Summer mercato 2012

[ACMILAN1983]

I think Ambro will stay but I think MvB is gone this summer. It's the right way to go, as MvB has been great but shouldn't be relied on for another year. Ambro is captain and has more history in Milan, hence him staying as a squad player makes sense.

[Dha Brain]

whats everybody's opinion on Robeto Carvalho hes not even 34 yet ? , a replacement for nesta even yepes ? , we should look at him while he gets healthy at Real Madrid haha !

[GeoTav]

whats everybody's opinion on Robeto Carvalho hes not even 34 yet ? , a replacement for nesta even yepes ? , we should look at him while he gets healthy at Real Madrid haha !

Ricardo Carvalho isn't a player I'd like to have in Milan ... Don't even suggest that idea on this forum, it could come to the ears of Galliani !!

Before thinking about any new player, I think we should firstly think about the players who are out on loan/co-owned ...

Right now, I'd call back Di Gennaro (as a third choice AM), Donnarumma (as a third choice GK), and why not Paloschi too who seems to have solved his physical problems and starts to really improve ... Add them to our squad, with De Sciglio (as a second choice RB), Merkel (backup for our midfield) and Strasser (backup for our midfield), and our bench could be full of young players, so potentially less injury prone on the long term, and probably hungrier than the old lads.

In : Donnarumma (GK), De Sciglio (RB), Strasser (DM/CM), Merkel (CM), Di Gennaro (AM) and Paloschi (FW)

Out : Roma (GK), Zambrotta (FB), one between Ambro and Gattuso (DM/CM), Seedorf (CM), Inzaghi (FW)

That would be ideal ... and the age of our squad would decrease a lot !!

[Gabriel426]

I really don't see how Donnarumma cannot fill the 3rd GK spot, he is younger and cheaper than Roma.

I am not quite sure about Di Gennaro, as he really has not been doing anything beside that game he played against Milan 3 yrs ago.
Paloschi is someone I think Milan should re-call, as he has all the tools to be an impact player off the bench. Actually, he might benefit more from playing with the likes of Ibra, Cassano and Robinho than Pato.

[DUCO]

after yesterday game against chievo |Galiani and Braida are verey plesed with performanse of Acerbi and thay will start negotions with Genova who owned the player. he is 23 and if we bring astori 25 that will be solid adition of what Geo Tav write . but that on summer now we most win the skudeto somehow.

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di genaro is on fire in modena he is 6 or 7 game's in a row man of the match for modena scors asist ... pure AM

[Mystik]

Does anyone know anything about Udinese's Muriel? Apparently both Inter and Milan have made official offers for him according to Soccernet.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/...el?cc=5901

[ACMILAN1983]

Acerbi's impressed this season and is a Milanista too. I wouldn't complain if we were to get him, though interest in him has grown a lot this year.

I generally agree with Geo, we need to look internally and try to give spaces to our youth products to replace some of our ageing stars. We have some good players and given the direction we're looking to take, it would be a mistake not to integrate our youth and senior systems better.

That said, Geo I would hold off bringing Donnarumma back right away, as he would be wasted being 3rd choice keeper for us and wouldn't gain any real experience. Di Gennaro too is a risk, as he's had few decent years when he's been loaned out, but with us he's been pretty poor and nothing suggests he'd be any better now (even as 3rd choice AM I think he's highly questionable).

Speaking of youth, I know there's generally a positive atmosphere in us doing well competitively at youth level in the past couple of years, but I recently heard something that caught my interest which we need to learn from.

Barcelona had representatives in Brazil talking about their youth set up to the Brazilian press. In Barca, little emphasis is given in winning trophies at youth level, with the aim being to develop the players technical qualities and develop their understanding of the Barca model and system of football. There was an argument in Brazil about their own youth development programs and they heavily focus on winning competitions at youth level, because for a lot of Brazilian coaches this is how they progress in their career. However, the downside of doing this is these coaches generally focus on picking the stronger athletes at youth level rather than looking to develop young talents.

