Tuesday Milan Musings, the Dark Horses of the Transfer Market

By: Gianfranco | April 22nd, 2008

Happy Bday to Milan’s own Kaka enjoy his birthday video…

On a lighter note there is another birthday to celebrate here at the Milan Offside blog. Today marks the one year anniversary of my time here. I tell you just a year ago we were talking about Milan v. ManU in the CL semifinal, and even sooner we would be crowning ourselves CL Champions. Those were the days.

I want to take this post to talk about some potential off the radar transfer targets.

Zapata – This man can be had for 12M Euro’s and one day he will be worth every penny. The Colombia defender is young, strong, and highly capable of being very successful as he has shown at times this season with Udinese. There is not a single Milan fan who does not hate Ivan Cordoba of Inter, but deep down every single of one of us remembers his great plays against. This kid is the same style of defender but taller, stronger, and younger. The perfect compliment to Nesta, Maldini, and company, and there are not better teaches either. If Zapata were a stock the upside is through the roof, plus he reminds of Desailly and who didn’t love that guy.

Mexes – I have nothing against Roma but they have a weird awkward way of dealing with their players, take for example Chivu going to Inter last season. With that being said if Roma are sloppy enough to let the Frenchman go there is no reason why Milan should not be in the mix. You figure he is young with a fair amount of upside as well, and with a bit of coaching may even prove versatile enough to move the wing, a move that I would certainly be in favor of. He may also come between the 10-15M mark which is a relative bargain in comparison to other transfers.

Frey – I have never been his biggest fan, and most of the time it was because he was playing his guts out against Milan. The more I have watched him in the past few weeks the more amazing he becomes. If he is not between the pipes for France this summer than Domenech is an idiot and should be the next coach of Inter. I would have to admit I would much rather have Amelia because first and foremost he is younger and is most definitely the heir apparent to Gigi Buffon, and as you all know I am a sucker for an Italian. I am also not going to argue on Frey.

Lahm – For some reason or another it appears Bayern have bowed out of contract talks with the German defender. It seems a mystery to me because Klinsmann is on his way their as coach and Lahm is his boy, so you figure them to work something out sooner or later. I do not see Lahm leaving Germany for Italy and if he goes anywhere it will be to Chelsea with his pal Ballack. Milan is a long shot on this deal but worth a mention either way. Quick trivia, other than Bierhoff, who was the last German to wear the Red and Black?

Zambrotta – A few days ago Zambro was on the fast track to the better half of the San Siro as part of the Dinho deal. But if the deal falls through, we can only hope, it appears Zambro may head back home to Turin where he spent the better of his career roaming the flanks for Juventus. I have a fair amount of mutual respect for Juventus, post Calciopoli days, and would much rather lose a player to them than Inter. (By the way, it’s trash Inter day if you haven’t noticed). So if Zambro goes to Juventus, then their Azzuri target is open for the taking, and that guy is…

Grosso – The Lyon man is homesick, and San Siro is the place to be. He spent last season at Inter where he didn’t even get a fair shake, disgrace, and went to Lyon to play some high quality football. He is not as young as the first two guys on this list but can play either flank of defense and would really address a true need for the Rossoneri. Plus adding a World Cup winner is never a bad idea.