AC Milan general spiel 2.0

[p_maldini_3]

this dirty arab will be sucking galliani's balls soon enough. this will be hilarious.

[San Paolo]

[red]

In what way are they being little bitches?

Because they don't appear willing to cave in to Milan?

God knows what you must think of Tevez if you think Man City are behaved poorly.

[San Paolo]

City are being little bitches not just to Milan but everybody. a player they have frozen out, who wants to leave and they still try and make back what the paid for him plus add ons!? €30mil plus add ons is fair if he was their star player and played week in week out. the fact is they mugged themselves off by giving him a stupid contract to screw Man United over and now he's slapped them in the face by walking out they are trying to recoup via other clubs. no club is stupid enough to play there games.

[red]

And because he is under contract (however ridiculous that contract may be) they are perfectly entitled to ask for £25m for him.

This won't even be about Tevez for City. They're trying to show that they aren't going to be one of these teams that pays over the odds for players, only to sell them cheap if/when it doesn't work out.

[RomaShield27]

Pato out for a month: "A statement on the club's official website read: "The prognosis is three/four weeks, unless there are complications."

http://www1.skysports.com/football/news/11095/7454354/?

--------

By the way, where is vtec at? Does he still support Milan? Hasn't posted in here in ages.

[p_maldini_3]

citeh gave us full permission to talk to tevez and we haven't broken any rules. they also have full rights to hold out for 25m euros or whatever price, but galliani is not dumb enough to pay full price for a player that neither wants citeh nor is wanted by citeh. i don't see what we've done wrong.

the dumb arab is new to the game, galliani is the last motherfucker he should try the tango with. but i will not doubt the prick's arrogance to tell galliani to fuck off and pay tevez whatever money to rot on the bench so he could save his pride. if it was any other team i would be assured that they'd cave, but arab royalty has an ego so big that it's beyond description, so they won't give a fuck about the money 'lost'. they'll make it up within an hour.

i hope that we get tevez on loan, then tell him to fuck off back to manchester so they go through the same problem again.

[The MAN]

He's their player so they're entitled to ask for whatever the fuck they want. That said, as the comments from that moron shows, they are nothing but whiny bitches...they are new to the game apparently and to top it off chose the worst people to mess with...I don't see how Milan acted inappropriately as that dumb shit is implying, when we had their fucking permission to speak to the player and agree a deal with him. They're probably regretting that now because Galliani played it very nicely and cornered them.

I think Tevez is partially motivated to choose Milan because we're offering the least favourable deal to Shitty compared to other parties and wants to screw them over a bit, that said, this is only one of many reasons. Milan was the only side to show interest in him when absolutely nobody else wanted him so he feels like we're the only side who truly believed in him whereas fags like PSG, and specially Inter, only later declared their "interest" and were out there probably to drive the price up on us more than anything. Well played by Galliani, if Shitty stick to their unrealistic demands, and they're entitled to that, I would not blame him from walking away from the deal and not break the bank. He's already lined up an alternative, and then we'll see how these bitches are going to deal with the Tevez matter for the rest of the season.

[p_maldini_3]

i also forgot to mention that the pharoah had a damn good game vs. novara after coming on at the half. his movement was terrfic and he showed some good footballing intelligence. i still think his technique needs working on because his first touch sucks balls, but he has improved massively since the last time we saw him and i labelled him a joke.

[San Paolo]

Mesbah played a pretty good debut. bring on Juve!

[p_maldini_3]

mesbah was solid for his first game. he didn't get forward all to often, that will come with confidence, but when he did his crosses were pretty lethal.

but fuck me, i don't know what's happened to the pharoah. the little egyptian is making me eat my words, he had a wonderful game today. if he keeps playing like he does, he'll be an excellent player for the future.

[RomaShield27]

/ UPDATED JAN 26, 2012 1:59 PM ET / By James Horncastle

Paolo Maldini is locked out of the place he calls home. “Milan don’t wish to take me back,” he told La Gazzetta dello Sport last week. Two and a half years after his retirement the player who made 902 appearances for the club and spent 12 seasons as captain between 1985-2009, winning 26 trophies, including the Scudetto seven times and the Champions League on another five occasions, is apparently unwelcome, a persona non grata to those who should be ever grateful for his service.

