Axel Witsel is the man Milan apparently want to further improve their midfield but there are still many difficulties to overcome.
It’s already been a very busy summer for Milan as they have signed Rodrigo Ely, Simone Verdi, Andrea Bertolacci, Jose Mauri, Carlos Bacca and Luiz Adriano and sold Adil Rami and, although it still not totally official, Stephan El Shaarawy.
Sinisa Mihajlovic said he has informed the club that he wants to buy a defender but it looks like the next target could be a third addition for midfield as according to Sky Italia, Milan are expected to be in contact with Axel Witsel’s representatives on Monday.
Witsel, 26, welcomes the idea of leaving Zenit and joining Milan but terms have yet to be agreed while making a deal with the Russian club would be the most difficult thing. Sky reports that Milan could try to add Menez to the deal in order to lower the demands of the club from St. Petersburg.
“It’s no secret that we’ve been discussing it with Milan for a while,” Riccardo Napolitano, who is said to be one of Witsel’s Italian intermediaries, told Fantagazzetta. “This is not an easy process, but we are working towards joining Milan. Alex has said he wants to measure himself up against a highly-competitive League, one superior to Russia. He wants an exciting experience that can get the most out of his qualities.
“Zenit are asking for €30m to €35m cash in order to let him leave. Let’s not forget this is a club that has no particular need for liquidity, although we all know what a great director Adriano Galliani is. Sometimes he can make the impossible become possible, so we’ll wait and see what happens.
“We can’t rule anything out, as the situation is constantly evolving. On Monday or Tuesday we’ll have a telephone meeting with the Rossoneri.” Milan are also expected to raise their Romagnoli offer soon.
Yes Menez plus 15 million would be perfect.
SES was sold for trimming down the squad and for FFP rules right? then why are we buying Witsel, although some rumors say he will be swapped with Menez? SES could play as a striker if given time. Niang and Mastour aren’t natural strikers so will they be sold as well? Witsel might have quality but he’s with attitude, he crushed his opponents leg once that just pathetic. wasn’t Balo sold because he had bad attitude like Menez but we bought the later? we have another moody player Mexes, why did we extend his contract? now have to sell Alex… Read more »
A nightmare really?? We aren’t even half-way the mercato and you already call it a nightmare? Niang and Mastour won’t be sold, Mastour can play as 10 and Niang as second striker. I can understand you want those players to leave, but who wants them????? Nocerino doesn’t have to go in my opinion, he always showed good attitude and never complained, can be usefull in small matches. Zaccardo, woooow, who will buy Zaccardo, maybe a serie D team…. same goes for Albertazzi, it’s very hard to get rid of those players. Zapata, I don’t know maybe same as Nocerino. So… Read more »
well you have to make drastic decisions when it comes letting players go. Inter have done better job of transfer market than we did. they need to sell 4 players and buy 1 winger and a striker to be a great team. we need to sell players that are useless not Saponara, SES and Rami. min 8 are in my opinion not even worthy to wear our jersey. if yo can’t sell them, you have to end their contracts, simple as that. and i don’t want to hear any B$ comments about if you don’t like go be an Inter… Read more »
@Levano – We understand your frustration, but this is not football manager where you can easily terminate a player’s contract. If you terminate a player’s contract you either need to agree to pay them a compensation fee worth the remainder of their contract (unless agreed otherwise), or continue paying their wages on a monthly basis. Secondly, the transfer market is not over yet, we will decide if this was a good or a bad mercato once it is closed. On another note, inter’s approach during this mercato is to purchase the players first and trim the squad later. Also, note… Read more »
so if inter sells Shaqiri (who isn’t sold yet) we sell SES? if they sell Kovacic its ok to sell Bonaventura what twisted logic is that? SES said before leaving Milan “i’m going where i’m wanted” he didn’t go he was forced out like T. Silva. and you guys so called fans your attitude towards this subject is disgusting. players need to be given time and “when you buy you need to buy better than you have” LVG said so. and i totally agree what was the point of signing Bacca and Luiz if we’d sell SES. SES it 10… Read more »
Of course i’m frustrated for selling SES, i’m sure many other Milan fans feel like that, but i think is to early to speak about the final result.. All those players that you mentioned were brought to Milan because of the lack of money and some because Pippo wanted, like Crci. After we Pato keeping didn’t turn on well , we all thought that we made a mistake by not selling him to PSG, didn’t we ? If Miha wanted him to stay Elsha would have been in Milan now, it’s obvious that they know things we don’t know, and… Read more »
so Rami’s and Saponara’s sales weren’t mistake, Ibra’s and T.Silva’s, Kaka’s, Sheva’s…..
