The last few days have been characterised by a lot of negativity in the Milan fanbase, following the sale of Sandro Tonali and the failure to sign Marcus Thuram. Soon, the club could reach a dangerous tipping point.
The sale of Tonali to Newcastle for €70-80m was never going to be popular. The reaction of the fans, as such, was very expected and the management was heading for a swift response with the free signing of Thuram. Instead, however, they got bamboozled.
The incompetence of the management, having negotiated with the Frenchman for almost three weeks, was indeed highlighted. This is exactly what Furlani and Moncada didn’t need, seeing as the rest of the clubs now are well aware of their lack of experience. This is something you certainly don’t want when you have €70m to reinvest.
Midfield target Davide Frattesi’s price has already shot up to €40m, despite Inter having an agreement at €35m, and the demands are the same if not higher for strikers. An uphill battle even for the most experienced directors, in other words.
The mercato struggles mean AC Milan as a brand (which Cardinale is so wary of) is at an all-time low. The sacking of Paolo Maldini left a bitter taste and a swift and strong response was needed from the new management, but instead the opposite arrived. A sense of hopelessness is thus washing over the club.
It seems Cardinale grossly underestimated the weight of Maldini and the whole infrastructure that was in place. Furlani comes from a corporate background, having worked for Lehman Brothers and Elliott Management, but has no prior experience in the football world. Moncada, meanwhile, is and has always been just a scout.
The pre-season will soon kick off, with a USA tour scheduled, and everyone will be watching. Milan have lost many players thus far and have not replaced a single one of them, meaning there is indeed cause for concern. Names are being thrown around by newspapers, but apart from the Thuram attempt not much concrete has happened.
Stefano Pioli is thus returning to a very difficult situation and one that must be sorted out as soon as possible. He made it clear several times last season that the depth was lacking to properly compete, which makes it even more strange that Cardinale backed the manager and now (so far) hasn’t fulfilled his one request.
What’s even more worrying than the squad situation, though, are the rumours of disagreements between Furlani and Cardinale. Footmercato outlined in an article last night that Furlani, along with Moncada, want to run the club in a traditional manner. Cardinale, meanwhile, wants to fully Americanize it.
Furlani, we must remember, didn’t arrive at the club as an employee of RedBird but rather Elliott Management. The suggestion that he has different views than Cardinale is not to be disregarded, therefore, especially since he’s also a boyhood Milan fan.
Given the increasing amount of worrying reports coming out of the media, Milan have been surprisingly quiet. And that silence suggests that Cardinale indeed wants to revolutionise – for bad or for worse – the club without taking into account the concerns of those who know football best.
We’re already at a very dangerous point. A majority of the fans are furious with the sale of Tonali and without proper replacements, the situation will absolutely worsen. Not to mention that the midfield isn’t the only department that needs reinforcing this summer.
It’s possible that Cardinale could have got away with these changes in other circumstances. But everything has now happened in a very short period of time, from Ibrahimovic’s goodbye and Maldini’s sacking to the sale of Tonali. As a result, there is almost no room for error left. God knows what will happen if Milan were to continue in this direction…
Cardinale wants to look like godfather with his haircut but he is godfather for poor.
“Footmercato outlined in an article last night that Furlani, along with Moncada, want to ruin the club in a traditional manner”
Well, at least someone’s being honest about it….
haha i did also notice that “i” i run 😀
Good catch 😂 Run of course
The ol’ Freudian slip. Oh no need to correct yourself, we know what you mean wink wink 😂😂😂
😀
What do you prefer? A traditional ruining or something more modern, American? 😂😂😂
I preferred the old traditional ways of ruining an Italian club where the polizia came storming in and took all the suitcases full of money 😂.
But no seriously, we are in trouble here. We are obviously a bigger (although not richer) club, but this reminds me of Everton. In comes a board with no interest in football, entirely focused on real estate, and by the time the stadium arrives the rest of the club is in utter disarray.
