2014/2015 Line-up: what do you think?

He is a top talent, I really hope he gets a significant amount of minutes and takes Milan back into the CL.

Abramovich wrote:He is a top talent, I really hope he gets a significant amount of minutes and takes Milan back into the CL.

i watched both U-21 games he played full 90 mins. and even though dutch lost in both of them, i gotta say he was very very impressive. in second half his performance did drop significant though. it feels as if he still needs some match fitness though. cause first half was absolutely brilliant of him passing, defending, going forward, his one touch football is super awesome! this might help torres a lot cuz spanish football play lot of one touch football.


i think he is not just yet ready to play full 90 mins but my hope is that van ginkel should nonetheless be starter. he is hell of an asset.

Dante wrote:Good points Jesp . But i hope he's not exactly a replica of Doni , Doni couldn't even run in his last seasons lol

Doni was a quality player though , not your typical star quality player but an asset nonetheless. His workrate belonged in the late 80s to mid 90s however , but still , he was impressive on his day. Bonaventura is clearly faster than Doni ever was and more.. adventurous. Still , i doubt he can match Doni's eye for the goal scoring chance , but let's see.

Doni never played for a club like Milan , at least i do not remember him playing for a big club. Maybe Bonaventura can do better than him . There are similarities between them for sure , but Bonaventura seems a lot more agile and fluent than Doni , well from the last years of his career that is , which is natural of course..i dont remember his days in early 00s at all.

Anyhow , generally speaking , it may seem like Bonaventura who , but.. he can be a really good player for Milan. I don't necessarily expect him to have a Nocerino first season at Milan to be honest , where he banged goals here and there , but he will help us a lot , that i am confident he will.

As for how many goals he could score.. i don't think he will score much at all bare the occasional great shot at goal , but this will be because he will be feeding others most of the time , which is arguably better for our strikers and much more suitable & reassuring .

And on the bonus side of things , we got 6m for Cristante and paid 7 for Bonaventura. We got him for 1m , in a sense.

im glad that lot has been talked and praised about bonaventura and he is italian so i m incredibly happy that he can hopefully do well and also gain a call up.

but i rue that we missed chance to sign that belgian winger who went to genoa. something tells me that he is going to be massively sought talent in serie a this season.

he is incredibly fast, good at splitting defense with his through ball. i was very very impressed. thats the kind of winger i really wanted at milan right now.

van Ginkel is a great talent, I just can't get excited about him since I know he isn't ours.

Ganso wrote:van Ginkel is a great talent, I just can't get excited about him since I know he isn't ours.

in some respect he reminds me of kevin strootman. yea i know this is a bit weird for us. if he performs chelsea will benefit, if he doesnt, we wont benefit. but its all about patience with young players.

i hope he stays beyond this year, kid is really bright

@Milanello 2m
Van Ginkel: "I’m focused on Milan, but I’m happy about the fact that Chelsea didn’t include a buy-out clause in the transfer."

In terms of Bonaventura fulfilling a similar role to Di Maria, I am not yet convinced that we'll see Jack regularly feature in midfield, if at all. His comments to date seem to reflect that he believes he will be utilised on the wings, however he may be used interchangeably. Dante is quite right in reflecting upon his lack of comparative physical and technical gifts that made Di Maria stand out, able to both participate regularly in the final third whilst also possessing the speed to recover during the defensive transition. I think it is possible to still fulfil a role as a player who links midfield and attack though. I think the role played by Koke is relevant, particularly if he plays LCM, in which case we can expect the 4-3-3 to alter shape in attack, with Bonaventura and Honda advancing beyond a midfield duo in which De Jong plays a highly disciplined role and Poli or Van Ginkel would provide energy in the centre, with both fullbacks playing aggressive roles providing overlapping width. In this analogy to Atletico, Bonaventura still acts as a link in attack, however it is one in which his creative responsibility is limited and reflects the talent that also surrounds him. Similarly his defensive responsibilities relate to pressing high when the ball is turned over then covering his fullback when the line drops, roles which complement a team structure in which several players can slide in and out of the line-up without changing our gameplan dramatically.

As I said however, I'm not convinced that we will see Bonaventura at LCM, at least not against top opposition. Once we truly hit our stride, we might see this emerge as an option against teams who will sit very deep against us however. The main positive from all of this, as Dante brought out, is the flexiblity we are given tactically. With the arrival of a midfielder who brings both offensive and defensive qualities in Van Ginkel we are made less dependent on the foundation of De Jong as a single pivot until Montolivo returns, whilst Bonaventura, Honda and Saponara give us depth and flexibility to ensure we aren't forced to give up the initiative in possession when injuries strike. If Inzaghi proves true to his commitment to rotate our wingers and interior midfielders, rewarding form and fitness, everyone will feature on at least a semi-regular basis, making this improvement in depth most welcome. As for the prospect of Van Ginkel staying beyond this year, a situation such as the continued renewal of his loan as with Courtois at Atletico could balance our concerns for the future with those of Chelsea and the player himself depending on how well he does. He must first prove his worth however, as with all of our new arrivals. He certainly looks promising though.