Journalist Carlo Pellegatti believes that AC Milan should have tried harder to sign Giovanni Leoni from Parma.
Malick Thiaw’s sale to Newcastle United was made official in the last few hours, and Milan will get around €40m from the departure of the German. However, it was immediately apparent that they needed to reinvest that sum (or part of it) to replace him.
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Koni De Winter looks to be the chosen target. He underwent a medical on Tuesday and should soon be announced in what will be a €20m operation with Genoa. A section of fans wanted Milan to invest bigger though, to get Leoni from Parma, who now could be Liverpool-bound.
‘Missed a splendid opportunity’
Pellegatti published his weekly column for MilanNews and, in addition to talking about the rebuilding of the midfield, he focused on the player he thinks could and should have replaced Malick Thiaw.
“I believe Milan missed a splendid opportunity by not bringing to Milanello an absolute great prospect, Giovanni Leoni,” he said (via MilanNews).
“Certainly young, certainly still an unknown quantity at the highest levels, perhaps a risk, but I don’t have to teach the masters of finance that every transaction has an inherent element of uncertainty.
“€30m is a significant sum, but perhaps more absorbable, on an emotional level, after having secured €42m, which became €52m after the sale of Morata and could transform into €80m if Musah were to be sold to Nottingham Forest.”
we missed also Coppola and now target Okoli… Comuzzo is also right there… but…
Man, you are like a broken machine. Every comment section is filled with your 3-5 same sentences. We get it.
Comuzzo just got injured and is young. Leoni only played a handful of times and 40mil is nuts for him. KDW is a great catch at a great price. Milan need a veteran presence in the back to “watch over the kids”.
Forget about this guy’s. We move on
“the masters of finance” had me chuckling.
Reminds me of French president Macron, nicknamed “the Mozart of finance” 🤣 After seven years under his spell, France is on the verge of bankruptcy. Billionaires and big corporations are doing very well though…
“the Mozart of finance” 😀 damn now I have Macron imprinted in my head with a huge white wig laughing maniacally as Tom Hulce did in the movie Amadeus. Macron certainly isn’t my cup of tea either. Didn’t Sarkozy also get a conviction where he had to serve some jail time ?
Yeah Sarko did crazy sht, including mafia-level stuff regarding Libya, Syria and Qatar, during the PSG sale. He probably won’t go to jail anyway. He’s acting like a martyr despite all evidences. That’s what political criminals do these days, blame the judges, it’s not only in France.
Yeah thought I had heard something but wasn’t exactly 100% sure. Yeah sounds awfully reminiscent of carrot top from the states.
Macron privatised a lot of really strategic French companies while he was a minister. Curiously the people he worked for before bought them. Suddenly he also had big financial support to run for president.
That is disgusting as they should serve the publics interests instead of their own.
The disgusting part is much worse. Just google Olivier Marlex. There were more “suicidal” people.
The thing about billionaires is that they always do well, even in depressions/recessions. In fact, it’s during those that they’re able to scoop up even more assets at a discount. To quote Mel Brooks in A History of the World, “It’s good to be the king”.
It has more to do with collusion than billionaires being smart in business these days. Macron is a former Rotschild business banker in Luxembourg. Arnault, Bolloré, Bezos, BlackRock, McKinsey, etc. they all dine at l’Élysée with Macron. He’s making sure that the people’s money, the State’s money, is going into the right pockets while asking the French people to endure harsh economic reforms.
This guy is talking nonsense and he is either playing devils advocate or is just being idiotic.
Parma knew of Liverpool’s interest and have had their heads turned, they are not bothered about the boy’s welfare they see the money.
Milan could have never succeeded in a negotiation with Parma (when they knew Liverpool) were interested, so Milan for me did the right thing and did not bother and kudos to them and De Winter for me is a better choice and gives more guarantees, this boy arriving in Merseyside is in for a hell if a culture shock, really deal for him.
It doesn’t matter anyway with the current policy. Any player is sellable, long gone is the time when Milan would keep its best players. Leoni or De Winter, they would be sold after reaching their top potential. Tare is doing good so far, as was the previous management, and it’s a sign that Milan is still attractive and that the management was awful for two years. But with that salary cap, that inclination to sell the players before they can get a costly contract extension and the love of capital gain, this Milan is designed to develop young prospects for resale.
Maybe short term but if they plan to keep on doing sales like that then I might actually lose my interest as we really should have bandieras and especially talented Italian ones. If for example Camarda comes back and becomes the striker we all dreams of and then is just sold to keep the Mercato merry go round my patience will be gone.
Any player/asset who could have been a bandiera has been sold over the past few years. The previous management was sacked because they wouldn’t sell the best players. Kessié, Romagnoli, Tonali, Calabria, Théo, Reijnders, all gone. Maignan was close to the exit too. Leao is the only player to receive a major contract extension. Probably Pulisic too since he’s also a mascot for the US market.
Furlani is still taking care of sales, Tare is here to craft a competitive team after that.
Yeah I get that but hopefully its just a short term strategy because otherwise I see little point continuing as a club also should have some coherency and consistency in regard of creating a team of such players as it is also part of the identity of a club and it will also bring results.
That’s the very spirit of investment funds and it doesn’t bode well for football clubs. Looking for capital gain at resale, after raising the club’s value through a new stadium, focus on the brand, commercial partnerships, consistent UCL qualification and players’ sales. They’re also probably hoping for a super league soon. Meanwhile these guys don’t want to jeopardise the financial stability of the club for something as trivial as football and trophies. If Milan wins, good, they would take credit for that. If it doesn’t, that’s fine as long as the club is not in debt.
