AC Milan have, today, signed a deal with Catanzaro for the permanent transfer of young midfielder Mattia Liberali.
The situation with Liberali is somewhat of a sad one. It is never nice to see a young player leave, especially a young one with a high ceiling. However, sometimes there is little that can be done to actually stop it.
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Of course, Milan could have prevented it, and Igli Tare did hope to have the midfielder around past this summer. But it was not to be. Instead, he will leave.
Deal done
Rather than heading to another Serie A club, though, as has been rumoured. He will instead head to Serie B and Catanzaro, where he will continue to develop and then potentially move to a Serie A club, a little like how Daniel Maldini did.
The deal, as reported by Calciomercato.com, has been signed and sealed today, with all parties exchanging the relevant documents. So, all that needs to be done now is the medical part of the deal.
It is important to remember that, as part of the deal, albeit for free now, the Diavolo will get 50% of any future sale. Meaning they could see a nice amount of money in the future, or even get a discount if they were to try to purchase him back in the future.
He’s a bit lightweight but I think he’s technically so gifted. Hopefully he gets good minutes in serie A.
A bit like Kerkez, I think this is one we’ll regret not giving more 1st team minutes to, in future.
David Silva is also lightweight. If you’re good you’re good.
It’s not by size. Kerkaz is now a Liverpool player. Milan always mismanaged talents
💯 totally agreed bro. He reminds me a bit of Silva how he plays between the lines too.
Yes, but Liberali isn’t good. He’s one of those players who shine at youth level and struggle to make the jump up.
I hope he does well for his sake.
and another italian out the door, to be replaced by yet another foreign nobody, the italianisation of Milan is not working out…..more like the de-italianisation, considering in the space of a few weeks we have offloaded Camarda, Pobega, Colombo and Liberali
We didn’t offload Camarda. We got him the opportunity to play frequently for the first team of a Serie A club on loan, with full control of his career still remaining with Milan. Lecce have a right to buy for 4 Million at the end of the loan but we have a right to buy him back immediately for 5 Million, so we’re just simply paying Lecce 1 Million to help with developing our player, with the loan also having additional clauses that incentive Lecce to play him a lot. There is just no way Milan won’t buy him back at the end of his loan. Why? Because he’s WAY better than Liberali, so Milan shielded him, but chose not to shield Liberali.
As for Pobega, Colombo and Liberali, they are just not that good. Regarding Liberali, see my other post further down, where I explain why I don’t think he has a high ceiling, and why I don’t think that nationality is the factor that should be considered for a club rather than a national team.
Joke.
Liberali: low ceiling. He regressed instead of progressing. He was impressive last pre-season and rather bland this pre-season. He didn’t do much with the first team or the youth team. He is tiny, and easy to bump out of the play by big midfielders or defenders. Last time he was subbed in to play for the first team, he spent 25 full minutes running around without ever touching the ball, not once!!! Did you all notice it???
I think that letting him go with 50% of resale is not bad.
People here react strongly to any young player leaving, apparently not knowing that the VAST majority of the thousands and thousands of young players in world football don’t pay off and don’t become helpful players for first teams in the main leagues. Young players like Camarda and Torriani have what it takes (as well as players like Yamal, Endrick, Estêvão, etc., who got picked up by major clubs). Liberali, I doubt.
You need to understand that the young players who have what it takes to play for the first teams in the top leagues are the EXCEPTION rather than the rule, so all this hope that someone has high potential just because that player is young, is misguided.
There is a reason why Camarda and Torriani were or will be the subjects of contract protections that keep their careers under Milan’s control despite loans. That this was NOT done for Liberali should tell you something.
There is also a reason why it was only a Serie B team that went for him. Do you all think that professional scouts for Serie A teams don’t know what they are doing? They look at Liberali and think, “nah.”
But because he is young and Italian, people here freak out. By the way, being Italian is no guarantee of high potential. When it works out, great (I’m Italian and of course I like it when an Italian shows quality) but when it doesn’t work out, it’s best to let the player go, regardless of his nationality.
Of course I root for the Italian national team when the Azzurri are playing, and even root for Italian players who belong to our rivals, when they are playing for Italy. But when it’s CLUB football, I want my club AC Milan to have the best possible players regardless of nationality, and to get rid of players who don’t make the grade, regardless of their nationalities.
Just think of it. Let’s say Messi in his prime wanted to play for Milan and wanted it so badly that he accepted a salary cut and became affordable. Would you all say “no, we shouldn’t get him because he is not Italian; it’s a de-italianisation!” Huh, no, you’d want Messi to play for us despite his being Argentinian, right? Didn’t you like it when Kaká, Ronaldinho, Seedorf etc. played for us??? So why are you so upset when we have good foreigners instead of Italians?
