Summer mercato thread 2025-26 (152 Viewers)

[Paolino]

Why is Comolli working so slowly? Last year, Giuntoli had already bought 10 players by this time. How is it that Comolli’s negotiations take so long? He’s spent the whole summer just negotiating for Chico and Kolo, and they were already in the team last year. Seriously, what is this? I’ve never seen anything like this before. Does he send offers to clubs by carrier pigeon or something?

 

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[Badass J Elkann]

Why is Comolli working so slowly? Last year, Giuntoli had already bought 10 players by this time. How is it that Comolli’s negotiations take so long? He’s spent the whole summer just negotiating for Chico and Kolo, and they were already in the team last year. Seriously, what is this? I’ve never seen anything like this before. Does he send offers to clubs by carrier pigeon or something?

No he always typically wait for the junkyard sale at the end.

You can be pretty much certain about 1 thing today... Kostic will stay lol, thats Cuntmolli's way of saying - Hey new player!

 

[AndreaCristiano]

I love how everyone was worried about kolo loan and now we’re buying this brother for 55m

 

[JuveJay]

Why is Comolli working so slowly? Last year, Giuntoli had already bought 10 players by this time.

And that worked perfectly.

 

[Paolino]

And that worked perfectly.

That’s not my point, however Thuram, Di Gregorio, Chico, Kalulu, and Kolo were good signings. My point is that signing players shouldn’t take this long. What’s he even doing that Kolo still hasn’t been made permanent after two months?

Honestly, what has Comolli actually done? Chico and Kolo were already in the team and were Giuntoli’s picks, David was also Giuntoli’s choice and negotiations for him had already started under Giuntoli. Even most of the players we’ve been linked with, like Sancho, were Giuntoli’s targets. Right now, the squad is basically the same team Giuntoli had put together, the only player Comolli has actually bought himself is Joao Mario Which, by the way, was only because Porto offered him to us. I genuinely don’t understand his performance.

 

[rainhard]

That’s not my point, however Thuram, Di Gregorio, Chico, Kalulu, and Kolo were good signings. My point is that signing players shouldn’t take this long. What’s he even doing that Kolo still hasn’t been made permanent after two months?

Honestly, what has Comolli actually done? Chico and Kolo were already in the team and were Giuntoli’s picks, David was also Giuntoli’s choice and negotiations for him had already started under Giuntoli. Even most of the players we’ve been linked with, like Sancho, were Giuntoli’s targets. Right now, the squad is basically the same team Giuntoli had put together, the only player Comolli has actually bought himself is Joao Mario Which, by the way, was only because Porto offered him to us. I genuinely don’t understand his performance.

His problem tied to most of the Giuntoli signings happened as this year transfer and eat up the budget

- Di Gregorio
- Kalulu
- Kelly
-Nico Gonzalez

These almost eat up all the transfer budget (in total of expenditure around 75m). His transfer this year show that

We got David for free, with some signing fee > probably whatever left in the budget
Then we got Conceicao for 32m > selling Mbangula (12), Costa swap with Mario (8m diff) and Weah (18)

And his way to get these kind of players is sound because the players that he try to sign David has his numbers in Ligue 1, Chico play well for us, Kolo play well for us. So we take the route of less chance of flop and set the foundation first

I only critized him because he is so low in terms of offloading players that we dont want like Vlahovic (high salary+last year contract), Arthur (high salary), McKennie (last year of contract). And probably Douglas Luiz that have a pretty high salary too, the fee from this sale can be use to buy new players to improve our defense.

Our problem is we cant sell our shit like gold, eventough some of them probably gold only covered with shit.

 

[Paolino]

His problem tied to most of the Giuntoli signings happened as this year transfer and eat up the budget

- Di Gregorio
- Kalulu
- Kelly
-Nico Gonzalez

These almost eat up all the transfer budget (in total of expenditure around 75m). His transfer this year show that

We got David for free, with some signing fee > probably whatever left in the budget
Then we got Conceicao for 32m > selling Mbangula (12), Costa swap with Mario (8m diff) and Weah (18)

And his way to get these kind of players is sound because the players that he try to sign David has his numbers in Ligue 1, Chico play well for us, Kolo play well for us. So we take the route of less chance of flop and set the foundation first

I only critized him because he is so low in terms of offloading players that we dont want like Vlahovic (high salary+last year contract), Arthur (high salary), McKennie (last year of contract). And probably Douglas Luiz that have a pretty high salary too, the fee from this sale can be use to buy new players to improve our defense

True, but either way, this was the situation and we were always going to have these expenses this year. If Comolli was going to be this passive, then why was the management even changed in the first place? Surely Comolli was supposed to handle this situation better. The squad has basically made no progress compared to the last game of last season, and the league starts next week. The previous management team was sacked and a new one came in to handle things better, but there’s been nothing to show for it, neither in terms of signings nor in offloading players who aren’t in the club’s plans. Their performance has been completely passive.

 

[Catenaccio]

I read an article on X that looked into the economic effect of all the transfers so far (including the buy obligations we have already done) before the Muani deal.

It suggests that so far there is a small net positive effect of around EU3m.

The way I read that in simple terms is that any new entrant will be netted off with a departure. So Vlahovic leaving will ultimately fund Muani. Luiz & Nico leaving would fund an attacking midfielder and wing back.

I still think we need another solid defender. Hopefully that can be funded through Kelly and Djalo

 

[Siamak]

Matt O’Riley vs Douglas Luiz

Chi meglio

 

[MikeM]

Douglas Luiz has stats?

 

[DanielSz]

My only question about o’riley is what kinda name is that for a danish fella

 

[Catenaccio]

Matt O’Riley vs Douglas Luiz

Chi meglio

I think you are comparing 2 very different players. One is intended to play deep while the other is more the attacking player.

