Longoni: Milan made to look like ‘fools’ after failing to sign Thuram

Marcus Thuram was AC Milan’s number one target for the attack and talks took place for almost three weeks. In the end, however, the Frenchman decided to join city rivals Inter instead.

We wrote about the matter on our Substack, as the failure to sign Thuram is without a doubt a huge blow for the Rossoneri. Indeed, the reputation isn’t great at the moment and that is being highlighted by several outlets.

In his latest editorial for MilanNews, Andrea Longoni also highlighted the Thuram ordeal and why it’s so damaging for the Rossoneri. He’s not worth the money that Inter offered, but Furlani and Moncada should have pulled out earlier.

“In terms of image, the new Milan hasn’t got off to a good start. Negotiating with a player and waiting for a decision for three weeks, only to see him join the main rivals has made them look like fools.

“Having said that, it wouldn’t have been appropriate to give the Frenchman €6m per season, but it would have been correct, given the trend, to pull out of the race earlier,” he writes.

Indeed, one can only agree with Longoni’s words. The new management is facing an uphill battle, not just in need of a new striker but also tasked with replacing fan favourite Sandro Tonali. It will not be easy.

Tags AC Milan Marcus Thuram

67 Comments

  1. Whether we agree that it is foolish or not, it is true that there are a lot of negative words because of it… It hurt Milan’s brand image.

  2. Last year was the same, remember botman and Renato. They try to haggle every single cent, then they found themselves caught with their pants down when any other team bid the required amount

    1. Aaand in addition to the haggling, they are way too confident that the players will say yes after weeks/months of waiting. If they’re going to say yes, they’ll do it much sooner. Only an idiot waits for the simplest answer for weeks.

      If it takes weeks to reflect the player isn’t interested. Period. It took Tonali 24h to say yes. And he probably wasn’t even interested. So… Yeah. Let’s not kid ourselves and think a player will say yes after weeks of “seduction”. Take a f*ng note, Furlani!

    2. Botman we could have had a deal with but Newcastle’s new money was going to keep outbidding and Lille knew that, so he went there. He probably could have told Lille he wouldn’t sign for Newcastle, but they told him to name his price and eventually did.

      Sanches went chasing Paris salary.

      I can’t fault the club for either decision on that one, though it was a shame neither happened.

      The lesson to learn here is that there’s not much point going after the targets that the nation state clubs want because they won’t be outbid.

      The Thuram one is a little different, but Inter have ended up paying a lot. We clearly made a competitive offer, but a combination of their higher salary (that they can hardly afford long term) and having a clear plan (spoke to him in January, probably primed if they found out Lukaku deal wasn’t possible) has done for us. Can fault the management for the latter for sure.

      If he works for Inter he’ll look cheap. If he doesn’t, he’ll look very expensive.

    3. Last year Botman and Renato moved to ther respective destination before Milan’s transfer campaign even started because Maldini’s renewal and transfer budget came late.

      1. This 👆
        That’s actually the reason why we went all out on CDK. Because the image would have taken such a beating by being bested by two seemingly inferior clubs

      2. Yeah transfer budget came on late August just in time to waste it on shitty CDK

        stop defending Maldini about everything you support AC Milan not AC Maldini

  3. What a fools management. They already lose in the past seasons like romagnoli, Gigio, Hakan and Kessie coz they wont up their salary gap 500k – 1m. Remember this is not Maldini & co territory in the past. Now they failed again Thuram and maybe soon Kamada. So sad…

    1. Yeah, over 100M lost, all of those players could have been easily sold for 30-40M as they were all valued above that price and that money could have been reinvested. Instead it was more important to be strict and show other players that at Milan you won’t be paid, even if it means losing you on a free…Great message.

      1. Whilst I agree with you that we do need to be selling people with two years on their contract if a renewal doesn’t look imminent, at least in the case of Donnarumma and Kessie, they’re good adverts for not leaving for a big paycheck!

