12-15-2015, 08:18 PM
I am probably in the minority here, but I honestly don't care if we get a big budget this winter or not. The thing is, winter signings are highly risky. These players do not have a full off season with the team to get used to the environment, get to know the staff, form chemistry with teammates and memorize the play book. They basically get brought in as saviors, but are put into incredibly difficult situations to actually be productive. This problem is compounded here at Milan because the ownership thinks every dollar they spent need to return 100X on their investments. The pressure makes it even more difficult for any winter signing to stand out and achieve success. Honda is a great example of this. We brought the guy in and hailed him as some kind of Japanese superman. But in actuality, the guy had a tough time adjusting to the different culture, style, competition and coaching. We set him up as a star, and he failed miserably at it due to circumstances and never quite recovered.
The other reason we shouldn't necessarily spend big is that great players typically are not available during winter. Every year, you hear tons of rumors about this or that big star moving during winter, but it almost never happens. Players like Hazard, Bale, or Fabregas are not going to move teams half way through a season. That means, even if we have a huge budget, we will just end up pissing that money on some unworthy player like we did with Bertolacci. This team needs a lot of things, but another 20M on Bertolacci is not one of them. In all honesty, I think targeting players with soon to be expiring contracts and take advantage of the opportunity to sign them cheaply is a better strategy than handing another 100M to Galliani.
This season, to me, should be about forming the core of our next generation instead of trying for CL. I know Berlu will always think CL is the ultimate goal because...well...he is senile and thinks his money is worthy more than everyone else's. But the team simply isn't built for instant success. We have way too many young players manning key positions and too many mediocre players left over to support the youngsters. We are basically in year 1 of a complete rebuilding job and it is borderline insane to think we can win championship or even get into top 3 of the league when other clubs are either much stronger (Juve, Napoli and Roma) or much further along the rebuilding program (Inter) than we are. Spending big on players who will not make a major difference is just a waste of everyone's time and resources on a team like this. Our focus on the mercato should, instead, be on collecting young assets who can join our existing core.
The other reason we shouldn't necessarily spend big is that great players typically are not available during winter. Every year, you hear tons of rumors about this or that big star moving during winter, but it almost never happens. Players like Hazard, Bale, or Fabregas are not going to move teams half way through a season. That means, even if we have a huge budget, we will just end up pissing that money on some unworthy player like we did with Bertolacci. This team needs a lot of things, but another 20M on Bertolacci is not one of them. In all honesty, I think targeting players with soon to be expiring contracts and take advantage of the opportunity to sign them cheaply is a better strategy than handing another 100M to Galliani.
This season, to me, should be about forming the core of our next generation instead of trying for CL. I know Berlu will always think CL is the ultimate goal because...well...he is senile and thinks his money is worthy more than everyone else's. But the team simply isn't built for instant success. We have way too many young players manning key positions and too many mediocre players left over to support the youngsters. We are basically in year 1 of a complete rebuilding job and it is borderline insane to think we can win championship or even get into top 3 of the league when other clubs are either much stronger (Juve, Napoli and Roma) or much further along the rebuilding program (Inter) than we are. Spending big on players who will not make a major difference is just a waste of everyone's time and resources on a team like this. Our focus on the mercato should, instead, be on collecting young assets who can join our existing core.