I didn’t defend, but I did accept the sacking of M&M, and I even accepted the Tonali sale until I read everything I could find and it became entirely clear he would have stayed. Now we have infighting already.
I’m starting to think we will go into next season with this squad plus Kamada and ONE panic buy.
I hope I’m wrong but we have a long road ahead.
We’ll see if Kamadas signing actually takes place.
I’m skeptical this will turn out like Thuram but who knows.
Furlani is lifelong Milan fan? I’d like to hear his honest opinion on Maldini sacking… did he approve as it increased his importance, or did he disapprove but stay quiet so as not to compromise his position.
It would be good if someone at board level could relay to Gerry what a Cardinale Sin he has committed by his recent actions. But it’s possible they’re all afraid for their own employment, if he can sack Maldini with such ruthless precision they can surely be deemed expendable.
If only we were so ruthlessly decisive when it comes to signing players….
This 👆 exactly this
You can’t be a lifelong Milan fan and not explain the importance of such an icon in the club’s history to Cardinale except if ur so scared of losing your own job.
but then again wouldnt an ac miilan fan also rather get fired themselves than being a direct reason for maldini to get sacked. I’d rather get fired but maybe others would cling on to their job but its not like furlani is broke to begin with.
1000 likes!!! there is a HUGE difference between a fan and a club icon!
now moncada has always been, “just” a scout? thought he was the Merlin of scouts?
they are trying to manage the damage eh?
Redbird fired everyone at Toulouse who offered any resistance or questioned their methods. They got rid of their legendary Sporting director because they wouldn’t let him decide anything in the transfer market, the coach for not wanting to sign a long term deal because the Redbird plants were unreasonable and invasive. They are hate by their fans. This Cardinale guy is a complete douche and incompetent tool. They are using clubs to try to grt a proof of concept arround their intellectual property so they can increase its value and make it a standard in football. The system is owned and designed by Redbird, Cardinale is a shareholder, thus they don’t care about our sport, they are trying to fatten their pockets.
@kayson
Well put.
We are no longer a football club, we are a corporation. Run by corporate morons
Cardinale is very stupid!If I am living in Italy I will shoot him with my gun!
How can you profess Cardinali stupid when you are implying an act of stupidity yourself
I suggest you stick to the facts at hand
True Milan supporters don’t shoot anyone
Say it to Luca Lucci. LOL
Isak, you’d just be labelled fear mongering and debbie downer by Cardinale’s fans though..
These are all valid, and those who argued that it’s still June, need to remember, that we need to get the team together quickly as we’re going to fill 2 slots for central midfielder and that’s not to mention the new striker/rw that might arrive.
Sure, it’s might still seem like it’s June, but it’s less than 60 days before the season starts and we don’t even have any idea what kind of midfield we gonna be looking at for next season. Pioli is also notoriously hard to get his points across, usually players would take some time to acclimatize to his wants. A strong start is a must, and it’s thanks to that we survived last season. But, with the current uncertainties, it’s very hard to be an optimist.
(why is there an error in posting? saying duplicates etc)
That’s a useful point that people often overlook. It took Tonali maybe 1 year to get used to Piolis system. Other players have even taken longer. No guarantee a new signing will immediately settle. And Tonali was a starter, so we can’t replace with an impact sub. Even Krunic, who was kind of a joke figure, played better recently after taking a long time to understand the requirements.
The sooner a signing comes in, the more of pre season they get to acclimatise to the squad. Otherwise we end up with another Bakayoko /Vranckx scenario where they either aren’t good enough, or don’t adapt to the demands of the role.
I agree 100% Kay, but a signing has to be made soon
They have a strategy don’t they, because there are a few vacancies to be fulfilled and depth to strengthen Pioli’s sustainablilty as the head coach or Pioli will end up like the 2 M’s
They do have a big season ahead
Yes , we need strong start in serie A to calm fans . Losing 3 times in row in serie A start will make fans will riot . The problem from last season 4231 cannot work well if no DMF can do dirty work like ball recovery,tackling,can become extra CB if LB & RB help the atack . Krunic did well last season but no one else can rotate with him. Ibrahim sangare maybe the answer but did RedBird want to pay PSV 30-40m euro ?
