So .. that Boateng news yesterday? If it made you frown in disgust, prepare to shriek in agony; if it made you jump with joy, time to get the trampoline out. What was reported yesterday as the club making first contact and preparing to step up their interest seems to have manifested in progress as there was a follow up today suggesting yesterday's talk had come to fruition.
Here's from the man himself.
Chelsea met Boateng's agent
— Tancredi Palmeri (@tancredipalmeri) June 9, 2013
Thoughts? Well, that escalated quickly.
Now, as was touched upon yesterday, the price quoted is way below what any other sensible club would otherwise prefer to open negotiations at. But Milan's financial woes are well documented, and save for one Scudetto winning season, they've been languishing in the upper half of the Serie A table (which isn't saying a lot) with a patchwork squad consisting of (some very talented) youngsters and (some not-so-talented) loanees.
Over the years, Boateng has been one of the Rossoneri's consistently better performers, and has the type of game which shouldn't see him struggle too much to ease back into the Premier League if we do go for him.
At 26, he isn't the youngest, but he's a very versatile player with a rather impressive work-rate, powerful shot, defensive contribution, et al. and will certainly offer any manager a great option in a variety of systems. On the other hand, he's also a mercurial character both on and off the pitch, so I think you'd agree if I said it'll be a bit difficult to trust a player who goes on about getting injured in this fashion to take proper care of himself off the pitch while staying away from the headlines at the same time.
While the fans' contempt toward him for what he did in that FA Cup final a few years back would prevent too many people from jumping on the bandwagon if he was brought in, you could see him providing a few seasons of solid service if he indeed was. At the same time, we have younger players breaking out who can play in most of the positions he covers well enough themselves and, let's face it, he doesn't exactly look like someone who'd agree to a contract if it didn't include a massive pay.
So what about this move? Had he been a year or two younger, I'd probably have belatedly recommended going ahead for him, but as it stands, this deal, should it go ahead, appears to make more sense for Milan than it does for us.