it says here

so much for roman losing interest.

with 100 million euros in the bank, maybe milan will now sign a player who is approaching the peak of his career.

I eagerly await Bruno's contributions to this thread.

Sometimes, one has to sit back and admire Berlusconi and his manipulative uber-villain ways. Not content with using his media empire to become prime minister and thus quash all the numerous prosecutions against him, now he buys Ronaldinho in a blaze of publicity, raising expectations massively among the fans, presenting him to the media, boosting season ticket sales hugely, all the while negotiating to get rid of Kaka, showing such utter disdain for the Milan fan base and ending up with a 75m Euro profit on the deal.

And yet, they'll all say, well he might not be a nice man, but he's been a great president of our club (and they will now all start "remembering how shit Kaka and Ronaldinho have proven to be together for Brazil). Genius

See, now I was wondering how they'd keep Kaka and Ronaldinho from triping over each other's feet. This is an excellent solution to that problem, especially seeing as it makes both teams worse (what's the point of having a brilliant playmaker if Drogba's off, you've no money left to buy a new striker and your choices up front are Shevchenko and Kalou?)

I also await Peter Kenyon's latest comedy classic on how Chelsea *still* expect to be self-sufficient by 2010.

As of right now, though, La Gazzetta is not reporting this story. And given that the grauniad yesterday reported Eto'o to Tashkent as fact rather than ludicrous fiction, I'll not get my hopes up right away.

Inca wrote:

QUOTE:
I eagerly await Bruno's contributions to this thread.

I would have thought my comments on the dicey Ronaldinho purchase were balanced enough not to earn this level of derision, but apparently playing devil's advocate now and then doesn't sell well in this forum.

QUOTE:
raising expectations massively among the fans

It's this kind of condescending attitude toward the supposedly sheep-like unthinking Milan fans that I find irritating. Ad hoc sees the masses as not nearly so insightful as himself. Italians tend to be pretty cynical, show-me folk in my experience.

What can one say, it would be very sad to see Kaka go because he's such an enjoyable player to root for. I'm of course not very taken with the maxed-out, self-satisfied cynicism favored by ad hoc. Football being big business of course owners are going to sell hugely valuable players and of course these sales will always contain the element of betrayal of the fans. We're not going back to the pre-revolving door days when elite players stayed put, if they ever did, so why hold Milan to a higher standard over Kaka than any other club? When you have a player who can fetch 80 million pounds you might well sell him. The notion of doing it simply for a "75m Euro profit" seems a bit inapt, as he will no doubt want to turn around and spend that money on new players. I assume Berlusconi's thinking is "I can get three or four new players for one Kaka and that is worth it for the club's future." Then again, maybe ad hoc's right and he's just an evil manipulative asshole through and through.

Either way Kaka is certainly the last person I'd want to see Milan lose on an emotional level. At the same time it was probably unrealistic to think that he would stay there forever, as no player seems to do that these days.

If Fatty stays I hope Kaka realises that he will be expected to do all the spadework to supply him
with his customary 20 shots per game.

Incidentally a component who might tend to get overlooked in this discussion is Alexandre Pato, whom Berlusconi was extremely keen on landing a year ago.

Even with the ridiculous inflation in the modern transfer market, this sort of money being discussed is crazy and it would be a good business decision to take it.

It seems like Milan are a little like Liverpool, they have to sell to generate cash to buy, so even if only a percentage of that amount is reinvested it will allow them to invigorate the squad.

Reduced circumstances for Milan I suppose, however criticism of Berlusconi's parsimony must be tempered against this being a somewhat recent trait. During his stewardship the club has generally spent freely.

garcia wrote:

QUOTE:
with 100 million euros in the bank, maybe milan will now sign a player who is approaching the peak of his career.

They've already bought Flamini, in fairness.

Spending eighty million pounds on a single footballer, even a seriously good one like Kaka, is pretty sick.

Has anyone said "he's poo" yet?

QUOTE:
They've already bought Flamini, in fairness.

Flamini was a free transfer. And I'll say it again, they already bought Pato who looks every inch the player Kaka was at that age.

"self satisfied cynicism"? Let's not forget I'm talking here about Silvio Berlusconi. I'd posit that anyone who is not seriously cynical about this man's actions and motivations is hopelessly naive to the point of being actually mentaly ill.

And, you'll have to trust me on this, I am not satisfied in any way about my cynicism about this vile human being, who has spent years defrauding half of his country, has escaped punishment for his corrupt and bent-as-a-3-Euro-note activities time and time again, and now heads up the first government in Western Europe to be openly racist since the end of the 2nd world war. There is nothing satisfying about this, I can assure you.

