Friday Milan Musings, Transfer Window B-Listers

By: Gianfranco | January 4th, 2008

Every transfer window will have its big name rumors like the Sheva’s, Drogba’s, Lucarelli’s and any other Brazilians who have fallen out of favor at their current employer. What we do sometimes neglect to explore are a second tier of players who are not necessarily big names, but big talents nonetheless. These players may come at a smaller price tag but have a ton more upside or potential. These are a few that I would not mind if Milan explored a bit. (SORRY UNCLE FESTER THEY ARE NOT BRAZILIAN!)

Lukas Podolski: Podolski has fallen a bit out of favor at Bayern Munich since the arrival of yet another Milan signing failure Luca Toni. (I swear if another players, whom I like, comes out at says Milan almost signed me, or Milan almost signed them, I will fly to Milan, ring Fester’s doorbell, gingerly punch him in the face, and then return home.) Podolski has tons of upside and it was not to long ago that he was making a name for himself in the ’06 World Cup shredding defenses and making some insane runs down the left flank, and gasp parallel to the end line! Imagine Milan having a striker that could attack the goal from the corner!!!! Is he a likely transfer target probably not, but if Milan do not start think outside the box they are going to be in this sick cycle of fighting Inter and overpaying for Brazilians that we may or may not need.
Enjoy the styling’s of Mr. Podolski below.

Cristian Zapata: He’s young, he is a tank and he plays in Italy. The Udinese defender is quite frankly awesome. I think he would make a great addition to the side and could easily create a fantastic future partnership with Bonera. Coming from Udine he may not be as costly, and if they were to make a bid a now it would be hard for Udinese to turn it down, I admit the club is playing well but they are interested in money to better themselves and the sale of player like Zapata could bring in two good players from the open market.

Carlo Cudicini: Yes he is 34, and yes Petr Cech is currently injured so Chelsea need him, but the keeper has stated that he would love to return to the club where his father played and where he began his career. Remember unlike many other goalies Italian keepers only get better with age ie. Zoff, Peruzzi, and hell even Buffon is getting better. If you can bring in Cudicini and return Abbiati to the fold you have a really nice one two Italian punch if you ask me.

We have to remember that as Milanista we have never had success with very big name top tier signings, think of the past failures: Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Roque Junior, Bierhoff, Kluivert….I would rather not continue as my stomach turns from the failed signings. Milan has always had an eye for emerging talent and they need to continue that trend ie. Pirlo, Sheva, and to a lesser extent Kaka.

Those are my B-line transfer targets, who are yours?