Exactly that is why the only starting MC shouldn’t have been sold. They literally need to get the whole starting midfield signed and get them to play together in under 60 days, and that is if they sign tomorrow.
This has to be the headline of the year. They’ve let Moller off the chains hahaha 😂😂😂
I love it 😁
“they got bamboozled.”, “The incompetence of the management”.lololol 🍿🍿🍿
It’s been eeeerily quiet for the “pro- new management/anti-Maldini” brigade recently. I wonder why ….
Maybe it’s not FIFA and Football Manager we’re playing here
This is all doomday talk. Again. For what? The summer transfer hasnt even opend yet.
And truth be told the way football clubs are run does need a revolution.. picking players by data is nothing revolutionary tho
Summer transfer hasn’t started yet? Then why we already sold our starter while Roma signed N’dicka and Aouar, Inter signed Thuram and will probably close Frattesi in coming days?
It hasnt started yet. It starts on july 1st.
As for the why Roma and shitner got agreements made? Probably becaue they been in contact with those players for weeks…
Our director was also in contact with his targets but he got fired and now they’re starting from scratch
The TW hasn’t even started, yet we already lost 2-3 of our targets. That’s another way to think about it.
“targets”. Players that they wanted because they were availabe and free.. I really doubt they were even scouted properly beforehand
That’s exactly the point. What did you expect from a free player market? The turtle wins the race? A day to day scouting while doing family check? Nope it’s all about fast and timing. And also, instinct. The kind of traits you only get with experience. Inter with Marotta have done it, again and again.
And let me rephrase it for ya;
The TW hasn’t even started, yet we already lost 2-3 of our targets and 1 of our key players.
cant lose something you were never in the run for.
I’ll add that its really not that hard to look up which player is in the last year of contract so everyone has ample time to scoute and family check. Milan, obviosly didnt do any of that because none of the “targets” were targets…
Roma and Inter did do that, like i said weeks ago
Yes, even with Transfermarkt you can see the list. But in the real world of football, there are many many cases for player just delaying his contract renewal, and sometimes ’till the very end of season. So many factors going on. So many uncontrolable variables. So it’d be a waste to do all the scouting, hoping to get the players free, but turns out they sign a renewal.
Yes, the transfer usually involves traditional scouting and such, but it also revolves much around opportunity. Remember Bonucci? Bet he was not even scouted by a tie and something planned by Milan. They clearly said they took a chance because there’s a door opened. Keywords: chance and opportunity. That’s what I’m talking about. The outcome of the transfer, it’s another subject. They don’t have to be a target (long planned target like you assumed) to be an opportunity. The player transfer is nothing but dynamic. Moreover for the free players market.
And once again, that kind of opportunity seeking, executing and winning is all about experience.
@flyingturtle
you are 100% defending Cardinale each and every time.
Are you on their payroll
OR
Are you ignorant?
Didnt see you geniuses say anything when Maldini took weeks or months to get deals done, now on 25th of June everything is hopeless and Milan should just give up apparently.
Nice job, get ready for relegation then, that’d make you happy
Get your facts right, Maldini had no budget until Cuntinale took over from Elliot and only then he was assigned a budget. You have whole lot of reports about it from last year, go and read some. After the takeover we got CdK, Thiaw and Vranckx in span of few days apart while we lost probably whole bunch of better targets to other clubs. Genius.
Dude, as it stands, the season (not just the pre-season) will start with 2 midfielders: Krunic and Pobega. Bennacer won’t be back in shape until the end of the year.
So compared to last year, we are minus 2 starter midfielders and one AMC.
Compared to last year (at the same time), we need 3 MORE starters.
Do you still believe we can be cool and calm?
And yes, because of this, Maldini could afford more time in the mercato.
Also would like to add that Americanizing our model would be weird.