Our best players in the present and near past were/are foreigners: Christian Pulisic is American; Rafael Leão is Portuguese; Tiijani Reijnders is Dutch (so sad to see him go), Theo (great player before his decline) and Maignan are French, and so on. The only Italian player in this category of high quality that we all regret losing was Tonali, and not (at least for me) primarily for being Italian but rather for being a good midfielder. Calabria is Italian but I didn’t regret it when he left. He was showing insufficient performances for a good while and it was time to let him go. I actually regretted it that Florenzi got old and injury-prone and had to leave. Again, not for being Italian, but for being a good player before his injuries.
I’m thrilled that we got Ricci and he’s doing well. I root for Gabbia and Pietro Terracciano to do well. Still, like I said, when it’s CLUB football I don’t put country ahead of club. I will support our Italian players but when they underperform, yes, we should get rid of them. That’s the case for example of Filippo Terracciano. He is just not good enough. I hope we’d sell him, despite his being Italian.
True club fans just hope to get the best players, from any origin. If you put Italy ahead of AC Milan when you consider our CLUB players, then you are not really a passionate AC Milan fan, given that you are demonstrating that you don’t have the club’s best interest at heart.
Luigi, appreciate your comments to this forum. Always solid contribution.
Some points
1) you want a team identity, players that are loyal and would fight for the club. That might not be with Italian players per se, but those that come through our youth setup and are rossoneri at heart , it helps when times are tough
2) uefa squad list, we’re not in Europe this year but let’s think medium term not for one season
3) as you mentioned, top foreigners rather than pure Italian. Well, we had seedorf, Stam, sheva, rui Costa even recently Ibra all proven quality (yes Kaka was a risk). But recently instead of signing average Italians, we’re signing average (or even mediocre) foreigners.
If we’re signing prime Messi lol of course no fans will say no. But some of the recent choices by management, like Emerson Royale, smacks of penny pinching rather than incisive talent scouting.
Just some thoughts, largely I agree with your summary
Forza Milan
Thanks. You make good points but I’d still say the following:
1) Yes, team identity and being a true rossonero are important but if a player has that but is not that good as a player, it isn’t sufficient; that’s the case of Calabria after he significantly declined.
2) UEFA lists, not only like you said we’re not there this season, but I don’t even know if we will be, next season. If we are, there are a few Italians who can get back like Camarda, Torriani, and Comotto, and there will be more transfer windows to beef that up with more Italians if needed and appropriate.
3) You are of course right about our management making bad decisions and hiring mediocre players. Even worse, they hired mediocre head coaches instead of going for Conte; saved 5 million Euros by not paying 8 million to Conte but paying 2 million to Fonseca for half a season and 1 M to Conceicão, while the failure of these two coaches made us lose 80 to 100 M in UCL participation fees, tickets and merchandise. Yes, selling Kaluly to a rival for 14 M and having to hire that bum Royal for 15 M to replace him was incredibly misguided.
But now, by not having the UCL money, we have a tight budget (bad choices have consequences) and we may be even worse, despite Tare and Allegri.
Estupiñan I’m afraid will be significantly worse than prime Theo; we can’t afford Doué and are apparently going for Athekame who is said to be good for the offense but defensively weak. We probably won’t get Jashari. We have only one center forward. If the mercato doesn’t evolve more in the next 4 weeks, we’ll be in bad shape; and we can’t expect huge hires due to the budget constraints. Only Ricci was a bright spot but he is not as good as Reijnders.
Maybe this will be a transitional season despite Tare and Allegri. They can’t get mild out of stone if they don’t have a generous budget. So, I don’t even think that it is very likely that we will return to Europe, therefore UEFA lists are at this time not at all a priority.
True true, fair enough. With this management, I fear not even Tare+Allegri can turn it around. Was hoping for something other than yet another transitional season.
I don’t think it’s an issue of Italian vs foreign player. I think it’s an issue of academy player vs signed player. Leao, Diaz, and Tonali all struggled in their first season but were given time to develop. Reinders also struggled but to a lesser degree. He was four or five years older though. Gabbia, despite impressing, was sent away to Villareal until an injury crisis forced him back. Simic did well when called upon but was sold even though Kjaer left. Cristante and Locatelli did well but made way for Montolivo, Sosa, Muntari, Essien, and Biglia at a time when we weren’t competitive at all. I can understand youth players not getting time if we’re fighting for trophies but for the past two seasons we finished 19 points behind the Scudetto winner and exited the Champions League in the group stage.
