This post would make sense if Donnarumma didn't exist.
Why did they sell Loca, Cutrone, Cristante but kept Donna? Maybe because he is the only one with world-class potential while the others were not good enough as per the current standards of the management
This would be a good point, if we had a WC starting XI, and bench. We don't.
When you have mediocre players getting time, and don't give opportunities to youth, that is a problem.
And we have him because Miha had the balls to play a 16 y.o. over a pretty good Diego Lopez. I'm pretty sure that otherwise he'd have gone a similar path to Cristante.
You won't find talents if you don't give them chances... and you might also hold their growth.
Under proper coaching and some senior guidance, I think Loca can easily become a 30-40m player. Not WC, but still.
Exactly. Donnarumma was both a special talent, and had a coach that supported him fully, which hasn't really happened outside of Miha.
Look at some of the players we've lost in the last few years-
Locatelli has been a good Serie A starter for a solid midtable club and is the captain of the Italian U-21s. Inter is reportedly interested, and his worth is estimated at 25 million.
Cristante has been inconsistent, but still gets a lot of time for Roma (which has been a better club than us the last handful of seasons), has made 7 appearances for Italy, and was purchased for 30 million.
Simone Verdi- played well enough to be the captain of a Serie A team, was solid to a big team for 25 million, was ok there, but not a star, in the process of being sold again for 23 million. 4 Italy caps, generally a solid player.
Andrea Petagna- only 24, has 27 goals in 60 games the last two seasons, and was purchased by a big club. 1 Italy cap, and will likely get more in the future if he continues with his strong production.
Tiago Djaló- sold to Lille this offseason, has played a decent number of games for a Champions League team, i don't see why he couldn't have been our 4th CB, which would have netted us 5 million by not buying Durante and would have also saved salary.
Gabriel- has been a solid Serie A caliber GK, wouldn't have a problem with him backing up Donnarumma.
Cutrone- would have been a perfectly fine backup CF.
Paolo Ghiglione- have been a good RWB for Genoa, we've been linked with trying to sign him back.
Raoul Bellanova- this one is still early, but we couldn't agree with him on giving him a first team contract, he got a Ligue 1 start (where he didn't play well), but is still only 19, and was sold in Jannuary to Atalanta. I would not be surprised at all if he turns into a very solid player there.
That is a lot of guys who could have been starters or bench players for our team that we didn't give a real chance to.
End of the day, we've finished between 5th and 10th each of the last 6 season. You can talk about Champions League aspirations all you want, but we havent been there, and we've played a ton of mediocre experienced players during that time.