When I think of American sports, I think basketball. I am oversimplying here but I meant if we’re to look at NBA, it’s just bunch of teams getting their turns to be champions after drafting and trading their assets well. The spectators would still dance for the camera and free tshirt even when their team is 30points down in the 4th quarter. With all due respect, personally I thought that this is soulless and passionless.
Not to mention some teams may purposely tanked and raced to the bottoms so that they get a higher draft pick numbers. This is just a weird thing for non Americans, isnt it? I meant, no other sports as far as I’m concerned of, rewarded its participants for finishing dead last.
(I don’t follow MLS so I dont know how that system works apart from there’s no relegation either).
I think by Americanizing here means that we rely on tools and statistic more in selecting our next players, but football teams cant just be assembled like a manufacturing line on a factory..
U are very funny.why didn’t they wait till July before selling the only good midfielder available in the team?it’s not about timing of buys but approach.this people don’t even have any approach or kinda players they want.just testing every where possible and now with a stupid budget and even sale of our best midfielder,we cant even still reinforce d team.now we got to pay for a striker as thuram is gone,then get two midfielders and a right winger.plus we are all obviously forgetting we need someone to fill in for leao too.wont have high hopes for this season
If you’re focussing only on a bad side, everything will look, well, bad. Take another example of how the past management (I’m not only stating 1 person here because everything is done by team) dealt with Donna’s decision. Way before the TW was opened, we already had that deal sealed with Mike.
And as for your blabbering, assuming you’re talking CdK, I still remember correctly that many of us here were also complaining about the length it took to get it done. So yeah, not everyone here is as subjective as you, that might come as a surprise isn’t it.
It’s gonna be a LOOOOOOOOOOONG summer, fellas.
I fear a looooong summer of despair. I have been through bad summers before but this time I feel especially gutted because we were building and getting somewhere.. and then Maldini, Massara & Tonali happened killing the project.
Now it can become worse if the core of the team will want to be sold and the incoming players will be mediocre signings. Then it will become our worst nightmare.
I would like to add that Elliot are also to blame as they wanted Redbird because it suited them selling the club to them with favourable conditions.
I guess the money from Tonali sale is not enough to buy players. Probably they are waiting for offers for Theo. Once Theo sale is completed, they would start buying players from Saudi League and MLS.
Cardinal
Played so dangerous game
He played with fire
Him and all idiots behind him
He think he goes there as American and he can do forever he wants. Idiot
Few days? It’s been few weeks of negativity: Maldini 》 Nd1cka 》 Tonali 》 Thuram
Damn this site randomly not posting my comments and losing them…
In summary:
– This article sounds like one written with a lot of assumptions. When you compare “traditional” to “Americanised” it feels like you’re trying to make a point. Especially when there’s no real facts or basis to assume that.
– The main point is perfectly valid, the club really looks a bit clueless and short of a plan at the moment. I liked Maldini/Massara combination and was sad that they went, but I’d have been fine with it if there was an obvious plan in place – there just doesn’t seem to be anything in terms of roles and responsibilities, in terms of the playstyle or personnel being targeted.
Same with the Tonali sale; I think he’s pretty critical to the team last year, especially when Bennacer was out – I’d be ok with selling him if the replacements were identified and lined up (like Frattesi at Inter, who is a clear successor to Brozovic) but it looks like there’s no plan at all.
So far, it looks like we’ve gone from ‘imperfect’ to ‘shambolic’.
I think it does it for all, most often it says something like posting too quick but even when i do it slowly it does it as well sometimes.
Yeah it happens if you comment on the same article, delete this after / and it won’t. “comment-page-1#comment-xxxxxx”
Sometimes the system blocks the comments and forces us to manually accept them, which can take time. We only delete if there is foul language 🙂
I mostly speak only foul language, how are my comments still there? 😀
You just got yourself onto my watch list!
Fair enough. At least I’m honest unlike most other people. 😂😂😂
Times like these require special language…I’m with you Bro!
So what word should we use instead of Cardinale? that’s about as foul as it gets!
