Much Ado About Kessié

Following the unsuccessful contract renewals of Gigio Donnarumma and Calhanoglu, the media and fans are already nearly hysterical about another contract renewal that is expiring in a year. Kessié is both the most played and most essential player to this team, at only 24 years old.  He is also one of the most scouted players, with teams from the Premier League and elsewhere reportedly willing to open up their deep pockets and steal him from us. Despite him being a player who is essential to tie down to a new contract, he is not currently available for contract negotiations yet. He recently got married and is now heading to the Olympics in Tokyo to represent his country. So this media hysteria, whipping people into a frenzy again, is simply much ado about Kessié.

His future is uncertain, but he's living in the present

You Gotta Pay to Play

Football is the beautiful game, but underneath it is an ugly truth: money. Money drives success, money drives scandals, money drives corrupt owners, agents, players, and more. Money has also nearly destroyed football, with transfer costs, player wages, and agent fees pushed to completely unsustainable levels. Something has to give. Yet for now, clubs that have already been financially laid bare due to the impact of COVID-19 still have to try to acquire a competitive squad this summer. This includes Milan, especially this year. Having suffered so many injuries this past season, and entering the Champions League with a young team this season, money will be a requirement for survival. In this current environment, it seems that you gotta pay to play.

Gazidis and Massara really do look a little shady

Do Not Inter

Despite the reportedly family-like rivalry of Milan and Inter as cugini, or cousins, players who cross the Milan divide are typically more than maligned by the rival team. Milan fans are quick to point out all of the players who successfully crossed that line from Inter to Milan, including Seedorf, Pirlo, and our current legend, Ibrahimovic. However, there is a big jump up in class, character, and success when you move from the wrong side of the tracks to Milan. Those traits often result in an improved career, more trophies, and also some self-respect. The same is not true, however, when people take the step down from Milan to the sewers that run black and blue. History demonstrates an important lesson: Do not Inter.

Losing your career and your dignity in one move is tough

Mercato Lag Time

Worse than waiting for Christmas is the mercato. The hopes and dreams of the entire next season and the endless trophies we dream that will follow are all relying on the perfect transfer strategy. The media churns out transfer rumors faster than Leao's record goal, only he's done in 90 minutes while they seem to work around the clock every day. This male form of masochistic entertainment is exacerbated by online media and the prevalence of social media, neither of them who have facts as their endgame. It's always about the clicks. So we the fans, bored with some major football tournament that only takes up a few hours of our day, watch the rumors fly by more diligently than we would watch grandma's life machine in the hospital. It's an addiction where there are no real fixes, only disappointments. It's like some football form of purgatory that seemingly has no end. It's the worst kind of lag time, the mercato lag time.

Tomori checking to see if Milan will buy him from Chelsea

Milan and The Italian Job

Not nearly as suspenseful as the movie, Milan have lost almost all of their Italian players. With so many homegrown players pushed out, Milan actually have zero players on the Italian national team at the Euro Championship this summer. Almost more distressing, there are five former Milan players within the team. While scouting for good talent elsewhere at low costs to the club helps us to be competitive in Serie A, having fewer Italians in the squad will actually hurt us when it comes time for Pioli to submit his Champions League list later this year. Like a heist gone wrong, Milan are losing the Italian job.

Armani jackets everywhere, but not a Milan player in sight

When the World is Watching

This past Saturday, as the world watched the Euro tournament, tragedy struck. Christian Eriksen suddenly collapsed on the pitch without warning. His teammate and Danish captain, Simon Kjaer, not only thought and acted quickly, he did all of the right things in a terrible situation like that. His heroics have fueled many conversations about everything from first aid training for players to the Milan captaincy. All inspired by a man who was both knowledgeable and prepared to do what needed to be done, even when the world was watching.

Heroics

Zlatan Ibrahimović: Driven

Despite being on his second stint at Milan, I realized that I have never written a player profile for Ibrahimović. Part of the reason is that it is difficult to put him into words. He is part god, part legend, part footballer, and yet still painfully human. His skills are simply unquantifiable and I cannot think of another player who can do what he does. His unique blend of confidence and talent have seen plenty of controversy over the years, yet at the end of the day, he is still worshipped and beloved. Some call him arrogant, others say he is harsh, but his accomplishments show that he is simply driven.

Driven.

Podcast • Season Player Ratings: 200 Out of 10

An epic season requires an epic podcast, and for my 200th podcast, I needed epic guests. From Serbia, new guest Igor joined us, and from Israel, Boaz appeared once again. We touched on a little bit of Milan news, then we rated each Milan player for their performances this season. Then we talked about Pioli and what he accomplished as well as what is ahead next season.

No team has ever been so excited about our ratings before

Poll: What are Milan's Priority Signings?

After celebrating a wild season and qualifying for Champions League, thoughts turn to how to improve the team. The mercato does not officially open until July 1st, but Milan have already signed a first goalkeeper. Reports say that the club is still looking to nail down Calhanoglu to a new contract, and that they are negotiating for Tomori and Brahim Diaz to stay, and also to complete the deal for Tonali. Will they keep Pobega in the team after his strong showing at Spezia this season? Rumors abound as to who else they will sign, and they will need to offload players like Laxalt and possibly Conti, who are returning from loan spells.  There will (hopefully) be other players that leave as well. But where do Milan need reinforcing the most? 

Where do we need reinforcement most?

Pioli or Conte: Who Did it Better?

After winning the Scudetto, Conte dedicated it to himself. I'm pretty sure that he and his hair really think they are great. But what did he actually do? He took a team of far more expensive players, that had fallen one point short of the Scudetto and lost the Europa League final last year. That strengthened team this season crashed out of the Champions League in the beginning of December in the group stage, thus played fewer games and traveled far less than any of the other top four teams, and managed to not choke to hang on for the Scudetto. Does he deserve all of the credit he gives himself, or did a coach like Pioli do far more with far more adversity, younger and less experienced players, as well as coming out of seven years with no Champions League? Who did it better?

One of these men is not like the other

The Lost Art of the Bandiera

Events so far this summer have highlighted the fact that it is virtually impossible for any player to be a bandiera for their club any more. With football driven by money now, transfers are inevitable, making staying at one club for an entire career just a pipe dream. With fans more vocal than ever about players and their demands for their club, the loyalty toward a single player seems to have disappeared from fans as well. Instead of celebrating a player's allegiance to a single club, we find ourselves mourning the lost art of the bandiera. 

The ultimate bandiera

Flares of Passion

Milan's Curva Sud produce the absolute best coreografia of any fans in any stadium in the world. Period. They are organized, creative, incredibly talented, and they set the bar impossibly high for other fans. This week, they went to Casa Milan and created an incredible display with flares to celebrate Milan's return to the Champions League. Yet just a month ago, these same people went to Milanello on gameday to enforce their own vigilante justice on one of the players who was so essential in Milan qualifying again. Brilliant and yet thoughtless, creative and yet lawless. Milan have been burned before by their flares of passion.

The Curva Sud are back, too, for better or for worse