Alexis Saelemaekers left AC Milan for Bologna towards the end of the summer mercato on an initial loan deal. A move that made sense for all the parties involved, as highlighted by Luca Serafini.
Following the arrival of Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze, Milan decided to put Saelemaekers on the market. The Belgian wanted guarantees on playing time and when he didn’t get that, he also decided to push for the move.
Bologna eventually convinced Milan to accept an initial loan offer, worth €1m up front and with a buy-out clause of around €12m. A move that benefitted all parties given the development in the last few years, as highlighted by Luca Serafini.
“The truth is that Saelemaekers didn’t grow in his 3 years at Milan. We were all enthusiastic about discovering him in the first few months, but the lack of progress turned into an involution that made him lose his starting spot towards the end of last season to Junior Messias,” he writes.
It remains to be seen if Saelemaekers will do well enough to get redeemed by the Rossoblu next summer. Milan would make a capital gain of around €9m if so, which would be a nice reward after the years since his arrival.
I think he grew, but not by the margins we had hoped initially. He was a solid depth piece but nothing more than that, not on a team that wants to win hardware, anyway.
Exactly..he grew but not at the rate that was expected. He should have been making more strides than what he was doing. As you said, depth piece for a big squad or starter for a mid to low table team. Wish him all the best. Maybe he’s a late bloomer, who knows
A late bloomer?
He played 32 games in Serie A in the Scudetto winning season.
Most players will play their entire careers without winning a league title in a top 5 league.
He also helped Milan reach the semi-finals of the Champions League last season.
Again that puts him in the top 1% of people to have ever played the sport.
Virtually none of the signings we have made have achieved as much as he has. All of the positivity surrounding them is based on hope and nothing else.
But the media just cannot get enough positivity when it comes to the transfer market. Every transfer must be celebrated and never questioned.
Late bloomer means he might peak later on in his career than earlier in case you didn’t know. Kinda like Oddo. Has nothing to do with achievements.
Just because he played, doesn’t mean he made progress in his growth. He was at the right place at the right time. His performances didn’t improve as much as it should. His output was poor
It has everything to do with achievements.
Trophies are the only thing that matter.
Not whether this player is “consistent”, or has a nice style of play, or how has some amazing technique that worked really well in another team in another league.
Winning is all that matters. And, contrary to popular belief, you can’t “fluke” Scudetto’s or win with 5-6 players or whatever number of players the media and fans want to credit with the Scudetto.
All of those players contributed to a title winning side which means they’re title winners. No ifs, buts or maybes.
And the only thing that matters with this latest iteration of Milan is winning – more so to justify getting rid of actual winners.
The directors (not the manager or players) have to deliver another Scudetto in the next 2 seasons to justify dismantling a Scudetto winning side.
Otherwise the only people who benefited were the agents and the players’ bank accounts.
I seriously don’t think you know or understand what a late bloomer is or the point I’ve made. I’ll say this for the last time because you’re not making any sense. The late bloomer point was a secondary point not the main point. You went on this tirade about his achievements to counter the idea that he hasn’t grown I’m assuming, in addition to your regular tirade on the transfer market. I only suggested he might be a late bloomer because since he’s arrived imo he hasn’t shown as much improvement in his game as he should have had better progress at this point. This isn’t taking away from the accolades he’s scooped up in the meantime. Diaz is also in that same boat, he got lots of game time but he didn’t show great progress either in his game. Ballo also won the same things Saele won, doesn’t mean he’s good. Winning trophies and individual growth are two different things. Messias had a bigger impact than him and he’s old or near the end of his career. Not saying these guys haven’t helped us to win something, it’s lootat the individual growth.
A late bloomer is someone who has his better years later on in his career. Take Oddo for example who only started to show true gains at Lazio in his late 20s and we signed him at 31yrs old. And had great seasons with us thereafter which is late for a full back. It was only a suggestion FFS about Saele being a late bloomer given him stalling in his individual growth. Maybe he doesn’t improve his game at all and stays mid table level. Not because he’s a Scudetto winner makes him a starting XI player for a team like Milan. Do u understand now?
It’s all related.
The media and fans have these ideas about what players should be doing but the only thing they should be doing is winning.
And sometimes to win they shouldn’t be doing any of the things that the media and fans think they should be doing.
Look at Krunic.
The thing that drives all this, that drives all the chaos we’ve seen at Milan over the last 15 years, all of the chaos on the transfer market, is that the media and fans are never satisfied. They’re always imagining what players should be doing or imagining what some other player might do, and that imagination is given more weight than what actually has happened.
Besides football comes down to moments. Last season Saelemaekers had the ball in the net early on in the Bologna game but was marginally offside. Had the goal counted we’d likely have won that game and we might have had a different run in (although we did actually achieve are minimum target in the league and surpassed it in Europe).
The fact that the media has successfully created this narrative that last season was a failure shows exactly what we’re up against. And the result has been we’ve dismantled an actual title winning side because we imagine this other set of players who have never won titles will help us win titles.
Sorry can’t help you. Dont know what to say.