lol When has SES ever played as a striker? The closest he’s ever been to one is when we played him as CAM. His strength was always moving down the wing. PLUS WE have 9-10 others to play in those spots. Niang has finally shown he can finish with his loan performance. Mastour probably isn’t going to be asked to play striker. Plus, he’s 17. Rami was sold because we found a buyer. If we could find a buyer for players like Zaccardo, I’m positive they’d be sold. Unfortunately we can’t do we’ve gotta wait out the contracts.
for italy he played as striker
Uh im pretty sure Niang was a striker when he first came milan its just someone had the brilliant (dumb in nature) idea to convert him to an AM
I don’t know whether to like or dislike your post. I dont’ agree with your view on Witsel part cuz personally, I below he has skills that are most needed in Milan regardless of his attitude (Football sucks without having “the Gatuso Temper” imo). I totally agree with everything else you said. We splashed money left and right, and accordingly, we lost 2 of Italy’s future pieces (SES & Saponara).
Raise offer for romagnoli???
Romagnoli is another Acerbi. We dont need another matri, poli, bonaventura signing, we need a real defender.
aaaaah finally back and already making another mistake, another Bonaventura signing would be awesome.
Welcome back, was hoping to see you pessimistic comments again.
Farac milan. Where are u from?
Holland
Who do u think was better thn Jack….if u don’t like Italian….please stop support the club
35 million for Witsel? May as well just offer PSG the 45 million for Verratti…..plus some players maybe.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyD-eW6pRdE
Milan really do need a player who can play on the right side of a 3 man midfield. Now we are in the good books of Monaco why not Moutinho?
Inagine our team if we get romagnoli, witsel, and ibrahimovic.. Let me dream with a formation like this
………Carlos Bacca……luiz adriano
…………………..Ibrahimovic
…Axel witsel……………………Bertolacci
………………………Dejong
Antonelli…..romagnoli…..mexes…..abate
Diego Lolez
Mexes is never starter in any of my dreams. Paletta is tons better.
Lets wait and see what happens
Wonderful lign up, the only thing i would add is Paletta may prove a better choice than Mexes, and Monti/Jack/Bertolacci should be an open competition….
…having ibra in that role will be deadly, it will give Bacca and Adriano plenty of room to operate. Adriano is quite unselfish, and Bacca lives in the box, im convinced this will work out perfectly.
Ibra is a striker and nothing else, asking him to play as a 10 is just silly, especially when we have players like Honda, Suso and soon Mastour who could be feeding him up front
I wonder if Fiorentina would be open to selling Rossi? Perhaps Milan and Fiorentina could swap players. They can have their choice from Matri, Nocerino, Zaccardo, Montolivo, Albertazzi, Honda and Zapata. Heck take two players, or one player plus a small sum. I mean Milan wold be taking a gamble hoping that he doesn’t pick up another injury but I’d take Rossi over our deadwood any day. I understand that Cerci was a swap loan with Torres, but is it possible to loan Cerci out? Maybe Atletico would have to approve of the team he was loaned to but it… Read more »
I love Pepito but he is a cadaver.
please make this happen mr. Galliani! Forza Milan!
am i the only one who thinks milan should
try and steal Oscar form Juve? because i dont think playing honda in the starting trequartista role is a good idea. Plus Morata, Dybala, and Oscar up front for Juve just means another scudetto, but then again its just a suggestion.
Bacca — L.Adriano
Oscar
Witsel – Bertolacci
De Jong
Antonelli/MDS- ??? – Romanogli- Abate
Diego Lopez
missing Bonaventura
not possible since Oscar dont want to miss CL, unless he is a rossoneri at heart.
and our bench? u tink starting 11 is all we need? what if we unfortunately encounter injuries?