This awkward standoff separating the previously inseparable has played out for some time now, though much like a shameful family secret, it’s a subject that has been met with a knowing silence when mentioned at the dinner table. Better to ignore it and hope it goes away. Except Maldini isn’t going anywhere. He’ll always be there. That, however, shouldn’t be taken for granted. Indeed, what brought this all back to the surface was the suspicion that Maldini will work for someone else.

Ten days ago, Maldini was spotted in the stands at the Parc des Princes with Leonardo watching Carlo Ancelotti undertake his first league game in charge of Paris Saint-Germain against Toulouse. He was invited as a guest of the club, at the behest of his former colleagues at Milan, and revealed to L’Équipe he felt at home. Maldini paid a visit to the dressing room before and after the match had dinner with PSG’s president Nasser al-Khelaïfi, who he had first become acquainted with in Qatar.

The speculation mounted as to whether a job offer had been made. Ancelotti had asked Maldini to join him at Chelsea in 2009, but seeing as he had just retired he graciously declined the opportunity. The New York Cosmos had called too, only to be turned down. Maybe this time, he would accept. Leonardo did little to discourage such talk in an interview with Canal + later that weekend. "Maldini is curious," he said. "He is already close to us. His vision of football is very complementary."

Maldini, however, chose not to lead anyone down the garden path. Asked if he had received a proposal, he replied: “No, no…” adding that if one were to arrive in the coming months, he’d evaluate it like any other, but whether he’d take it or not is a “question I can’t answer.” So for now, at least, it seems like Maldini is to stay retired. He takes his two boys to training, boxes with Ibrahim Ba and Angelo Carbone, plays tennis then seven-a-side every Saturday morning when “after a lifetime in defence” he positions himself “strictly in attack”.

Still, the prospect of Maldini working for anyone other than Milan got people talking. La Gazzetta dello Sport followed up the story and it was then that the full extent of his disappointment at not being asked to return to the club became evident. “Berlusconi has spoken clearly about it and even Barbara has mentioned my name,” he sighed. “The reality is that I have not been offered anything. Leonardo first asked me to return, then Allegri and finally some of my former teammates. But they have always found a door closed by the club.”

The exact reason why remains unclear, though it is assumed that there are people within Milan who, considering his name and what it represents, see Maldini as a threat to their own power, in particular Adriano Galliani, the club’s vice-president. Relations between the two have been strained since May 24, 2009, the day of Maldini’s final game at San Siro before his retirement. Milan lost 3-2 to Roma on a scorching hot afternoon. But what really burned, however, was not so much the result as how a small, but vocal, section of the 70,000 fans ruined his farewell party.

“Thanks captain. On the pitch you were an undying champion but you had no respect for those who made you rich,” read one banner draped over the railings in the curva sud. Another stated: “For your 25 years of glorious service you have the thanks of those who you called mercenaries and misers.”

If it weren’t already clear enough that their ingratitude knew no bounds, a giant replica red and black shirt with the No 6 on its back was the next to be unveiled. It carried the words: “There’s only one captain, [Franco] Baresi.”

Cut to the core, a hurt Maldini, consoled by Leonardo in the dressing room, hit back at the Ultras. “I’m proud not to be one of you,” he retaliated. Everyone of course expected the club to take a stand too.

But the silence from Milan was deafening. They didn’t leap to their captain’s defence, nor did they slam the Ultras. Maldini was, quite understandably, disillusioned by the whole business and expressed his frustration in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.

“I didn’t like how they didn’t take a position,” he said. “There wasn’t even a comment - from the president down, no directors said a word. Maybe I’m an idealist, but I believe that a club like Milan should disassociate themselves from certain incidents.”

In an open letter of apology printed in the same paper the following day Galliani revealed that no reaction had been forthcoming because he didn’t want to dignify the Ultras with a response. What was interesting about it was how the message had been conveyed – through an intermediary. Were Maldini and Galliani not talking to each other anymore? Perhaps, but it could also have been a necessary piece of PR. By that point the club needed to justify its reasons for inaction to the world at large.