        1. Nobody does that. If a player doesn’t want to sign a contract you put him on the transfer list and move to the Primavera team, in June. He can be there for 12 months. You don’t play Kessie in the first team. We all know that the issue were their wages and that Gazidis at the time did not approve what they asked. So they left for free. And for them being “adverts”, I don’t see what is so wrong with Donnarumma, he is playing, playing for Italy. Kessie, he isn’t a real football player for me, more like a bully. That is why NO ONE is trying to sign him for 25M from Barcelona. He is that bad.

        1. Didn’t you just fail to understand anything? I am talking about players that left for free and how the club lost over a 100M compared to signing contracts and selling them. They asked for a bit bigger wage. The contracts could have been renewed and players sold for a reduced fee. How is that not clear from what I wrote? 😀

          1. Yeah, because he is bad. When Xavi played injured and almost retired Busquets everyone read through how Kessie can’t really pass the ball. He is valued at 25M, at Milan he was valued at 50M. They would get 30M for him without too much issues, Newcastle would probably buy him thinking he can play….

          2. And let’s just recap how you can’t read with some basic understanding. Basic. I wouldn’t be laughing at others if I was you. 😉😉

          3. I’m not laughing at you. That would be borderline immoral.

            I would suggest you reread my post untli you understand what you are arguing against, but i know it’s futile. Seen enough of your posts to know you’re move of a quantity kind of troll.

          4. Kilroy, you are too stupid, honestly. The whole comment was about Milan not renewing contracts, it wasn’t made by me. We were commenting on that and how it should have been done and you came with your stupid comment that has nothing to do with it. What does renewing players that were left on a free and selling Tonali have to do in common? Was his contract about to expire in a year or 2? Was he rejecting a contract so it was wise for Milan to sell him before he left on a free? Explain genius, give us that amazing intelligence. You’re a F moron, ok? I’ll pay for an IQ test to prove it, are you in?

          5. Yup more insults from the genious with all the argument 😆 When you grow up you will understand that that’s not a good look.

            You sell players when their value is high and when they are on low salary, not when they are about to expire or when you extend them over their value.

            You come and s*hit on Milan from every angle you get. First for selling Tonali and being a feeder club, and now for not selling the others.

            Pick a fkin lane or addmit youre just a troll here.

      2. Yeah your Faildini failed to sell them but you gonna now randomly blame Redbird for that when THEY WERENT EVEN OWNERS YET

  4. This is how it will be with Chukuweze, Milan will offer 20M and explain Villareal that they should accept and that it is fair, have talks for weeks and some other club will come with 30M and sign him in 16 hours since making the offer.

  5. Agree that it’s not a good look, although I can get behind not paying him the requested salary and someone so unproven becoming the club’s too earner.

    Embarrassing as it might be in the short term, it’ll be much more embarrassing for Inter if he doesn’t hit the ground running.

    The more embarrassing thing is the complete lack of an apparent plan in the players we’re targeting. Can anyone here say what sort of player the club is looking for? Pace for counter? Ability to work in tight space? Back to goal? Strength for set pieces? Wide forward? To complement Giroud and play his role when he’s not available or to offer a different tactical approach?

    Feels like just targeting whatever is available and fill in the rest later. At least when targeting Arnautovic it was a clear attempt to fill a specific role.

    1. That’s where Pioli should come in but the man does not even know a good player when he sees one. Just give him Krunic and Messias.

      1. The same Pioli that was coach when Hernandez, Kalulu, Calabria, Leao, Tonali, Calabria and Bennacer hit their heights and won a Scudetto and UCL Quarter Final with those players you mentioned?

        Because this is 2023 and everyone is accused of binary feelings, I should point out that I don’t think he’s perfect and not a god, but he’s also got a good record with the squads he has been given to work with IMO. Yes, some misses in there too.

        Which great player has he not know when he’s seen them for the last few years?

  6. I’m all for criticising the new management, but Inter are the fools here. They overpaid for a player who hasn’t proved anything thus far.
    This is exactly like saying that the teams who missed out on Origi last year were fools.

    1. At the very least, they’re still able to sell him if he flops; he still has pretty high market value given his age and all. The simplest example would be Auba. Barca got him free (at least on the book), and sold him for around 12 mil in less than a year.

      And for us, we should search and negotiate the new target from scratch again. The names we’ve been hearing would cost 25-30 mil at least. And who can guarantee the player would instantly be our star? All in all, the Thuram lane was the most logical and least risky one. Yet we lost it badly.

