living in the here and now they represent a more attractive option than us, even before getting into non-footballing reasons.

Finished dead last behind Porto in the group stages this year and last 16 of Europa the year before though.

 

They're nowhere near winning the Champions League outside of a freak year. Neither are we obviously but the point is we've been bought out by the ritchest people in football with the primary aim of dominating football.

 

I think by the end of next summer the screw would have been completely turned and people's attitudes will be completely different like.

[Lazarus]

Can we take a moment to consider how we might look to a foreign player and his agent?

 

Were a club with money and an unproven manager. A big stadium but with shite facilities.

 

We know were going places, everyone knows were going places, but were arnt there yet.

 

We can sell our 'project' and our future potential to certain players, like Bruno, but not all of our targets are going to buy into that.

 

Which is fair enough.

[Geordie Ahmed]

Us getting into the CL in the next 3-4 years is not a guarantee so it would be totally understandable that he picks Milan

 

They are very much likely to be in the CL for the next set of years and he's young enough to join us later if our project achieves what it sets out to achieve 

[Jaqen]

Man u have spent 1bn recently with not much success. We will have to deal with FFP anyway but regardless of the restrictions to our spending it's a lot harder to bit your way to the top now than it was for City and Chelsea. City are at the top and can afford to splash our 100m on Grealish to be their 6th best attacker. That's probably 2/3 of our whole summer budget. We are quite a way off as things stand. 

 

Bridging the gap to Europa League sides is one thing but to elite it's a huge step. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hovagod]

A side issue, I suppose, but is Milan a better city than Newcastle? I found it incredibly fucking boring and couldn’t wait to leave and head back to Rome.

[Keegans Export]

1 hour ago, Hanshithispantz said:

Finished dead last behind Porto in the group stages this year and last 16 of Europa the year before though.

 

They're nowhere near winning the Champions League outside of a freak year. Neither are we obviously but the point is we've been bought out by the ritchest people in football with the primary aim of dominating football.

 

I think by the end of next summer the screw would have been completely turned and people's attitudes will be completely different like.

That doesn't mean as much as it did pre-FFP though. Having the wealthiest owners is only part of the story - the rules still ultimately dictate how much of that money we can actually spend and to get where we want to be, we're going to have to nail a high percentage of signings we make.

 

Look at who we've been heavily linked with. We could spend somewhere in the £200m range this summer (to go with the £120m or so we spent on Willock + January) and line up with Henderson (still arguably unproven), Lodi (defensive frailties?), Botman (too slow for the PL?), Diaby (still raw, new to the PL), Ekitike (19y/o with one full season behind him) and for arguments sake let's stick DCL in there (injury risk? Does he fit our system?)

 

On paper, amazing and we're all buzzing because we've spent a fortune on a load of class players. But these signings don't always work out, and if in two years time one or two of them have flopped and we're stuck with them on £100k/week and their amortised transfer fee is still eating into our budget...

 

I'm not trying to be negative, we've managed to convince Trippier & Bruno obviously. But as much as our ambition is to get to the very top (or at least the CL), having the richest owners isn't a guarantee of anything at this early stage and I wouldn't blame a player like Botman, Nunez, Nkunku etc waiting to see how it pans out while they spend a couple of years playing European football.

[GeordieDazzler]

2 minutes ago, Hovagod said:

A side issue, I suppose, but is Milan a better city than Newcastle? I found it incredibly fucking boring and couldn’t wait to leave and head back to Rome.

None of the players will actually live ‘in’ Milan, either a wealthy suburb or Como. 

[ponsaelius]

Milan is a pretty dull city to visit as a tourist. It's a bit monolithic in scale and reflects its industrial growth. However it has great restaurants, shopping and nightlife and as a footballer it is quite easy to blend into the background there. And as said - most players don't actually live in Milan unless they choose to have an apartment there as well. They'll live in a wealthy suburb or near the lakes.

[Jackie Broon]

6 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

Milan is a pretty dull city to visit as a tourist. It's a bit monolithic in scale and reflects its industrial growth. However it has great restaurants, shopping and nightlife and as a footballer it is quite easy to blend into the background there. And as said - most players don't actually live in Milan unless they choose to have an apartment there as well. They'll live in a wealthy suburb or near the lakes.

 

And their training ground is actually 20 miles outside of the city, near to Lake Maggiore.

 

[Hanshithispantz]

22 minutes ago, Keegans Export said:

That doesn't mean as much as it did pre-FFP though. Having the wealthiest owners is only part of the story - the rules still ultimately dictate how much of that money we can actually spend and to get where we want to be, we're going to have to nail a high percentage of signings we make.

