Thursday Milan Musings

By: Gianfranco | January 10th, 2008

I began researching my next post which was supposed to discuss why Milan spent the money on Pato when they had alternatives. While researching I found this, and said to myself why reinvent the wheel when all of my feelings are right here. Thanks to Channel 4, Richard Gooden, and Calcio Italia for this great piece, and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did.

Last summer Milan spent in excess of £15m to bring Alexandre Pato to San Siro. The kid nicknamed ‘The Duck’ might go on to be one of the world’s best players – just as Carlo Ancelotti and Silvio Berlusconi are predicting – yet it’s unlikely that he will save the Rossoneri’s Serie A season.

But why didn’t they sign Giuseppe Rossi when he was made available by Manchester United for just £7m, although admittedly with a buy-back clause inserted by the Red Devils? They spent a similar amount on Brazilian midfielder Emerson, who I consider to be a poor excuse for a footballer, so why couldn’t they have brought in someone who would actually aid their team?

Instead, the former Parma ace is currently lighting up El Madrigal and has found the back of the net on seven occasions in the Spanish Primera Liga – not bad going for a kid who is not what you would describe as an out-and-out striker. In fact, his deep-lying role would perfectly complement the poaching game of Pippo Inzaghi or Alberto Gilardino, both of whom have struggled in Serie A this term.

But it’s not just Milan who should’ve taken a punt on the American-born hitman. Roma have also looked lacking in the striking department in the absence of Francesco Totti, with Mirko Vucinic seemingly incapable of recreating his Champions League form in League action. Would £7m spent on Rossi really have hit the Giallorossi’s bank balance that hard?

Back in the August issue of Calcio Italia, we took a look at the most promising youngsters in Italian football, Of the eight experts polled, seven picked Rossi in their top three, making him a comfortable winner ahead of the highly-rated Alberto Aquilani and Giampaolo Pazzini. The likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Pierluigi Casiraghi have also talked up his ability, but for some reason the big boys were still reluctant to move for him. Perhaps it is karma’s way of punishing him for walking out on Parma’s youth squad, because I certainly can’t think of any other reason why he isn’t lighting up Serie A on a weekly basis.