  7. You people would’ve complained if he was given 6.5m/year so dont come here complaining with your double standards

  8. Milan is fool not made to look like a fool, common free transfer they can’t, that means no transfer this season

  9. If you tell me that Thuram is worth that money, then I do not agree, but at least that’s a reasonable position. But to argue that someone is foolish for not wanting to pay over their valuation for an asset? Ridiculous. Good thing journalism still exists, cause this guy would not hold a real job.

    1. OMG, hahahahaha. Did you even read the article? He said exactly what you said. Why do people like you even bother coming here? You literally didn’t even read what it says. Hahahahahahahahahaha

      1. “Having said that, it wouldn’t have been appropriate to give the Frenchman €6m per season”

        Yup, reading’s hard

        1. I can see it is for you, you don’t read with any understanding. You’re like a bot, same thing on the other comment. 😀

          The point was not that Milan was supposed to pay more but that they were made foolish by Inter who signed the player in one afternoon after Milan put all their eggs in one basket and waited for 3 weeks. They should have told him to decide by some date and moved on.

          1. You’re a genius. You attacked a news reporter that he made a point he didn’t make. Stop embarrassing yourself.

          2. He did, but not for the point you made. You’re a fool, at best. I have already explained to you, but it takes 3-4 times. I won’t spend my time on your anymore, waste of time. I’d say you are a waste of air, don’t use it for people whose brain needs it. Cheers!

          3. Friendly advice, you need to read everything people say and understand the context. You can’t use half of the sentence. 😀 What a genius! Bye bye!

          4. No arguments from Martinneli yet again. Ad hominems and strawmen all the way down. What follows from what he said is that we should have overpaid to not look like fools. But to see that would require you to stop spamming this formu and think for a second.

          5. Hahahahahahahahahaa no arguments, your only argument is the stupid point that wasn’t written by Longoni but you did not understand. You completely miss understood that and I have explained and I don’t have an argument? Hahahahahahahahaha

          6. He did not say that you moron. ”
            We wrote about the matter on our Substack, as the failure to sign Thuram is without a doubt a huge blow for the Rossoneri. Indeed, the reputation isn’t great at the moment and that is being highlighted by several outlets.

            In his latest editorial for MilanNews, Andrea Longoni also highlighted the Thuram ordeal and why it’s so damaging for the Rossoneri. He’s not worth the money that Inter offered, but Furlani and Moncada should have pulled out earlier.

            “In terms of image, the new Milan hasn’t got off to a good start. Negotiating with a player and waiting for a decision for three weeks, only to see him join the main rivals has made them look like fools.

            “Having said that, it wouldn’t have been appropriate to give the Frenchman €6m per season, but it would have been correct, given the trend, to pull out of the race earlier.”

            What does this mean? I am now positive you’re a complete moron. You can do that weak 2023 thing where you say somebody is attacking you because they have no arguments but that just shows me you’re useless. You are literally stupid.

          7. ““Having said that, it wouldn’t have been appropriate to give the Frenchman €6m per season, but it would have been correct, given the trend, to pull out of the race earlier.”” What does that mean? That he said Milan should have given him more?

          8. Sooo you reposted the article. You added more insults. And that is your idea oif an argument?
            😆 this is precious to see you struggle

          9. And your idea is to ignore the article because you obviously missed the point and write random s***? Good job, but tell me, what does this mean? Which part of this says what you are claiming?

            “In terms of image, the new Milan hasn’t got off to a good start. Negotiating with a player and waiting for a decision for three weeks, only to see him join the main rivals has made them look like fools.

            Having said that, it wouldn’t have been appropriate to give the Frenchman €6m per season, but it would have been correct, given the trend, to pull out of the race earlier.”

    2. He simply meant Milan should have moved on from Thuram earlier, knowing that he wouldn’t accept the offer they put on the table. Milan was never going to pay €6m or more, so negotiating for so long is a huge failure.