 

Look at who we've been heavily linked with. We could spend somewhere in the £200m range this summer (to go with the £120m or so we spent on Willock + January) and line up with Henderson (still arguably unproven), Lodi (defensive frailties?), Botman (too slow for the PL?), Diaby (still raw, new to the PL), Ekitike (19y/o with one full season behind him) and for arguments sake let's stick DCL in there (injury risk? Does he fit our system?)

 

On paper, amazing and we're all buzzing because we've spent a fortune on a load of class players. But these signings don't always work out, and if in two years time one or two of them have flopped and we're stuck with them on £100k/week and their amortised transfer fee is still eating into our budget...

 

I'm not trying to be negative, we've managed to convince Trippier & Bruno obviously. But as much as our ambition is to get to the very top (or at least the CL), having the richest owners isn't a guarantee of anything at this early stage and I wouldn't blame a player like Botman, Nunez, Nkunku etc waiting to see how it pans out while they spend a couple of years playing European football.

I agree, it's deffinitely not an easy task, I just don't think a club like Milan are in the same stratosphere as Man City/Madrid/PSG in 2022. Surpassing teams like them seems next to impossible like, even with all the money in the world. 

 

[NE27]

17 minutes ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

And their training ground is actually 20 miles outside of the city, near to Lake Maggiore.

 

 

What a shithole, killy lake is better.

[Guest neesy111]

1 hour ago, ponsaelius said:

Milan is a pretty dull city to visit as a tourist. It's a bit monolithic in scale and reflects its industrial growth. However it has great restaurants, shopping and nightlife and as a footballer it is quite easy to blend into the background there. And as said - most players don't actually live in Milan unless they choose to have an apartment there as well. They'll live in a wealthy suburb or near the lakes.

 

Yeap, I went for 3 nights and was bored with not much cultural stuff to do.

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Jackie Broon said:

 

And their training ground is actually 20 miles outside of the city, near to Lake Maggiore.

 

New training complex at Kielder Water it is then.

[STM]

Just now, neesy111 said:

 

Yeap, I went for 3 nights and was bored with not much cultural stuff to do.

Aye, one half decent street with a couple of bars and restaurants aside, I wasn't impressed.

 

Funny enough, visiting the San Siro for the stadium tour and sitting in Jose Mourinhos dressing room chair was my highlight.

[STM]

I've a feeling that he will choose Milan and I'm OK with that.

 

If he decides to go there, we just need to move swiftly onto our next target, whoever that may be.

[Happinesstan]

5 hours ago, HTT II said:

I’d choose AC Milan over NUFC like if I was a footballer 

Crazy to think otherwise.

[maze]

Don’t think we should play second fiddle here. Better move on to other targets that actually wants to play for us. 
 

[PauloGeordio]

2 minutes ago, maze said:

Don’t think we should play second fiddle here. Better move on to other targets that actually wants to play for us. 
 

If he doesn’t, the owners will. I don’t think they’ll hang around on this unless there’s a chance he signs. Botman seems to be their 1st choice CB. I’m sure their 2nd choice won’t be too shabby, and definitely won’t resemble one off of Rafa’s Netto shopping list! 

[Tiresias]

Well i mean we should and will be pursuing a few at a time so keep offer on table in case milan fall through and keep chasing up alternates

[toontownman]

I have no problem waiting here. Especially as we will know either way this week. We obviously feel he is worth the effort. He is potentially a transformative and key piece for us for the next 5-10 years.

 

He has been pretty complimentary towards us. Its not like he isn't interested in coming here imo. It's just one move is far better an option for his career right now and in a  career that could end via injury in an instant I can't blame players for going with that. 

 

If there was an offer in from Milan for Bruno he would have gone there too. We aren't in the position to be natural first choice for the best players in the world right now, regardless of what their PR team will tell you.

 

I am fully confident we will get someone just as good if he ends up at Milan but we clearly see Botman as THE guy we want, so let's see how the week goes.

[The Prophet]

We'll have all eventualities planned out. 

 

Emery was our first choice, he turned us down and we ended up with Howe.

 

We couldn't sign Botman or Carlos in January, signed Burn as a cheaper alternative and ploughed the money into buying Bruno.

 

So far mot getting our first choices has worked out alright. That's down to thorough planning.

[Nine]

It would be hard as a defender to turn down Maldini 

[JonBez comesock]

2 minutes ago, Nine said:

It would be hard as a defender to turn down Maldini 

Or a semi ?