AC MILAN THINKS AFTER BALOTELLI, BUT RECEIVES A DOUBLE NO FOR MARTINEZ AND DESTRO. UNITED STILL ON VIDAL, POGBA SIGNS UNTIL 2019
Mario Balotelli's AC Milan adventure ended around 13pm on Friday, when the player left Brescia airport for Liverpool, his new home. Mino Raiola has found an agreement with the Reds after having filed the last details relating to the salary, which will be around 5,8 million euros for 4 years. Only the usual medical examinations and the official presentation are missing. In the press conference, Brendan Rodgers, the Liverpool manager, spoke of the transfer market saying: “Code of conduct? There won't be any particular rule for any player, two years ago we couldn't have hired a player like that, now we have a different work culture. We have the necessary facilities to help champions grow." The script is always the same: hopes, ambitions, good intentions, more or less as it had already been at City or Milan.
In via Aldo Rossi, meanwhile, they do the math and can only smile: the 20 million collected for the sale of Balotelli guarantee a small capital gain of around four million (considering the depreciation, the player was budgeted for 16 million). Not only that, because without him Milan will save three years of salary at almost 8 million gross per year (not to mention that there aren't even Kakà's 8 gross and Robinho's 5 gross anymore).
At this point, however, everyone is expecting some moves from Galliani, who will still have to guarantee Inzaghi a central striker to play alongside Pazzini. That's why the Cerci track seems to have cooled down momentarily, having other priorities. Yesterday, however, things didn't go very well, because Milan had to collect a double no. First the one for Jackson Martinez, Porto's centre-forward. Pinto da Costa, president of the Lusitanians, in fact rejected Adriano Galliani's offer, clarifying that "he is non-transferable: we will not sell the attacker". Then it was Roma's turn, which returned the offer for Mattia Destro to the sender. For Garcia, Destro is non-transferable. In the last few days, even Mourinho's Chelsea had been interested in the striker, but the Blues (willing to include Torres in the negotiation, but at this point the Spaniard could become a solution precisely for Milan) had received the same answer: Destro doesn't move from Rome. And as if that weren't enough, the young PSG midfielder Rabiot (19 years old) is also leaving, very close to the agreement with Arsenal.
Waiting to find out how Milan will move on the transfer market (Galliani under the radar is trying to figure out if there is room for maneuver for the loan of Falcao from Monaco, an operation that borders on the impossible in any case), to note the visit of President Berlusconi to Milanello . Having arrived around 14.15 pm, the AC Milan president, after having lunch with coach Pippo Inzaghi and his deputy Mauro Tassotti, had the team gather in the fireplace room for a brief pep talk.
And if Liverpool conquered the front pages of all the newspapers for the Balotelli coup, Manchester United wants to do the same and won't give up on Vidal. According to the Chilean newspaper El Mercurio, Louis Van Gaal wants to pull off just when the waters now seem calm. “The Red Devils – writes the South American newspaper – offered around 40 million euros and the transfer as technical compensation for Javier Hernandez, but the bianconeri refused”. Momentarily empty assault, but the Red Devils will certainly return to the attack between now and the end of the market.
Good news, however, regarding the other valuable piece of the black and white squad, Paul Pogba. Beppe Marotta, who had already said he was confident on the matter, would in fact have found an agreement in principle with the player who has been offered a contract extension until 2019 and an engagement equal to the top Juventus players between 4 and 5 million euros euros per season. Now all that remains is to wait for everything to be put in black and white, to then celebrate the renewal of one of the players destined to enter the top 10 of the strongest in Europe.
Marotta, however, is also working hard on the entry market front, in particular as regards the attack. Attention has focused on Podolski, who is at odds with Arsenal, and Torres, who has left Chelsea. In Rome, by now they seemed resigned to the idea of losing Benatia, but surprisingly here was the braking of Bayern Munich. According to the German press, in fact, the Bavarian club would have decided to give up the Benatia track "because the operation, in the end, would cost 75 million". Between salary and price tag, the figures would rise too much even for a rich club like Guardiola's (2-1 winner in his Bundesliga debut against Wolfsburg). In the last few hours, the details of the meeting between Sabatini and the agent of the player who had rejected the renewal proposal had emerged, despite Roma putting 2,5 million net a year on the plate, a top player salary. Now, after the flight of the Germans (who offered 25 million to Roma and were displaced by the relaunch of demand to 30), all we have to do is wait for other offers.
In the meantime, sporting director Walter Sabatini presented an offer to Lille for Marco Basa, quite high considering the age of the central defender (31 years) and the very close contract expiry (June 2015), 5 million. A sharp no came from France, but if in the end Benatia were to stay in Rome they would be happy like this.
Inter's outgoing market is still at a standstill, with Guarin always on the starting point. Sports director Ausilio met with the Colombian's entourage, reiterating the club's willingness not to accept offers of less than 14-15 million. Whoever wants it will have to adapt, starting with Zenit, the only team to have expressed concrete interest (not much reciprocated by the player). If the Russians were to pass the Champions playoff and reach the group stage, they could count on the money needed to complete the operation (with Guarin who would have the guarantee of playing in the Champions League) and at that point Ausilio could think of alternatives, such as the Brazilian attacking midfielder Firmino from Hoffenheim or Biabiany from Parma.