  10. The take away is for management to know when to pull the plug on a target and not waste time hoping that the name Milan still counts for something. Money talks and with the greedy agents the days of one team players are long gone. I just wish Milan will learn to go for realistic targets and close deals soon enough. What’s taking so long with Ardu / Chukuweze for instance, and why are we being linked with every possible player out there such as Scamacca, Morata, Fratessi, Lukaku who have expressed their love and preferences already…just to be pipped to the post again by all sorts of rivals, and even those without UCL soccer for that matter. Let’s wake up and smell the coffee, go for players within our budget and salary range limitations.

  11. This new management is as clueless as anything and d coach is not even helping cos I think he shud have given clear ideas of the kind of players he wanted and there characteristics.we only wanted thuram cos he was free and we had small budget we wud easily use to strengthen the right wing but now everything is in shambles cos we have to pay for a striker now,then d right wing, and d fact with tonali’s sale we need two more very good midfielders.a reasonable coach won’t have allowed d sale of tonali knowing d stupid position it wud put his team.

    1. Almost everyone said the same thing when Hakan moved across. As there are many examples of failed players traditions when they move from Milan to Inter. Yet he didn’t. So do not put our belief into things like that.

  12. We are targeting “intellectual” players according to Padre Pioli. It doesn’t matter if they can’t kick a football, however, they must be free and require no salary….

  13. Lol they overpaid until Thuram scores in the derby. This transfer is probably one of those where he’s be a flop for us but end up playing great for them smh

  14. “ In terms of image, the new Milan hasn’t got off to a good start. Negotiating with a player and waiting for a decision for three weeks, only to see him join the main rivals has made them look like fools.”

    💯 correct. An EXPERIENCED director would have known they getting PLAYED. The “fox” Marotta stole him right from under our noses. Furlani’s LACK of RELATIONSHIPS and EXPERIENCE is evident. Yes we look like fools. This is where having someone like Maldini mattered. When you are asking a player and their club to always take LESS in salary or transfer fees having someone that is known amd highly respected like Maldini matters. We are seeing that now. Gerry obviously underestimated the importance of that. Calls from Pioli or Georgio do NOT have the same weight as a call from a LEGEND. That is a fact and it is playing our now.

    But all can change IF we start spending $$$$$$$$$
    We can easily buy Openda, Frattesi, the RW from Villarreal, etc…the 120M UCL $$ is sitting there along with Tonali’s $$$

    BUT will likely not unless we make another star player sale. Why? Because we have owners who are cheap and only care about PROFIT. Terrible.

  15. Beppe marotta make furlani look stupid . Furlani Negotiate 21 days just for marcus , marotta come with just one offer and steal marcus under furlani eye in just few hours. As AC Milan fan i must admit this marotta are far superior than fassone&mirabelli,leonardo&maldini,maldini&boban,maldini&massara,furlani&moncada. Getting 2 free transfer high rated onana & marcus
    are steal by marotta.Onana can become pure capital gain if MU buy him 50-60m euro

    1. Marotta is a killer in this business. Furlani is a pup. Makes complete sense. Should have made the signings first while Maldini was here, then cut him loose. So far they are doing things s-d-r-a-w-k-c-a-b.

  16. Signings come and go. That isn’t the issue. For Milan currently there’s a bigger image/PR issue at hand that Cardinale seems to be oblivious to.

    Milan need a statement signing to (1) regain trust from the large portion of the fans and (2) to send a clear signal for more potential signings to be open to the Milan Project.

    That may include hiring a more elite coach (I feel Pioli has at most just one year left on the bench, that is if he makes it ’till the end of ’24 season)

  17. Where is @Pioli?? That Redbird lover has been completely silent….hmmmm, wonder why that could be 🤔🤔🤔🤔🤔

  18. 1. Milan were never interested in Renato Sanches, that was a press invention.
    2. Blaming Furlani for ‘failing’ to get deals done is idiotic. Do you think the Saudi directors are master negotiators? Of course not, they throw insane money at players, players sign. The same thing happened at Chelsea, Boehly, who is clueless about the game, signed several players on high wages and long contracts.
    3. Like all Italian clubs, we have to operate within a budget. Inter are taking a huge risk, Roma are failing FFP, Juve haven’t signed anyone, they need to sell. That’s the reality of Serie A.

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