Your assuming I can’t judge the performance of a player without being influenced by media and that’s just your opinion and is false. I don’t eat up narratives. And I’ve said I’d prefer the slow and steady approach Maldini had in mind. I also don’t buy alot of things Siempre consistently posts eg Maldini not communicating with Pioli and/or Moncada on signings, like something to believe he scouted a Belgian attacker and overide everyone to sign him on his own. Neither do i eat up the narrative that somehow it was Tonali alone that wanted to move to Newcastle and for money. I asses what I need to assess freely and independently
Imo, Saele hasn’t shown enough growth. He has shown some but for a young and up and coming winger he couldn’t even displace an old Messias. His actual game (way he plays, ie irregardless of him scoring or assisting) is still lacking, not to mention his actual output is also lacking and hasn’t shown improvements. Hs been at Milan 4 seasons now and can’t score more than 2 goals or averages 2 assists per season. Sorry buddy that’s really poor. I love his defensive work but he’s a winger. And after 4 years that’s more than enough of an audition to make a call on his time. It’s not like with CDK where the guy.who scouted him abandoned him after 1 season. If things aren’t going well, best to part ways. He’s a winner sure but so was Brocchi and both shouldn’t be in the starting XI
pulisic hat die champions league gewonnen…
aber loftus cheek, chukwueze und so weiter haben nichts grosses gewonnen.
He hit his ceiling early. What you saw is what you got. Mid table team player.
How is he a mid-table player when he in actual indisputable fact he’s a league winning player?
He is an average player that should be playing for an average team.
So actual facts don’t impact your opinion?
He is a mid table player, put him in any other top teams in the top 5 European league and tell me if he will crack the starting eleven,
That’s not the measure.
The measure is whether he’s actually won the league.
There’s lots of players who have won titles and wouldn’t make another top team. I don’t think they care because they’ve achieved something that very few other human beings have achieved.
The fact is you don’t understand how a good player should be playing for Milan. Your calling facts are like my child opinion as well. But they grow up now with different opinion. Hope you do the same. Dumb
“That’s not the measure.
The measure is whether he’s actually won the league.
There’s lots of players who have won titles and wouldn’t make another top team. ”
So basically you’re saying that Zlatan wasn’t a great player as he never won the UCL. CR7 should never be considered as GOAT as he never wont the WC. Only trophies defy how good the players are. 😀 😀 😀
And also, Brocchi can be considered as 10x better than Reijnders & RLC as Brocchi has a scudetto to show for.
And most notably, Ibrahim Ba won the UCL with Milan. That makes him better than Zlatan. Yeah. It’s all about the trophies.
“The fact is you don’t understand how a good player should be playing for Milan. Your calling facts are like my child opinion as well. But they grow up now with different opinion. Hope you do the same. Dumb”
There’s only two types of facts: scientific facts (as in things that can be scientifically proven) and historic facts (as in things that can be proven to have happened, not why, how, or whether it was good or bad).
Everything else is opinion.
For opinions to have weight they need to be tied to a fact.
It is a fact that Saelemaekers played 32 Serie A games the year we won Serie A.
End of.
Whether or not you think he is any “good” is an opinion – one that ignores a basic historic fact.
@ bb
What are you talking about?
You’re jumping around comparing random players….
Most league winning side require some great players like Ibra but they also have bang average players like Brocchi.
You need a balance because a team of Galacticos rarely performs – see PSG last season.
Many of the bang average players who have won titles would not have ‘made it’ at another team. Look at Bonucci when he switched from Juve to Milan and back again. In fact look at Bonucci’s entire club career away from Juve where he struggled nearly everywhere. Look at Barzagli who struggled at Wolfsburg.
This is why arbitrarily rating players is such an utter waste of time. It’s not some beauty competition..
So is Tata. Would you play him as a starter for the whole season?
Ridiculous argument you making
Well no because Tata was a reserve keeper….
So do teams now need 3 Buffon’s to compete?
Right, so Saele should be a reserve players. Especially based on his output
“There’s only two types of facts: scientific facts (as in things that can be scientifically proven) and historic facts (as in things that can be proven to have happened, not why, how, or whether it was good or bad).”
“It is a fact that Saelemaekers played 32 Serie A games the year we won Serie A.”
Well scientific fact says he’s not even the best winger so what’s the issue letting him go? Especially after 4 years. He hasn’t shown anything on an individual level. If anything you should have an issue letting Messias go. 32 Serie A games and Saele contributed 1 goal, smh..and 3 assists and none of them were game winners so that you can say ‘oh if weren’t for his goals or assist we would not have won the game and therefore the Scudetto’. He wasn’t that big of a protagonist. Scientific fact that!
There were certain characteristics that should have evolved more like finishing, strength on the ball and composure. But he was an excellent dribbler and passer with an excellent work rate and fitness. But a team with ambition like Milan needed to upgrade his position. If the deal goes as planned, the capital gains will be appropriate for his level of growth. Good luck to him, except against Milan.
Sad to see him leave, he is just a victim of poor skill development management. Not many players can reach that next level without a good manager to help them.
Thanks
Yeah sure. Everyone in the club got better, with time, butnsalad.
Poor skill development my ass
Saelemaekers had a bad attitude with Pioli after the scudetto year and he was demanding more playing time. As Pioli mentioned, he only wants players who are happy to be hear.
That’s why Saelemaekers and Rebic were sent away. I stand by Pioli on this decision because none of them were good enough to replace Messias and Leao.
Rebic attitude was poor and same for Saelemaekers who should be grateful to be at Milan.
He is just good as reserve player, nothing more . He is natural RWB on 352 but weak on RW and RB . If he is asking key player role then moving to mid table club with no target are better choice for him
He was still better than CDK and Origi combined on their best days.
So far Salesmakers was better for Milan last season, than Chukwueze this season… Chukwueze could end as a bigest Milan flop from this transfermarket..
He was “Paolo Maldini’s kind of winger that Maldini scared to face”.
He failed to growth in tactically, how he exploit spaces and can’t link passes well. He also can’t convert his good dribbling ability to beat his marker consistently. He can did it only when vs Napoli last year, but Pioli want him to do it consistently. Not only when facing a already frustrated opponent, like vs Napoli.
Sin, I have no comment for you, I’ll only laugh at your comments