Well they might not wanna jeopardize their financial stability and that is also understandable but if they keep on doing these sort of sales selling fan favorites long term Im sure they will jeopardize their own safety if they cross the wrong Milan fans. Milan should always strive to become better not repeating the same short cycles and basically just ending up treading water.
it should have been gone when tonali was sold, it isn’t!
So it means you will get used to it If camarda was sold out
Well as I said short term but maybe not long term and I for one wont settle for it long term. In the end I was also more furious about the Tonali sale than I was about the Reijnders one.
I think Leoni wants only Liverpool,and that’s the reason we didn’t go for him
Romano says it is really close to being done.
Who wouldn’t want to go to one of the top 3 clubs in the top league in the world? A club that is tied for most English top league titles all time and is 3rd all-time in CL titles, and is a lot likelier to add to those near-term than we are. It’s a no-brainer.
The thing is that Leoni costs 40+ million.
Milan management only wants to benefit from players sale.
If they sign a defender for 40 million, it means that defender must be 60+ million. Milan defenders value exceeds 60 million only if Milan wins Scudetto and goes further at least quarter final in UCL.
Board knows with their lack of knowledge and experience, Milan will never ever win any Scudetto or reach quarter final there, so, probability of making noticeable profit from 40+ million defender is very low for current Milan.
If some premier league team offers 25mil for Tomori we can get Commuzo
Pellegatti with more dumb comments.
With all due respect for his talent, to pay 40+ mil for a player who played only 17 times is beyond crazy.
Leoni will be the heir to VVD. We will be kicking ourselves for missing this opportunity. But, the white knights of RedBird will defend them at all costs and tell us how he’s overrated even though they’ve never seen him play.
Agreed. Milan signed a 17 year old Pato for 24M, 15 years ago. He had 20 games in Brazil. He looked like a senior player with a lot of experience when you saw him. Leoni has that vibe as well.
How many times has that been replicated successfully? These are shots in the dark. Regardless a time like Liverpool can afford a 40M plus another 25M in wages fees etc. Not saying he won’t be great but is it reasonable to think he could tip the scales this year?
I can partially agree with you. But what does tip the scales mean? I am positive he’d be on pair with De Winter or Okoli, at least. And in a few years could be world class. Let’s not kid ourselves those 2 are finished products, and I don’t think their ceiling is anywhere near Leoni.
Of course we first need to see who the 2nd signing will be. Just commenting from the existing rumours.
On my own opinion Liverpool is not good for Italian players
40m for a player with 17 game career. No thanks. He might turn out to be great but he also might turnout to flop, especially when he joins a big club. Playing for Milan is not the same as Parma where he plays pressure free. These commentators have no idea!
He’s just going to join Premier League champs Liverpool instead to play at Anfield…
Exactly…when pressure comes, especially with his price tag, he won’t be the same Leoni again. I remember Rodriego Eli,that’s how people said he was the next Alexandro Nesta until he was made a flop in a match against Napoli. Furthermore, the guy made a huge mistake by going to Liverpool. There will no single patience for him. Once he flops this since, the next move is to go on loan and that’s how he may end it.
Not really a good example as Rodrigo Ely came for a fairly small amount of money at the age of 18-19 years of age and only got his AC Milan debut when he was around 23 so hardly comparable and besides of that a lot of the people commenting on players simply think they all are bound for greatness. Allegri has said though that he considers Leoni as the future of the Italy national team so there is quite the difference as Ely never was that hyped at least by pundits or coaches.
Naah..
If Leoni moves to EPL there’s 80% chance he’s gonna flop.
EPL isn’t the place for young defender to develop.
And 40m price is just beyond ridiculous.
Carlo forgot this Milan isn’t Milan 2 decade ago who always make Italian players priorities. Leoni in advance talk with Liverpool. I think parma won’t sell the player to others Italian club. That’s why they stance.
This Milan only look + only profit. They dont want buy great Italian player for 40m and need wait 3years to sell him. They want buy for 20 and sell for 40 next year.
That is what American doing at basketball trade players.
We are now trade club
“great Italian player” LOL! 17 games played and he is great already? There is currently no great Italian players and as a result of that, Italy failed to make last two world cups.
Pellegati is just promoting the young Italians. A bit out of touch though if he thinks a young player with 15 appearances in Serie A at 40mil is a great opportunity.
100, honestly think De Winter for 18M at the age of 24 is a good opportunity too.
Leoni already said yes to liverpool . The only way you can hijack this deal by giving leoni more salary and offer more than 40m euro to parma, not even worth and wasted time. KDW have more experience and know serie A well also versatile can play as CB , RCB, DM, he is cost half from leoni
Try for leoni a kid with so few minutes experience in seria a with Parma and valued 40 million it would be crazy to try for him
No one talking or maybe even heard about him before Allegri come and now suddenly its the club fault not to paid 40++M for him LOL
Liverpool can afford 40M for a long term solution. Leoni @ 18yrs old and with 17 games under his belt would have been a huge risk for Milan. Liverpool don’t need a starting CB today, Milan do. De Winter was the better trade for Milan given the position the club is in.
The problem with players like Leoni is they need to be gradually introduced. You will force injury problems on kids if you put them under that pressure. You need someone who are physically ready. We can not afford to spend 40m to have someone on the bench. We need a starter. De Winter fits the bill.
Shady this is good right there leoli you have a face injury 🩸 problem Milan you need something for physical player me be the price is higher 40m to by 18y Milan so gradinass
He needs to get over it, we can’t afford the kid, Milan aren’t in a position to gamble 40mill on the kid, no Italian club is frankly speaking. We need a striker that actually score goals more than him, Liverpool can take that chance so let them have him