One of the many things that I don't understand about this regime is why they leak the names of the players that are on the chopping block and why exclude them from team activities and let them train on their own.
It's not a good selling strategy if you demean the product that you want to sell which would prompt the potential buyer to offer the lowest price possible. As a successfull businessman Cardinale should understand that, unless owning Milan makes you lose your marbles.
There are basically two ways to handle these situations and no matter which one the club chooses, people will complain. There's simply no strategy that doesn't come with a downside – although apparently every downside only becomes painfully obvious once Milan chooses that particular strategy.
How many times have we had those endless sagas with players we desperately wanted to get rid of, only for them to reject every destination because they didn't like the club, the country or the salary reduction? They'd rather stay here, ride the bench and happily collect their wages. And how many times have people here said: "Fuck them, put them in the stands, exclude them from training and make it crystal clear they have no future here so they finally leave and unblock our incoming mercato." Then the club actually does exactly that and suddenly it's terrible negotiating strategy because now every interested club knows the player isn't wanted and can lowball us.
It's the same with the timing of transfers. At the beginning of every mercato everyone demands that we get our targets quickly so they don't miss preseason and have enough time to adapt. Well, getting players early usually means overpaying because the selling club has absolutely no reason to make your life easy in June or July. Then we do exactly that, spend early and eventually reach the point where we need sales before making further signings – and suddenly we're idiots because everyone knows we need to sell and can lowball us. Meanwhile, in those years where we waited, negotiated forever and tried not to show everyone how much money we had available, that was wrong too because the new players arrived late and missed preseason.
At the end of the day, the internet is apparently filled with so many world-class scouts, sporting directors, negotiators and coaches that it's genuinely incredible professional football clubs still bother employing their own incompetent bums instead of simply hiring people from forums and Twitter.