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Purchased:
- Four free signings have been made by AC Milan: Goalkeepers Agazzi and Diego Lopez from Cagliari and Real Madrid, defender Alex from PSG and midfielder Menez from PSG as well.
- Colombian Armero loaned from Udinese
- Adel Rami was purchased from Valencia for €4.25 Million
Sold:
- Birsa has been sent to Chievo on loan
- Matri has been sent to Genoa on loan
- Emanuelson's contract was not renewed and he has been signed by Roma
- Nocerino has been sent to Torino on loan
- Balotelli is (pending official announcement) off to Liverpool for €16 Million plus bonuses
Most of Milan's attacking power (If you can call it that) has been sold this summer transfer season. It seems Ex-forward and current AC Milan manager Inzaghi will have to play a more defensive football unless Milan can find a replacement for Balotelli. Milan has just become in my opinion one of the top 5 teams in Serie A jumping over Torino and Parma adding their purchases in defense and the selling of Balotelli.
On Going Rumors:
- Cerci from Torino
- All the strikers on the planet to raplace Balotelli
Pre-Season Results:
AC Milan 0-3 Olympiacos
AC Milan 1-5 Manchester City
AC Milan 0-2 Liverpool
AC Milan 2-0 Renate
AC Milan 2-0 Monza
AC Milan 3-0 Chivas
AC Milan 0-2 Valencia
For more insight into Milan's preseason, Viola Nation Interviewed The AC Milan Offside blogger Gianfranco:
Q1: What were your expectations going into this summer transfer window in terms of which positions needed filling? Are the signings of Agazzi, Lopez, Alex, Menez and Armero going to be helpful to get AC Milan into Europe? How do you measure a few Milan comments in the news saying they want to be Scudetto contenders this season?
Milan’s biggest needs continue to be in defense, a group of positions that has been neglected for far to long. While I think a lot of this summer’s signings would have been considered solid depth in years past the fact that these will most likely be starters shows the depth of issues Milan is having at the moment. As for not being Scudetto contender? You can only sugar coat reality so much and I don’t believe this team even has the talent to make it into Europe next season let alone win a scudetto.
Q2: AC Milan starts off the season against Lazio then Parma and thirdly Juventus. Are you in anyway expecting a repeat of recent season starts?
I fully expect a difficult start. Lazio is always a challenge for Milan and Parma while in a bit of turmoil themselves could be an opportunity for three points. Juventus is on another level and Allegri won’t be pulling any stops to help the Club that fired him. 1 point out of 9 is my guess.
Q3: Birsa, Matri, Nocerino and Emanuelson are out. Would AC Milan fans miss any of those players this season?
Casual fans won’t miss those players, but a smart fans understood the depth that the players brought to the team which now no longer exists. Sure the roster is smaller and without Europe to contend with the fixture list is smaller but you need more than 16 viable players to make a squad.
Q4: AC Milan friendly results are confusing to an outsider. I could only understand that Inzaghi and Co. are inconsistent, either winning 2-0 or losing 2-0. As an AC Milan fan, what do you extract from those results, and are they any indication of how Milan season is going to be?
I put little to no stock in the preseason friendly results. When you watch these matches there are other things to look for apart from a result. Cohesion in the lines such as defenders communicating and strikers working for each other. The problem with this Milan team is it appears to lack tactical direction and cohesion amongst the players. You can’t buy that sort of intangible trait, it is earned and worked, and right now Milan doesn’t have it. So while the result is secondary, the play to achieve such bad results is more worrying.
Q5: What is the general feeling in the Milan camp after replacing Seedorf with Inzaghi, and how excited are you about Cerci possibly joining the black and red team.
As much I respect and admire Inzaghi, his hiring is a foolish as the hiring of Seedorf. These are players with little to no coaching experience and instead of the Leonardo debacle a few years back teaching this team a lesson they only repeat the failed mistakes. Inzaghi is a more likable and easy to support person on the sidelines, but this team needs proper Coaching, not a figurehead on the sidelines. It is no surprise that when Milan hired a REAL Coach in Max Allegri they won a title. That tactical understanding and awareness is what makes a great team better, sadly this isn’t even a great team to begin with.