Who Should Rossoneri Buy?

Looking ahead to the summer of 2009, few people seemed to believe that Milan could get away with a slow transfer season if they were to mount a serious title challenge. Until mid-March those predictions were very much being realised, with the Rossoneri proving to have too thin a squad to trouble city rivals Inter. But as Inter slumped in February and March, there was a door left open for an outsider. At first it seemed that the Diavolo may be best placed to come up on the rails, but their lack of strength in depth was to prove their downfall and instead they fell so far off the pace that they were hanging on for automatic Champions League qualification until the final fortnight.



Whilst the excellent addition of Thiago Silva had already been confirmed before the end of the previous campaign, their close season addition of Klaas Jan Huntelaar was an insufficient attacking purchase in light of the €65 million loss of Kaka to the Dutchman’s former club Real Madrid and Yoann Gourcuff's permanent switch to Bordeaux. Elsewhere, Standard Liege defender Oguchi Onyewu was brought in as back-up but played only 30 minutes all season due to injury and winter loan signing David Beckham’s season met with a similar end in March.

But it was the Rossoneri’s inability to offload the dead wood in the squad which was most concerning, and the same job still needs doing this summer. So whilst signings are important, a change to the whole make-up of the squad is very much needed in the next three months at Milanello... even if that means weakening the senior panel in quantity.

However, with warnings from Marina Berlusconi et al that the club has less than no money to spend, it may well be a case of Milan’s new coach having to sell to buy and so a cautious approach needs to be taken whilst the excess is rightly offloaded.

Goalkeepers

Dida is on his way out this summer, and about time too. He has lost his place at various stages over the past few years to Marco Storari, Christian Abbiati and – more humiliatingly – Zeljko Kalac, and his confidence has sunk lower than the last of the 20,000 leagues. Flavio Roma’s presence has been negligible at best, so the recall of Storari from Sampdoria should be an obvious move, and Abbiati has proven he is game for a three-way battle so is well worth holding onto. Top class options on Milan’s budget are scarce to say the least, so their best option would be to look on the loan market. Overlooked by his Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, Azzurrini No. 1 Vito Mannone is likely to jump at the chance of getting some first team games in, and in his few opportunities at the Emirates his form has suggested he could see off Storari and Abbiati. A one-year loan with an agreed fee should he sign permanently could well work in Milan’s favour.



Defence

The Rossoneri’s reputation for shopping in the senior section comes mainly from the age of their backline, which needed addressing last year and sure needs looking at this time around. Giuseppe Favalli and Marek Jankulovski need to go, whilst serious attention needs to be paid to the potential sales of Luca Antonini and Daniele Bonera, who have both proved insufficient for such a top club. Massimo Oddo’s best days were at Lazio, and he doesn’t seem capable of reversing his poor San Siro form, especially since picking up some troublesome injuries. The experiment of using Ignazio Abate as a full-back needs to be ended, whilst extra cover for the creaking Alessandro Nesta also should be taken into consideration.

With his ability to play on either side of the defence, Gianluca Zambrotta should escape the cut, but his place in the first team is no longer a guarantee. At right back there are options within Serie A, with Stephan Liechtsteiner at Lazio and Palermo’s Mattia Cassani raising the bar over the past nine months. But Napoli’s Juan Zuniga has been used out of position since moving to the San Paolo from Siena and would welcome the chance to prove himself at the very top level. Given the resemblance between his game and that of ex-Milan man Cafu, it would be an ideal fit. He would probably cost more than Milan have, but they could part fund a deal by offloading Antonini. On the other flank they could give themselves the option of playing Zambrotta or starting Torino’s Angelo Ogbonna from his secondary position. He would then also be well placed to become the heir to Nesta should things work out for him in red and black.



Midfield

The stagnation of some of Milan’s star international midfielders is at least as concerning as their defensive issues. Reno Gattuso has struggled since picking up a career-threatening knee injury in December 2008, while Andrea Pirlo had his worst club season in many a year this time around. Higher up Clarence Seedorf has struggled to supply the same energy without the ball that he does when on it, and this either means introducing more mobile midfielders behind him or playing him much further up. One of the alternatives is to switch Pirlo to a more attacking spot given his decreased ability to cover the yards either side of the halfway line. It is a position he has filled capably for Italy at times under Marcello Lippi.

It’s all too easy to forget the presence of Matthieu Flamini given his lack of match time since switching from Arsenal in 2008, but he deserves to be given a closer look. Such a move could wave in a move for Gattuso to either the bench or a new club. A new signing in the mould of Sampdoria’s Andrea Poli, at a cost of around €10m, would fit perfectly into the Rossoneri’s middle three, with Flamini and/or Massimo Ambrosini to his side. Abate could be considered as a possibility on the right when four men across the middle suits. A left-footed option should also really be added, but with such a limited budget, targets such as Sevilla’s Diego Perotti or Fiorentina’s Juan Manuel Vargas could prove to be pipe dreams. Given their fondness for the narrow midfield set-up, this is a position they could address at a later point, but if they can get the Spaniards to accept a bid in the region of €10-12m then Perotti could well be brought in before the new campaign begins.



Attack

Having lost Kaka so early in the window last summer, the thought of losing Alexandre Pato too became the thing of Rossoneri nightmares. But with so little money to spare this time around it could well be looked at as a necessary evil for 2010. Should the Brazilian youngster attract a fee in the region of €45m, most likely to come from Carlo Ancelotti’s Chelsea, then it will more than likely meet with a positive response from the Via Turati paymasters. Add to that the possibility to cut their losses on Klaas Jan Huntelaar and Milan could give themselves a much more flexible transfer budget. With the earlier signings taken into account, this would leave enough money to offer a take-it-or-leave-it €35m bid for long-time target Edin Dzeko of Wolfsburg. Marco Borriello could stay on as a capable back-up, though a failure to snap up Dzeko should prompt a move for further striking options rather than a reliance on the former Genoa man as first choice. Other centre-forwards who could be considered include Valencia's Nikola Zigic and Sevilla's Luis Fabiano. Ronaldinho should continue as the main creative force just off the point of the attack with one of Pirlo and Seedorf coming from the right when tactical necessity dictates.