Mercato team (Branca & Co) + mercato evaluations thread

[Luka]

Cafe is ok with the idea, so here I am opening official thread for our transfer team, the evaluation of their job during mercatos, and general talk about if and how the mercatos affect the general quality of our team over the years.

Over the years, the comments about the transfer windows were spreaded over many threads, so I thought it is a good idea to put it all into one basket, and have it all in one place. Especialy since we are doing so well for last couple of years, and those guys deserve their own thread in this field

Cafe suggested the name "Transfer team & squad development", so if the people will like to change it accordingly I have nothing against.

...

Just to make things clear. This is a general thread, and it's purpose is to judge and summarize the mercato and the job done by those people after the transfer windows are closed and how and if it improves the quality of our team.

It is not a thread to discuss any roumors or players that are linked with Inter.

We only comment on the job already done by our "Mercato Squad". This thread is purely dedicated to those people in connection to the transfers and the deals they do.

Since Branca thread is very often dead, we could comment on the stuff relating him and the management job he is doing at Inter over here as well. Same goes to Lele Oriali.

...

So here it is, the mercato team, people who decide who to buy, who not to buy and who to ditch; responsible for improving the quality of our team every 6 months

Juve has their own project, and we have as well

Their is to hire Zac, and ours is to build a team with quality worth of CL :shades:


Current Mercato Team:

- Massimo Moratti (owner)
- Leonardo (head coach)
- Marco Branca (technical director)
- Piero Ausilio (academy director - head of youth department)

Past mercato teams:

(2010-2010)

- Massimo Moratti (owner)
- Marco Branca (technical director)
- Rafa Benitez (head coach)
- Amedeo Carboni (technical consultant)
- Piero Ausilio (academy director - head of youth department)

(2008-2010)

- Massimo Moratti
- Jose Mourinho (Previously Roberto Mancini)
- Lele Oriali
- Marco Branca

.

Legend:

- BOLD are the new aquisitions
- UNDERLINED are players promoted from the primavera

 

[skeet]

they have been doing a kick-ass job since calciopoli, except of course some minor flops and quaresma/mancini

but everything before that was disastrous

also, lol@ branca's hat

 

[rfU]

This thread is a good idea. IMO there hasn't been much a plan going forward thus far in terms signing particular players to fit a system or formation, simply because we don't have well defined system or style of a play. In any case, we don't play good, cohesive football.

Can anyone define the specific roles of our "mercato" team?

 

[CafeCordoba]

Okay, here it is how it goes.

Branca, Moratti, Mourinho and probably Oriali too have a meeting considering transfers and squad development. There it is when Mourinho expresses his wishes what he wants and so on.

Then it's Branca's time, he's the main operator here. He contacts other teams and players. Oriali might be the second guy but Branca is the leader of the transfer team. Branca can conclude transfers as long as the negotiations go like planned. He has a certain limit of money to be used and so on. When more authority is needed (read: money becomes a problem in the negotiations), then Moratti comes into play. He decides how much Inter eventually can and will use money in a specific transfer, if the negotiations stall or remain difficult.

 

[rfU]

Okay, here it is how it goes.

Branca, Moratti, Mourinho and probably Oriali too have a meeting considering transfers and squad development. There it is when Mourinho expresses his wishes what he wants and so on.

Then it's Branca's time, he's the main operator here. He contacts other teams and players. Oriali might be the second guy but Branca is the leader of the transfer team. Branca can conclude transfers as long as the negotiations go like planned. He has a certain limit of money to be used and so on. When more authority is needed (read: money becomes a problem in the negotiations), then Moratti comes into play. He decides how much Inter eventually can and will use money in a specific transfer, if the negotiations stall or remain difficult.

Thanks. So does Branca need permission from Jose Mourinho before concluding a deal? I guess not, otherwise we wouldn't have signed Arna in the summer because he wasn't in Mou's plans. How does one go about becoming the Director of Transfers? Do you need some kind of qualifications or can anyone take on the role?

 

[nzinter]

i must really commend them on their transfers this season we have become a real for to reckon with this year

 

[CafeCordoba]

No he doesn't need. I think that actually Mourinho is not that active with transfers, other than him expressing his wishes in the meetings with Inter management. Inter management do what is best for the club, and at that point they take Mourinho's wishes into account. But Mourinho probably doesn't think about the future too much so he isn't spotting some future players who are not good for him now. Like Arnautovic.

 

[jmaster]

They have done a great job so far! Good luck to them in the future, making Inter an even stronger team .
FORZA INTER!

