Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara were working on several negotiations when Gerry Cardinale, much to the surprise of everyone, decided to sack them. In particular, two players almost joined AC Milan.
In an article published by Footmercato last night – which includes some very strong words on the situation at corporate level – it was highlighted that two players came very close to joining Milan. And the reality is that there are probably even more names.
The players in question are Tommaso Baldanzi and Domenico Berardi. Baldanzi is on the radar of all of the top Italian clubs and per the report, Maldini has more or less beaten the competition. His sacking, however, changed everything.
Berardi, at the age of 28, would have been a good replacement for Brahim Diaz on the right flank. Giorgio Furlani and Geoffrey Moncada, who are in charge of the operations now, are more inclined to sign Samuel Chukwueze or Christian Pulisic.
Probably Milan can’t spend 50 million plus amount of Tonali sale (70 million).
In my opinion Milan can spend utmost 70 million this year. For that amount some players MUST arrive for free. Now, everyone forget what’s happening with Kamada? And couple of players must arrive on loan option. 70 million must be divided on 20mil 20mil 30mil players.
And looking on Charles De Ketelaere we can see how tricky is to spend 30mil+ on single player…
So selling BEST PLAYERS easily, doesn’t guarantee you will find replacements on market.
We will compare Cardinale Moncada Furlani and moneyball logic very soon, when season starts in compare to Maldini and Massara…
That’s false. Milan CAN spend much more than 50M but Redbird chooses not to. We are no longer “in debt” we made a profit and we have yet to use any of that 120M UCL money AND we sold Tonali. So we have the $$$ to buy player – had it BEFORE we sold Tonali. But the issue is WILL we use it. And we will likely NOT with Redbird’s cheap policy
Signed with what? Does it mean he already had budget available?
Dude, what is not clear? They had an agreement in place, same like most other clubs have their transfer windows planned ahead. Like we all know Frattesi deal with Inter is agreed for some time now…Let me know if it is not clear again, I’ll draw it for you…
Berardi LOL, what a joke Sassuolo asks for 30m, we aint paying that for a 28 year old
Berardi is worth 30m, might not help too much in CL but he is an absolute beast in Serie A and would help to turn some of those draws into wins with the quantity in goals he puts out.
Hadn’t Maldini “more or less beaten the competition” with Renato Sanches? I don’t care about missing out on Berardi at all but Baldanzi would’ve been nice. If Maldini had actually got him that is.
Sanches joined P$G before Redbird gave Maldini contract and transfer budget. Last year, it delay the mercato by a month, giving other clubs chance to move before Milan can complete any deal.
Okay – to be honest I can’t remember the details as during that Sanches saga I slipped into a coma. Maldini was weighing up whether to stay or not which is what delayed the budget and messed up the mercato as far as I’m aware.
The transfer budget had not been defined by Cardinale untill end of June, by that point, P$G already completed the signing.
💯 correct @Yelnats24
Let’s not get down the rabit while like we did with de katelar here. There are tons of players out there that are not discovered yet. Sure we need one or two that can fill in the gap and play the very next match bit to make the real difference we need to go after hidden jewels. It is possible but will not happen ober night and not if ylfor some here main. Target is SMS and Arnautobitch.
Milan needs class pkayers that are worthy of our history and colours.
Another huge issue is that Serie A needs to remove restrictions for foreign player if they want to compete or go back to glorious days. Ipe the doors to talent, good Italian player wull come through, and if you really want to habe that cap and somehow artificially protect Italians then do that in Serie B or C so you have an environment that protects them.
Let’s not get down the rabit hole like we did with de katelar here. There are tons of players out there that are not discovered yet. Sure we need one or two that can fill in the gap and play the very next match, but in order to make the real difference we need to go after the hidden jewels. It is possible but it will also not happen over night and not if like for some here the main target are SMS and Arnautobitch.
Milan needs class players that are worthy of our history and colours.
Another huge issue is that the Serie A needs to remove restrictions for foreign player if they want to compete or go back to glorious days. Open the doors to talent. Do not worry good Italian player will come through, and if you really want to have that cap and somehow artificially protect Italians then do that in Serie B or C.
We onow it worked in Italy and its working elsewhere
Just my two cents
“Berardi, at the age of 28, would have been a good replacement for Brahim Diaz on the right flank.”
What ? Diaz right flank? He played mostly CAM but once in a while. Berardi would relegate whoever is in the RW to be on the bench. Even with his injuries this season maaged to pull off decent stats
Crazy idea, but why not use CDK on the RW this season instead of the 10 role…. What was Pioli’s email address again?
I can’t wait to see (16 maignan) to leave and ( 19 theo hernandez)
Another shtty biased article. Thanks Isak
Actually it’s 4.
Baldanzi (loan+obligation), Berardi (15m), Kamada (free), RLC (15m)
It would’ve been definitely 5 with Thuram(15mil) if Maldini called. Perhaps Guler (30m) as well.
the players we would offload would afford the young backups for Lb and lw.
Talks were ongoing on SMS as well with Lazio for 18 mil. Though it probably would’ve failed and not sure if SMS would improve the team much. There is a reason why there is no suitors for him.
That would’ve been a Serie a contender team all under an 80 mil budget. We never needed to sell Tonali.
We only have basic budget 50m euro same with last season + sale player . We still need to sell player to afford all that 5 player you mention. But not tonali of course, i will prefer sell tomori or theo . Berardi im doubt 15m euro probably sassoulo asking 20-25m euro for their captain . marcus asking signing fee 10m euro , kamada signing fee 5m euro both are free transfer, RLC 15m euro because he have no suitor. For SMS it will need 40m euro offer to convince lotito
So we’ve gone from Baldazani as CAM back up (assuming with Kamada) to Guler who is a prospect, nothing more, nothing less.
And from Berardi to Chuk?
Definitely prefer Tommasso and Samuel , so 50-50 if there’s any truth to this.
Where would he put CDK if he want to buy baldanzi & berardi ? Baldanzi cover AMF with kamada also adili, while berardi cover RW with junior & saladmaker. Even if he sell junior that RW spot still have berardi as starter so CDK will compete with saladmaker to sit on bench ?
If budget was small, we could sell Gerry Cardinale to Afghanistan Taliban for 100 mill.
They could use him to teach them moneyball baseball.