Thanks Isak Moeller for repeating what I said in a previous post ✌🏼
Getting rid of your directors without having decent replacement is just wrong. You prefer to add more responsibilities to other employees that’s not in their area of expertise to the job is just cheap. Cheap decision = cheap result.
If you’re handed proper replacement for the sack of MM, I think many fans will still able to accept the decision better. Poor decision, poor PR, poor risk contingency.
@Boulden, Oga go and sit down somewhere jare. What you just said now, is that the point that is been made? Maldini is Maldini and there were no drama in the team that needed his urgent stance to prove a point. Here, after the departures, there is urgent need from the management to show the fans their commitment to the team by not letting more players slip off their grasp. Why do you think Juve still has Nedved hovering around and Inter has the likes of J Zanetti in the background?
This is not Furlani’s, Moncado’, or Maldini’ fault. The guy who bought this club simply don’t have MONEY! He bought Milan with a borrowed money. What else would be expect from Cardinale-Emperor with no clothes? He has to go!
Unless you’re oil rich, nobody put’s out 1.3billion in available funds.
Dr Galiani street smart director had connections with many other club president and he could sign any players.
He would get player and maybe later allow that team to take one point game vs milan.
Historically we don’t have strong relationships with Sasaulo and will be hard to sign Fratessi.
Back in time Dr Galiani signed last minute Nocerino from Palermo and paid 500,000.
Last minute secret Robinho , showed the media.
Dr Galiani was one and only best sport director along with Braida.
Furlani might be book smart but he is not street smart and it will eventually come up and cost Pioli his job for bad results.
So Furlani is out.
(Because the disagreements with broke cardinale)
Al Nassr will have a better team than Milan next season. They already do probably. 😀
Med denna Gerry har jag svårt att se något annat än slut i katastrof. Lagen som konkurrerar blir starkare och vi svagare. Ingen vidare matematik
jeg er villig til at se hvordan det går i denne mercato men lovende er det sgu ikke og cardinale har godt nok trådt i spinaten i forhold til a fyre maldini og dernæst sælge tonali hvilket jeg personligt finder utilgiveligt.
Lack of experience?
Inter Offered more money. That’s all there is to it.
Quoted from another source
“The 25-year-old has been impressed by the team’s style of play and believes his qualities would be exalted in Inzaghi’s system, making the move even more attractive. He had also spoken with Stefano Pioli, but was evidently less convinced by the project on the other side of the Lombardy capital.”
If it’s only money, he’d just play hard to get and getting higher offer. But nope, it took less than a day to accept Inter. We lost. Just had to admit it. The sooner the better.
just because he help Maldini in Leao contract he think he know football better than M, hopeless…
The way Cardinale is running things, he will have an expiry date. The question is when these US Jokers leave Milan, in what condition the club would be.
Part of the reason I can’t take Cardinale seriously is that he looks like Slippery Pete from Seinfeld.
Let’s see how many of the doubters apologize when the trophies pile up.
We are with you, Cardinale!!!
@JI Jerry, is that you? Or are you on his payroll?
All other club changing owner for good. Why we have all these shitty boss who have no money? Better find some guy from Saudi
Gerry Fraudinale Out
#Cardinaleout.
Lui Sara la rovina del Milan.
This mongrel must be KICKED OUT of Milan before it’s too late!
We are always linked to players and eventually not signing them. We cld b in big trouble with this attitude.
#CardinaleOut tired of nonsense players and begging we’re a big club can’t be begging everywhere and still not getting anything cause our budget for either transfer or wage is too low
Sorry, I am stop to be milanisti until cardinalle out
Finalmente un articolo che fa senso, e che spiega esatamente quello che sta sugedendo nel Milan, purtroppo chi ha comprato il Milan da Ellot non interessa il benedel Milan, ma solo il bene di chi investe nel fondo…
We, the fans, should rise up and take control of our clubs. We should demand European governments and football federations return clubs to their owners, us. Most owners nowadays only want to run clubs as a business, and cast legends (Maldini) and players who want to bleed for the club (Tonali) away. This isn’t right