Maldini insists that there is no rancor “on my part”, but “on his, I don’t know.” Further to that he claims to have no agenda, no ulterior motive. He is neither going hungry, in need of money or publicity. “I have always counted on myself. I have always walked on my own two feet. I am lucky to be in an enviable position: I enjoy my family, I don’t have financial problems and I wouldn’t be presumptuous enough to think I could teach someone how to do their job. Milan are in my heart and I’d like to repay the club.”

Even so he has one condition - that the “intellectual independence” he has acquired in recent years is not curbed. Maldini has no intention of becoming Milan’s smiling “Yes Man” like Leonardo once was [and regrets] at the club. “I’ve broken with my nice guy image,” he told La Repubblica in December. “Football is not a utopia and I am not a candidate for the Nobel peace prize.”

Maldini thinks that way too. If something needs saying, he’ll say it. Why do you think the Ultras were at odds with him? Because he had the courage to stand up to them. They have never forgiven him for the time he refused to apologize at the airport on Milan’s return from Istanbul for the defeat in the 2005 Champions League final and for going public with his criticism of them after they made a point of not supporting the team while intimidating those who did in a protest at the 2007 European Super Cup.

“I’m not afraid to tell it like it is and maybe that’s also a problem,” Maldini admitted. Regretfully, a solution is yet to be found. These have been a harsh and unforgiving few months for the legends of the game in Italy with Juventus announcing - as anticipated though rather abruptly - that this would be Alessandro The Waterboy’s final season at the club, then the news in La Repubblica this morning that Inter intend to complain about the unsympathetic commentary on their games by no less than Beppe Bergomi on Sky Italia.

It seems nothing is sacred anymore. No one is bigger than the club. Maldini, with his sad eyes, remains out in the cold.

James Horncastle is a European soccer writer with articles published in The Blizzard, Champions magazine and FourFourTwo.

[red]

And it's official: Milan have signed Maxi Lopez.

[p_maldini_3]

i've never seen much of maxi lopez, all i know is that he signed for barcelona when he was a kid and never made it over there. but that has to count for something.

as for tevez, i think that train has left the station, and thank God for it. he was too much of a shit-stirrer, and despite his qualities he still was an incredibly dumb footballer.

now we have about 7 strikers on the roster. ibra, robinho, pato, cassano, inzaghi, the pharoah and maxi lopez. i have a feeling that pato will fuck off in the summer. can't be sooner if you ask me. reports are also saying that inzaghi will be leaving soon too. even though he is finished, the way allegri has dangled the carrot in front of him only to pull it away is disrespectful to a man who has brought so much to the club. allegri should've just told him in the beginning that he is not needed anymore rather than drag him. that's just fucked up. allegri is a bitch.

[The MAN]

I wish the best for Maxi at Milan of course, but you know, I'm not entirely convinced he's going to make a big impact upfront but hope I'm wrong.

Shitty are a bunch of fools at the end of the day, if nobody takes Tevez in January, which I think is going to be the case, they will have to deal with lower offers in the summer since he'd be then locked out for nearly a season. I'm pretty certain Pato is gone this summer so we'll make a move for Tevez then persumably.

But we need another midfilder now before the window closes. I hope Galliani is working on that.

[San Paolo]

as i said on twitter. Maxi is not new to the big european teams, he has history with Barca and scored twice against Man United in the CL. people have rock bottom expectations for him so all he can do is impress. give him a chance first.

[forzaitalia]

How long is Mathieu Flamini out for? And how long has he been out for? Feels like he's been out for ever.

I've always thought he's a decent player, and makes your midfield look a bit healthier. He brings the average age down a bit and is well established. You could still do with another midfielder, mind.

[San Paolo]

i think Flamini injured himself back in round 2 or 3 and they say he's back in training but only doing light work.

[San Paolo]

They say that after the Lazio game Pippo went out for dinner with his family. Allegri went with his family to the same restaurant a little later on to which Pippo immediately got up and left the restaurant.

[p_maldini_3]

i'm not sure why inzaghi is still on the roster.