Also I really think milan made a mistake letting rami and el shaarawy go. Rami wouldve made a solid pair with Romanogli, and El shaarawy couldve been rotated between Adriano nd Bacca. Milan letting them go instead of Menez and Zapata is something I still dont understand.
Haha you are not the only one
If there is a Team Who tries to sign them, i am sure milan would sell them immedeatly. Sometimes it is good to cut off a one pretty rose to get a bunch of pretty ones
I dont like it abit the fact that we are investing in old players and alot of cash. What is going on?? Why not invest in the youth, i dont understand!!!
I hope they will get 1 of this young players?!!!!
Mammana
Romagnioli
Tielemans
Shelvey
Aranguiz
Talisca
De Arrascaeta
Boschilia
Kranevitter
Gabriel Augusto Xavier
Goncalo Guedes
Wanyama
Clasie
Calhanoglu
Gabriel Barboza
Lacazette
Lukaku
Aubameyang
PS: all the best wishes to ELSHA, It maks me sad to think you wont wear our colors anymore. Good Luck to you 92.
only Rommagnoli, Talisca, Claise, Calhangolu, Lacazette, Lukaku and Aubameyang are Milan material the rest i don’t know. plus after signing Witsel we won’t need CM unless Galliani will come to his senses and sells Montolivo then we might need one but these midfielders are too good for bench and basically our midfield of starting 11 is complete will be complete. Nocerino’s sale would be wise too. i would prefer either of these strikers to Ibra, he’s too old. i would go after Immobile now SES is gone and for some reason everyone just forgot his value to this team and… Read more »
Man I’d love to see ibra return, you might disagree but we can surely need a guy like ibra! He loves milan, honours the club and is not only a good player, but a fucking champion! He will lead the team. Get one more CB and I think we have had a great mercato where we have been waiting for a long time! I see a lot of complaining, but I like how it goes so far. A lot of comments say we don’t need monto, honda, cerci etc. Fact is that these are pretty descent players who can support… Read more »
It’s just the begining if mercato and guys on here thinks things will b done in just one day!!
It’s not that easy to get rid of all the dead weight! Forza uncle fester
Guys I’m sorry but ibrahimovic is not a CAM that guy is a pure striker and if it’s the case Luiz Adriano has to sit. Then so be it. Ibrahimovic will never track back and support them. It might as well be 3 attackers. Better off putting bacca and ibra up front and playing somebody like bonaventura Honda or Cerci in the trequartista role
Wats going on at Milan?!. Selling our future stars for quick success.. Why get Ibra, agreed he’s a quality striker but he’s not quite d Ibra of 2011, he’s 33. You prefer 33 to 22 with lot of energy and pace and room for improvement, agreed EL92 is injury prone, it could be fixed isn’t it?!. You guys should see the true, Milan is goin down a spiral, down a road of no return, we need youthful energy in our squad. Mexes 31/32, Bacca 28. Adriano 28, Antonelli 29, De Jong 30, Montolivo 30, Paletta-only God knows, I bet if… Read more »
I’ll take sniejder for cam position 10 to 15 should do it n witsel let go of menez team should look like this…. Ibra bacca sniejder behind witsel de jong bonnaventura mids defence we all know lol
Comment:Ibrahimovic being too old isn’t an argument, what is the essence of a young striker that can’t get the goals when the old one is firing on all cylinders.I don’t think in the last five years,aside CR7 and Messi,there isn’t any striker that has scored more than Ibrahimovic, the rest of the squad wuld be extra motivated just by seeing ibrahimovic,even the deadwoods,rememba Nocerino then?.any other striker would only make us a top three team bt Ibrahimovic would make us a title contender straightaway. I only fear for other strikers…
any chance oscar could be convinced to come to milan.. maybe he idolizes kaka. because he would be perfect to play behind the strikers, or isco. i just really dont want to see them at juventus they can take ozil.
also, bacca and adriano cant play together as they are too similar, so adriano would probably be on the bench anyway
bacca ibrahimovic
oscar
witsel bonaventura/berto
de jong
antonelli(mds) romagnoli paletta(new cb) abate(mds)
lopez
thoughts?