All other things being equal, I wouldn't have minded giving Luiz another chance because he has the technical capabilities. The biggest issue with him is either his attitude or the fact that perhaps he no longer wants to be here. That is the big reason - I suspect for whatever reason Motta and Tudor don't like his efforts in training etc. Koopmeiners may be the player we would rather sell but his value has crashed so we would book a big loss - and in the mean time he really wants to stay at the club so its worthwhile persevering with him for another season.

O'Riley when at Celtic had amazing stats but this changed at Brighton partly due to the fact that he had a long spell off due to injury. For me, his characteristics are very similar to Koopmeiners in terms of role - Atalanta wanted to replace Koopmeiners with O'Riley last summer. I am ok with the transfer but the issue I have is that Conceicao is the only real proper attacking winger left in the squad. We will have mostly wing backs and attacking midfielders. So the squad is being built for a back 3 whereas last year it was built for a back 4. I think its always good to have more attacking wing options so I would have rather have had a Conceicao type player on the left hand side added to the squad (we have lost Mbangula and Weah who were our other speedy wingers and Nico is also likely to be on the way out too).

But as I have said many times, if I had to prioritize one area it would be defence.

 

[Robee]

I think you are comparing 2 very different players. One is intended to play deep while the other is more the attacking player.

All other things being equal, I wouldn't have minded giving Luiz another chance because he has the technical capabilities. The biggest issue with him is either his attitude or the fact that perhaps he no longer wants to be here. That is the big reason - I suspect for whatever reason Motta and Tudor don't like his efforts in training etc. Koopmeiners may be the player we would rather sell but his value has crashed so we would book a big loss - and in the mean time he really wants to stay at the club so its worthwhile persevering with him for another season.

O'Riley when at Celtic had amazing stats but this changed at Brighton partly due to the fact that he had a long spell off due to injury. For me, his characteristics are very similar to Koopmeiners in terms of role - Atalanta wanted to replace Koopmeiners with O'Riley last summer. I am ok with the transfer but the issue I have is that Conceicao is the only real proper attacking winger left in the squad. We will have mostly wing backs and attacking midfielders. So the squad is being built for a back 3 whereas last year it was built for a back 4. I think its always good to have more attacking wing options so I would have rather have had a Conceicao type player on the left hand side added to the squad (we have lost Mbangula and Weah who were our other speedy wingers and Nico is also likely to be on the way out too).

But as I have said many times, if I had to prioritize one area it would be defence.

Yeah, that sums it up really. Koop def should've been on the chopping block instead of DL when tactically viewed.

If we add Kolo, I think we're pretty set for Tudor's formation but a 4-2-3-1 won't be the case with this absence in wingers and we're still looking at 2-3 central defenders that need to go before we can think about adding one.

 

[Xperd]

I dont expect miracles with two weeks to go. I think our mercato is almost done.

I think Kolo deal will fall through, we'll keep Vlahovic, maybe loan David Luiz and mercato chiuso. Very realistic actually.

 

[JuveJay]

That’s not my point, however Thuram, Di Gregorio, Chico, Kalulu, and Kolo were good signings. My point is that signing players shouldn’t take this long. What’s he even doing that Kolo still hasn’t been made permanent after two months?

Honestly, what has Comolli actually done? Chico and Kolo were already in the team and were Giuntoli’s picks, David was also Giuntoli’s choice and negotiations for him had already started under Giuntoli. Even most of the players we’ve been linked with, like Sancho, were Giuntoli’s targets. Right now, the squad is basically the same team Giuntoli had put together, the only player Comolli has actually bought himself is Joao Mario Which, by the way, was only because Porto offered him to us. I genuinely don’t understand his performance.

I don't think we actually need that many new players, so I don't see how it's relevant. Last summer we might have thought it was a good idea to change a lot of the first team. If we do that again we'll just repeat the same mistakes.

You're forgetting that Giuntoli brought in many of these guys on loan to buys, this summer we had to spend €100m buying players we had on loan, which will affect the business we can do. That's an inherited issue.

I don't pay attention to rumours, the media are linking us to Giuntoli targets because Comolli's work isn't transparent and they are trying to create stories. That might frustrate a lot of people because the mercato is seen as a championship in itself. Fans want to see signings, money spent, I get it.

Personally I'd prefer to see signings done earlier because they get time to integrate. All that happens otherwise is that they end up spending weeks or months trying to reach a good level. I think we're working far too slowly. But on the other hand we don't seem to have (yet) signed a Charlie Adam, Stuart Downing or Andy Carroll, so maybe I'm feeling grateful for small mercies.

 

[JuveJay]

I dont expect miracles with two weeks to go. I think our mercato is almost done.

I think Kolo deal will fall through, we'll keep Vlahovic, maybe loan David Luiz and mercato chiuso. Very realistic actually.

We'll probably pay more than we want for Kolo and then unfavourable loan to buys for DL and Vlahomiss.

 

[Bianconero_Aus]

I don’t have any doubts that we’ll sign Kolo. Looks pretty straight forward to me. PSG don’t want him, he only wants us. It’ll come through at some point. I even think we get him even if Vlahovic stays.

What concerns me is us not being linked to any better starting LCBs and starting the season with Lloyd Smelly there…I don’t give a shit if Cabal can play there, Cabal has been out injured for nearly a year. Gatti or Kalulu also don’t play well on the left. I wasn’t a huge fan of Veiga, back I much prefer him in that role over this incompetent bum and I hope we can snag another loan deal for him if possible.

Also I’m not convinced at all by this O’Reilly guy. Looks like another flop to me. Good at Celtic but flopped in the EPL. Enough of these types of players.