To be fair, if we were still a top club among today's standards, contract sagas wouldn't really be a thing.
- Kessie would have never gotten chance after chance when he was stagnant for his first 3 years here.
- And if we had stars on the team, we have prestige and being competitive on our side, peasants like Kessie wouldn't dare to ask for this much because they know they will get let go.
Contract sagas are unique to us? So, it's not happen at Liverpool with Salah? It's not happening at Chelsea, with Rudiger, and Christensen, and Azpi? It didn't happen at Bayern with Alaba? Or at Real with Sergio Ramos? Or Barca with Messi? Or Liverpool with Wijanldum? Or Man Utd with Pogba? Or Dembele at Barca? Sule at Bayern, Perisic at Inter... Like, I can keep going.
Kessie was young, and he had patches of good form, and he was reliable as a defensive force, it was when he was expected to make more offensive contributions that doubts over him emerged. What is concerning, to me, is that this year I see questions over his
defensive quality, over his strength, and he always played smart and safe in possession and in the defensive phase.
Players have overestimated their worth and the market. Donna is the most glaring example, he had to take
less than what we offered. Kessie wants more than
genuinely World Class midfielders, he wants more money than Salah makes now, he wants just a little less than Harry Kane makes, like, who does he think he is?
You know what you're are right about me incorrectly calling them sales. My bad. Was referring to their departures.
My use of the term "sale" probably caused confusion so sorry about that.
Let me answer your questions....apologies for not getting to them earlier.
1) I would have given Kessie if we were a big club. But I can't blame Management for not giving in under these circumstances
2) Irrelevant. If is the key word. We haven't done it yet. Let me fling some of your bullshit back at you
3) I hope you are right about #DaPlan. I don't see it yet. That's not to say that I don't see massive improvements from the banter era....but there's a step or two between where we are now and title winners.
1) Let's see who takes Kessie and
more importantly what money he makes. I mean this, with 1,000,000% sincerity: if Milan was suddenly, this summer, owned by the Saudis, Qatar, and the Emirates combined, who could pay any player
any amount, I would still tell Kessie to fuck himself. I'm going to beat this drum to death, he wants more than Rodri, Fabinho, why in the fuck would I pay him 8-9m?
2) My bullshit? Bro, I answer questions. Nice dodge though. I'm still waiting for someone from your side of our family feud answer about what happens if we just turn into Napoli, and have a bunch of dead-weight?
3) I hope I am too. Like I said, if we sell Tomori and Theo, and bring in shit replacements, my trust will be gone. Like, if we are in a
constant state of rebuilding, then I'll concede and say we are a Dortmund, because that's what Dortmund does, to their detriment. I get selling Coutinho when have Salah, or selling Dembele when you have Pulisic, but to be in a constant state of building and re-building, that's what prevents Dortmund from being strong--it's what prevented Roma for being a true force, I mean, look at what their starting XI could be, right now:
Alisson; Florenzi, Marquinhos, Rudiger, Digne; Pjanic, Paredes; Salah, Pellegrini, Zaniolo; Dzeko -- I mean, sure, maybe you trade Pjanic for Xhaka now, or keep Vina over Digne, maybe Spinazzola is in the mix? You'd also have Romagnoli, Emerson Palmieri, Lamela, or even Schick for Dzeko? Maybe he would've done better in a different squad environment? Add in rotation players like SES, Veretout, Strootman, I mean obviously there are different stages here, but, Roma never maintained its spine, its core.
If we start messing with the spine of our team, if we aren't able to build, then I'll take your point. Honest-to-God, I will. But I don't see us doing what Roma did, and I don't see us doing what Dortmund has. Dortmund are more guilty than Roma, as Dortmund have an easier route to the CL than Roma has had, and I'd say Dortmund is the bigger club. Selling players doesn't make you a smaller club, because Chelsea were right to sell Hazard for 100m, Liverpool were right to sell Coutinho, and of course, each situation is different. Madrid aren't a small club because they sold CR7, that's absurd, but long-term, they look to have made the better choice.
So, I am trusting the plan, because I don't see departures as some indication that Milan isn't building or lacks ambition. I think letting Donna and Kessie go are the right moves. I think (redacted) deserved his 5m, I was on the fence, but I thought 4.5m-5m, that was what he was worth. He's getting 5m+1m in bonuses from Inter now, so 6m is a tad excessive, especially when you got Adli and there are players like Bajrami or Faivre out there. I want Brahim to prove me wrong, but I think he was the wrong bet. However, if Adli pays off, then letting (redacted) go was the right move.
Anyway, yeah, that's my take.
From what we know @cmdotcom , Milan and Valencia have an agreement on Castillejo but the 'yes' of the Spaniard is missing. The Spanish club is waiting