I don't think the Milan fans are unthinking sheep (though the 30,000 who showed up at the San Siro on Thursday to welcome Senhor Gaucho, and who then provided a massive spike in season ticket sales (which i understand were selling like hot cakes in the last two days), certainly ought to take a little bit of a look at themselves). I am quite sure that there are many Milan fans who are working like mad to oppose Berlusconi, but I've never actually met any (either in person or online), whereas, from the two other Western European clubs who have a comparably powerful, vile and corrupt owner (Man City and Chelsea) I encounter more who are against the regime than who are for it. Perhaps I've just been unlucky.

BrunoMaggiore wrote:

QUOTE:

QUOTE:
They've already bought Flamini, in fairness.

Flamini was a free transfer.

What's the (lack of a) fee got to do with anything? I was responding to Garcia's query about whether Milan would sign a player coming into his peak years.

ad hoc wrote:

QUOTE:
"self satisfied cynicism"? Let's not forget I'm talking here about Silvio Berlusconi. I'd posit that anyone who is not seriously cynical about this man's actions and motivations is hopelessly naive to the point of being actually mentaly ill.

And, you'll have to trust me on this, I am not satisfied in any way about my cynicism about this vile human being, who has spent years defrauding half of his country, has escaped punishment for his corrupt and bent-as-a-3-Euro-note activities time and time again, and now heads up the first government in Western Europe to be openly racist since the end of the 2nd world war. There is nothing satisfying about this, I can assure you.

Forgive me for pointing out that this is non sequitur. Berlusconi's actions as prime minister and head of his party are one thing, and his decision to accept an 80 million pound offer for Kaka another. Just because he's an ass-hat of a politician doesn't make all of his decisions on behalf of AC Milan corrupt. As others have observed he'd be a fool not to sell any player for that ridiculous amount. In today's football market 80 million pounds ought to be a sale every single time. Alex Ferguson is a fool for not letting that douchebag go to Madrid for even more.

QUOTE:
I don't think the Milan fans are unthinking sheep

in the same breath as

QUOTE:
(though the 30,000 who showed up at the San Siro on Thursday to welcome Senhor Gaucho, and who then provided a massive spike in season ticket sales (which i understand were selling like hot cakes in the last two days), certainly ought to take a little bit of a look at themselves).

Hey, he didn't charge admission did he? As for a spike in season ticket sales, Ronaldinho is arguably the most famous footballer on the planet, what did you expect. The fans will be as willing to boo him as cheer him depending on his performance.

QUOTE:
I am quite sure that there are many Milan fans who are working like mad to oppose Berlusconi, but I've never actually met any (either in person or online), whereas, from the two other Western European clubs who have a comparably powerful, vile and corrupt owner (Man City and Chelsea) I encounter more who are against the regime than who are for it. Perhaps I've just been unlucky.

Working like mad to oppose him? For what and to what end? If they oppose his political doings there are actions to be taken on that front and I fully agree they should be. But why should the majority actively oppose his management of AC Milan, it's been a very successful club under him. Your idea is apparently to stage a boycott if you don't like the owner, but that's not why most people support their teams. They do so for the players, the coaches, out of habit and out of regional loyalties. Judging people because they aren't actively protesting whatever billionaire happened to buy their club is just the sort of misguided politicization of what is for most people a non-political issue that I'd expect from someone as, yes, self-congratulatory as you are. I personally lack the temerity to blame any Chelsea fan who might passively accept the ownership of Abramovich. They're Chelsea fans, and they didn't have any say over who bought their club, and their club has done well.

Hieronymus of Hesselink wrote:

QUOTE:
What's the (lack of a) fee got to do with anything? I was responding to Garcia's query about whether Milan would sign a player coming into his peak years.

The discussion was about using newly available funds to pay large fees for players entering their prime.

I know a number of die-hard leftist Milanisti.

In fact, the second most well known Milanista in the country after Zio Silvio himself is Fausto Bertinotti, the long time head of the "Refounded Communist" Party and former Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies.

Football makes strange bedfellows.

As to the spike in season ticket sales, there was one, but only compared against the same period during the last couple of seasons. At least as of Friday morning (when I left Italy), the overall total (a bit less than 24,000) still hadn't reached last year's final total, and were nowhere near the peaks of the 80s.

Interestingly enough, the usual Italian sources don't appear to have picked up the Guardian report on Kaka, at least in their online versions. There have been earlier reports of approaches by Chelsea, but those have been followed by declarations by Galliani of the player's "untransferability".

I don't know what to think to be honest. Great player yes, but worth £80m? Not on your life.