I’m not saying Camarda, Liberali, or Bartesaghi are world beaters but they don’t have to be when they are all under 20 years old. They just need to contribute in a long season. Reijnders and Theo played non-stop. Why not give them a break the last 20-25 minutes of matches? Abraham scored three goals in Serie A last season. Surely Camarda could have played more.
Great! You write so well in English for an Italian, and you have a good knowledge of the game and understanding the difference in quality level of players. I highly commend you. Do you have a social account, i can follow you. Have a great day. Forza Milano.
Agree for the most part except about Calabria as his “declined” level was better than Emerson statistically.
“People here react strongly to any young player leaving, apparently not knowing that the VAST majority of the thousands and thousands of young players in world football don’t pay off and don’t become helpful players for first teams in the main leagues.” Tell this to Maldini’s Heir hahaha. But it’s so true. the amount of players that come through academies, I see it all the time. And yes they are top 5 percent of players but to be in the main leagues like you said you’ll need to be top 0.1 percent or even higher than than that tbh. There’s this idea that purveys in these forums that EVERY academy player is good. No, they aren’t. They might be the best from the cohort they’re in but that doesn’t mean they are worthy of first team football. When scouting you gotta cast a very critical eye on these players. It’s better to be realistic than hyping up. I saw this with Simic a few seasons back and I couldn’t for the life of me figure out what people saw in him. In preseason he got praised/overhyped but he kept getting bailed out by Tomori and I’m sure he still can’t play an offside line. But ratings and articles didn’t do him any good. He severely lacked positional play and wanted to leave. He hasn’t been picked up by any major team as far as I know it. Now, he’s better than most his age that’s true but it doesnt mean he’s cut out for a major team.
Anyways, I’m glad you posted this as it’s sorely needed in these parts.
Yep , if liberali was really2 good midfield , ACM wont need to buy ricci and chasing jashari. Liberali body balance was worst than adili. Fans always think academy player will turn out like yamal but they forget that chance are too low maybe only 1 from 1000 youth player.
Decent player with an inflated reputation because of last years pre-season, i hope he does well at catanzaro and establish himself at a senior level.
First simic now liberali. Two Milan future wasted
Simic wanted to leave. There was nothing we could do to keep him. Liberali actually doesn’t have that much potential; he’s overrated because he had an impressive pre-season last year, but more recently he regressed instead of progressing. He wasn’t good for the first team (last time he came in for the first team, he spent 25 minutes without being able to touch the ball even once), not for Futuro, and not even for Primavera this season, when he played for all three, always failing to impress.
There is a reason why the Serie A teams that received Colombo and Pobega on loan didn’t want to keep them. There is a reason why no Serie A team wanted Liberali and he had to go to a Serie B team. There is a reason why Camarda was wanted by a Serie A team, and Torriani is being wanted by a Ligue 1 team.
That’s because Camarda and Torriani are simply better than Pobega, Colombo, and Liberali.
Youth and nationality have nothing to do with real talent and real potential. Players either have what it takes to be top contributors to first teams in the top leagues, or they don’t. Camarda and Torriani clearly do, and that’s why Milan shielded them when loaning them (did it in the case of Camarda and will do it in the case of Torriani). Pobega, Colombo and Liberali clearly don’t.
So, there, you have five Italians. Two have what it takes and Milan consequently protected the control of their careers, while they further develop. Three don’t have what it takes and Milan are not protecting their careers, and that’s all fine.
Simic hasn’t really done anything since leaving. If you look at the young players who have left, Kerkez is the only regret.
I see your point but we don’t seem to have the same patience for home-grown players that we have for the players we sign. Remember how much time and how many chances we gave Niang? Now compare that with Cristante and Locatelli who earned their way into their first team. You don’t need to be a superstar like Donnarumma in order to contribute.
As for Liberali, he did well under Abate and, like most players, struggled under Bonera. He won the U-17 Euros with Italy and was named in the team of the tournament. Maybe he could have spent spent more time in the Primavera or Futuro. There could be a variety of reasons why he was sold but let’s not act like he didn’t have potential.
People were losing their minds when Chaka Traore was loaned out to Palermo in serie B with option to buy. They said in couple years he would move to ManCity ( same ownership) and be worth 100 mil. Fast forward to today and Chaka Traore is a serie D player for Milan Futuro.
Liberali looks like a talented player but he is too small. Not being able to play in serie C last season with Futuro was telling. A player of his stature should be exceptional to succeed in todays football.
I wish him all the best but id be pleasantly surprised if he ever becomes what people that have seem him in couple pre season games think he’d become.
People here already writing off a “just turned 18” kid who struggled last season for being pushed around first team, Futuro and primavera when he should have a stable environment to develop. Lmao. Ok couch experts.
Waiting for that same ol’ Gerryboy’s excuse “no Serie A club wanted him”.