No need oscar, we have mastour, i think he can be like isco, his dribbling skill is awesome, i hope miha start playing him as a trequartista, and train him to have a strong muscle, speed and body balance, the only attribute whom he still lack of..with ibra alongside him, i am sure he can play amazingly..
In my opinion ozil is a lot better than oscar.. People do not like ozil because he is not good at scoring goals but we do not need a CAM to score we need it to assist the strikers.. Ozil is great he is deadly at what he does..
Pretty good..
We have to look at the el sharrawy issue objectively. The priority right now should be getting back to the cl and getting the revenue boost. El sharrawy has done nothing to guarantee that except for that amazing half season 2 years back. But getting ibra would almost guarantee us a cl spot. Even if El92 goes on to be star later on it would still be worth it of we can get back into the cl. Cl=more money and attract better players. If we just focus on developing youth players who knows we might become the next ajax. Just… Read more »
Then sell Menez (old) not Ses. Menez scored a lot of goals …his Value is very high now…is not getting higher. But the reasoning here is to sell a future talent after a bad year when his value is really low.
One thing is clear. Monaco is buying cheap…and selling expensive! They are making the wise move…not us!
Fester promise : Witsel
Fester effort : Agent Napolitano
Fester result : David Pizzarro (free)
Wistel is coming to.Milan bro for sure he suits us n galliani ain’t talkin to much about it either so he wants him too he will.be a great addition to our beloved Milan our mid will be solid strong fast
a Milan fans wrote this on Goal and I want to know what do you think about it: arash Liverpool: sterling is worth 50-60m. liverpool will get that money from some stupid club. Santos: Neymar sold for 100m. Benfica sold markovic for 30m. Chelsea sold David Luiz for 50m to psg, a player who cant actually defend. Now lets look at our logic: Monaco: used milan as bait to bid up kondogbia’s price, galliani went from 18m to 35m. Instead of being furious with them we are selling them our most important and talented young player. A player is as… Read more »
A standing ovation for u my friend
Totally Right!!!
if only B&G could read this. would have bn great.
i remember ibra ever angry to SES in the locker room. maybe it give trauma on ses and make him dont want to be as one team with ibra?
enough! they are building 29 yr old squad with no future only to get there quickly and then after 2 years they will play with an old guard! this cycle will end in matter of 2 years!!! no future AGAIN!
OH! dear bald uncle: you sold SES to Monaco only for 18M who they will put 40M price tag on him after a year??? at least you could have used him to get Kondogbia!
the next is Mastour for 5M! lol
sorry but our Management got no clue. what do you expect from a corrupt politician?
I’m sorry. I really don’t see all the hype for Mastour on this board. He played almost the entire game (at least until I stopped watching) against a garbage team on Thursday and looked horrible. I apologize to ruin your dreams of this kid being the next phenom after what I saw in that game it’s doubtful. He was brutal off the ball and on the ball couldn’t pass to save his own life and gave the ball away numerous times. I know he’s is only 17 but if he is doing that against teams he should be showcasing against… Read more »
Comment:menez & mexes staying 4 mi dey did all dey can 2 keep d tim on track last session aswel as de’jong,as 4 SEs sorry abt d lay off hope 4 better days in monaco am missing rami already.all we ned ryt now is a 1 good (cb) to close d transfar nd not 2 4get mr alex lolz sell him pls he can’t run anymore
What’s this talk of “building for the future” are we arsenal? Real milan fans like me have been spoilt with success. I’m against the idea of having youngsters and winning nothing. Ibra playing behind bacca and adriano is an option but don’t expect him to chase/press around, he doesn’t do much running anymore. Bona/honda is miha’s 1st plan behind the strikers. If you fit, you leave, SES didn’t fit, he had to go…better and more influential players have gone.
yeah you’re right! but I don’t understand the logic behind keeping cerci, honda and selling SES. I’m reading the news that Sevilla and Villarreal both want Suso and Napoli are keen on taking Gabriel on loan with an option to make it permanent!! and Blanc says they gonna keep Ibra for another year. now tell me you “real” milan fan, are we going to spolt with success playing with zaccardo, noce, cerci, honda, monti and the list of this crap goes on… or with those promising players who we let go of them for a penny? Dejong said once that… Read more »
True man, players that showed impetus and devotion to stay with the club are both sold….its baffling to say the least
And that is why Milan was broke! Ibra behind Bacca and adriano…an option??In which part of his career has he played in that position! He is not that kind of player! Its like saying Maldini behind Bacca and Adriano. Just because he is a real good CF ..one of the best, doesnt mean that he can play anywhere. Against the idea of having Youngster? Look at Chelsea .They win a lot of money because of that and traditionally Milan should be a better developer of players than Chealsea.