Getting back to Italy, we can often see a similar trend. Gianfranco Zola, the ex-Parma and Chelsea legend recently said that these days he'd never get the chance to reach the heights he did back in the 90s, mostly because in Italy the youth set up looks at the physical capabilities of young talents, rather than developing their creativity (or in his case, developing his own talents on the streets). It's quite true if you look at the most valued Italian forwards in the modern game, as we had Borriello before and now we have Pazzini, Matri, Gilardino and even to a lesser extent Balotelli (even though his personality mean he's never going to be the same as others) are all more physical forwards who have poaching tendencies rather than technical forwards. You have Cassano and Rossi too, but one was developed while serie A still flourished with creative talents while the other has spent the majority of his life outside of Italy. It's ironic that Miccoli, who comes from our youth setup, never made it at a big club in Italy, often simply not being given the chance to show his quality as the clubs always favoured taller/stronger forwards. The same issue has reoccured with Giovinco in recent years.

The midfielders too follow a similar trend too, as many of the popular choices again are physically well developed, but technically or creatively limited. Even Aquilani and Montolivo, two of the most creative talents in the Italy squad today in their prime, seem very limited when compared to talents like Pirlo, Totti, Del Piero, Donadoni or Baggio from the past.

Defenders really are the worst scenario. In the past Italy had defenders all shapes and sizes, but the defenders had unique characteristics which were developed in making them great defenders. Nowerdays, almost all of the Italian defenders at the highest level seem to be tall, strong and physical. Fullbacks are similar, they always seem to have similar characteristics, being of slight build, quick and strong runners with stamina rather than technically gifted, whether you look at Abate and Maggio or Antonini and Criscito. Even De Sciglio, who is young and has been impressive for us in recent years looks very similar to players of this mould.

Put simply, Italy's youth development seems to be like a production line designed to create players with certain qualities and characteristics with little variation. Zola is one example of a player that probably wouldn't succeed in modern Italy, but then what about others like Signori, Mancini and possibly even Roberto Baggio? These are all players who don't fit the mould in modern Italian football's ideals.

What I want to see from us is development of youth by looking to build on individual characteristics and working to developing players of various types with the Milan philosophy. What I fear is we stifle the growth of gifted youngsters by only looking to develop those who are physically ready for the senior level by the time they're 16 or 17.

[Nalx]

Does anyone know anything about Udinese's Muriel? Apparently both Inter and Milan have made official offers for him according to Soccernet.

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story/...el?cc=5901

A tricky forward that recently stole the headline with his hattrick against Roma. But other than that he's rather inconsistent (he was anonymous when against us too) this year though it's quite normal for such a young player and this is only his first season in top level football.

[Gabriel426]

I think the approach to youth is more than just the development of U21 players. Rather it should also be the furer development of players below 25. In the modern game, being physical is a big part but being skillful is as important.
I think the problem in Italy is not youth does not get chance, but rather they are just not good enough. When you look at DP, Pippo, Nesta, Canna, Maldni, Totti, Cassano, De Rossi, Pirlo, and even Chellini, they got their chances despite their young age. Then you look at the youth now, the talents ain't there. As Dev said, Monty, and Aqua are probably the most creative Mids under 30, and that's a troubling sign. I really don't know how Italy can change that bc I think it has more to do with lacking talents instead of development.

[Mystik]

^^ You say that they don't get a chance because they're not good enough. However, for them to improve they need to play games. It's a bit of a chicken and the egg thing. There's no reason why Spain's and Germany's U21 coaches have players who regularly feature in the top divison while 90% of Italy's players are in Serie B. There's also no reason why a club like Milan should be wasting money on average foreigners (e.g. Grimi) when there's a youth product who can do just as good a job. We see that it wasn't the end of the world fielding a youth product yesterday at RB (granted I haven't seen the game yet).

In a nutshell, I can't imagine that Italy as a country could just all of sudden stop producing good players. I think the bigger problem is the reluctance of managers to take a risk with their younger players.