One Transfer Saga Down, One To Go In Milan.

By: chris | June 1st, 2009

That noise you heard after Carlo Ancelotti stepped down from his post in Milan was the silence brought about by nary a soul batting an eyelash. Long expected, Berlusconi & Co. let him go by ‘mutual consent’ and kicked open the door for him to join Chelsea – which he has done today on a three year contract – where he’ll find very moderate expectations (Champions League, that’s all). Thirty-nine year old Leonardo takes over with the double whammy of being a first-time coach at the San Siro and leading a roster largely his elder.

No hemming, no hawing, no nervous waiting. After eight years and loads of trophies, Milan and Carletto parted ways amicably with little fuss. Directly after the final game of the season, the final game of Paolo Maldini’s career, he removed himself from the Rossoneri sideline to make way for Leonardo – a move which has been expected for the last week. Leaving Milan with nothing to do but the normal transfer wheelings and dealings and leaving us without weeks of ‘Ancelotti to Chelsea’ stories amid leading quotations and journalistic speculation. Perhaps the biggest coaching saga of the summer and it’s already over. The same day the season ended.

And now that Carletto’s in Chelsea, it’s fair enough to ask just who is the real winner here? Well, that’s as easy as Carlo’s Milan divorce.

It’s Russia.

On the other side of Milan, Zlatan ended his season by doing those two things he’s done so well throughout this Serie A campaign:

i. Shrouding comments about his Nerazzurri future in excessive ambiguity.
ii. Scoring positively positively ridiculous goals.

Ex. 1

“The future? I don’t know. If something is going to happen, it will be after this match. We will see, I don’t know yet. I have won everything in Italy. When I arrived here many criticised me, saying I was a fantastic player, but I couldn’t score goals. Now I have won the Capocannoniere title and proved myself. I could not have done any better than this. I have won five Scudetti, the Super Cup, I’m missing the Coppa Italia, but that’s OK. I don’t know what else I can still do in Italy, other than keep going a build a collection.”

Ex. 2

At least the good folk of Milan will be able to reread one transfer saga daily whilst the players are off on holiday.

Next up: Madrid.

* – This was written last evening. By morning Real Madrid had officially installed Florentino Perez as president and poached Manuel Pellegrini from Villarreal to fill their gaping hole on the pine (thanks for nothin’, Juande). What the hell are we going to do this summer? I need some variety in my transfer rumor.