Ses did not fit? Then loan him..not sell him…and worst…for Peanuts!!
Hi guys please what’s the latest on ibra to milan
Ibra wont come, so stupid we sell elsha lol..
Then next is menez..
Now we give space to matri, you guys still happy with that?
Ibra wont come? Are you his agent? Everything is saying that he is coming except you. lol
Read latest news
ses is not happy with the move…i think he will burst out in press conference
What’s the point having SES who dosent fit in both as a striker and CAM? He’s not important in this current milan setup. I felt we sold Balotelli on the cheap when he left for Liverpool but as we all saw, it was a massive bargain for us. We can’t sell/loan cerci @ the moment, he’s an atletico.M player, for honda, if he’s to play behind the fowards, he’ll be a great asset to the team. Even if zaccardo stays, we all know he won’t play and it’s so unfair you label monty and honda craps. And you say bacca… Read more »
SES would easily convert into supporting striker and he would have all summer preparations for it to settle in. But lack of faith is Milan’s trademark
easily convert to a 2nd striker? He dosent even try to switch sides in a 4-3-3 not to talk of a 4-3-1-2. The SES we’ve watch for 4years got himself stuck-up on the left side, always trying to bend shots in. He needs like a year to learn it
Come on guys don’t start bashing El shaarawy and his capabilities. When he wasn’t injured he is very good and has great potential.. We are going to lose a great player and I wish him all the best. A side of me is hoping he doesn’t make those 15 appearances so he returns to us, but for him I wish him all the best. Love you Il faraone!!
you know guys, selling SES stings but not the end of the world. We have a youthful squad mixed in with young and not so young with a host of experience levels. We have Mauri, Poli, Cerci on the bench with others. We can rotate, we can boast we have a real bench finally. We have options. So let’s wait and see what happens.
so the meeting is today eh? hope we get a live broadcast of it. 😀 😀
where will you get that from.. that’s secret until the deal is done.. we don’t want to show the whole world how we negotiate for players..
lol, ikr. bt it isnt like galliani will b like, “hey Witsel, i have watched ur videos on youtube…….i like you, watcha saaaay??”
lol.. all i am saying is the dealings cannot be done live
Personally I think we should just forget ibra and just go for Mario Gotze or Oscar for that CAM role! They’re pretty good in that position…Plus they’ll really help our team
El Sha did not adapt? cannot play any other system? yeah right? well, play Ribery in the center or at right Am, play Robben as left winger and put messi as Regista because of his vision & passing range, watch them flop!! when menez plays out right does he score? aside from his penalties how many other goals did he score? please do not give a dog a bad name just to hang him!!! do not start with how he did not adapt. has Nigel De Jong learnt to do the roulette to become a passing destroyer? No they call… Read more »
We need defense too!
Levano and azad you guys are so correct. Even if ses deserved to Leave, cerci, Honda, montolivo, matri, and the rest deserve to leave even more. Loan him instead with no option to buy like mvg, sign your older players and sell dead weight
Oh my God. I’m amazed at the complete lack of knowledge on this board sometimes. It’s comical. Cerci can’t go anywhere. He isn’t our property. The terms of the loan included Torres. We are paying Torres’ salary and vice versa. Only way he goes anywhwre is if we get another team to pay his salary, clear it with Athletico, and I’m pretty sure Torres would have to come back or terminate his contract. Stop bringing up Cerci. Please. He’s not going anywhere.
Comment: i think cerci must go and let mastor stay because we can not loss a young player again. In ma opinion, let us keep alex, buy witzel nd ibra cus mexes can not b trusted for blemish season and also menez must stay, he can play behind the strikers.