 

[Sassuolu]

Well our project actually started in 2005 when Mancini came over and we started dealing a bit more smartly in the mercato, we bought cheaper players for the need of the team (needless to say they were a few flops Cesar, Wome etc.) but we managed to get the likes of Cambiasso, Julio Cesar, Maicon, Samuel etc. the foundation of this squad. A journalist calls this the Ma-Mo-Mou effect because this Inter started with Mancini, obviously there's Moratti and now Mourinho is building a new team on his image. After the mercato I am very optimistic of the club's future in the long run (or maybe even this season could be one to remember).

 

[Luka]

Well our project actually started in 2005 when Mancini came over and we started dealing a bit more smartly in the mercato, we bought cheaper players for the need of the team (needless to say they were a few flops Cesar, Wome etc.) but we managed to get the likes of Cambiasso, Julio Cesar, Maicon, Samuel etc. the foundation of this squad. A journalist calls this the Ma-Mo-Mou effect because this Inter started with Mancini, obviously there's Moratti and now Mourinho is building a new team on his image. After the mercato I am very optimistic of the club's future in the long run (or maybe even this season could be one to remember).

Thank you for the comment. Ofcourse you're right, Mancini was part of the "mercato squad" at some point, and he needs to be included there as well. I made the correction in the first post.

As for the year, I will try to post our squads in all years since Branca took over (2003), so that we can judge how the squad changed, if it improved, or maybe declined at some point. If we look at how the team looked in 2003, and how it looks now, it will be a massive gap.

Okay, here it is how it goes.

Branca, Moratti, Mourinho and probably Oriali too have a meeting considering transfers and squad development. There it is when Mourinho expresses his wishes what he wants and so on.

Then it's Branca's time, he's the main operator here. He contacts other teams and players. Oriali might be the second guy but Branca is the leader of the transfer team. Branca can conclude transfers as long as the negotiations go like planned. He has a certain limit of money to be used and so on. When more authority is needed (read: money becomes a problem in the negotiations), then Moratti comes into play. He decides how much Inter eventually can and will use money in a specific transfer, if the negotiations stall or remain difficult.

Very well put.

...

As for, who's vote is more important, and if it is, I think it is very fluid. For example I think most of our guys didn't want Quaresma, but since Jose wanted him badly they kinda gave ok for the deal, but it was probably Jose whos vote here was the strongest one.

On the other hand, we have players like Arnautovic, who probably wasn't Joses choice, and it was mainly the other guys idea.

So I think all in all it is fluid, but like Jose said once in the press conference: "They all kinda decide together who to buy, and who not to buy" with MM having the ultimate vote.

 

[Sassuolu]

Thank you for the comment. Ofcourse you're right, Mancini was part of the "mercato squad" at some point, and he needs to be included there as well. I made the correction in the first post.

As for the year, I will try to post our squads in all years since Branca took over (2003), so that we can judge how the squad changed, if it improved, or maybe declined at some point. If we look at how the team looked in 2003, and how it looks now, it will be a massive gap.
.

I wasn't saying you were wrong or anything, right now that is our current transfer team I just wanted to say that the new Inter was being built, right about when Mancio came.

In other news I saw this article today about Branca:

Quando Florentino Perez rimase stregato da Branca
Retroscena di mercato nell'operazione Ronaldo...
02.02.2010 14.30 di Franco De Simone articolo letto 5793 volte
Fonte: fcinternews.it

All'epoca dell'affare Real Madrid-Inter con Ronaldo passato in maglia merengues, si racconta che lavorando a stretto giro e di persona il patron dei Galacticos, Florentino Perez, rimase positivamente colpito dalla abilità di Marco Branca nel modo di condurre la trattativa. Perez disse al direttore tecnico nerazzurro che sarebbe stato contento se un giorno avesse deciso di lavorare con lui nella direzione del mercato del club spagnolo, ma Branca rifiutò gentilmente la prestigiosa proposta di trasferirsi a Madrid...

Well in short terms, Perez was so impressed with Branca when we sold them Ronaldo in 2003 he said that he'd be happy if one day he'd come to Madrid but Branca politely refused.

I think that's a big compliment from a guy like Perez who's a king a transfer dealings.

 

[Pravesh]

Well in short terms, Perez was so impressed with Branca when we sold them Ronaldo in 2003 he said that he'd be happy if one day he'd come to Madrid but Branca politely refused.

I think that's a big compliment from a guy like Perez who's a king a transfer dealings.

I wouldn't second that, coz it is not that hard to sign players when you have a REAL MADRID tag and offer $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ for the players.

That doesn't meant that I don' respect Branca, coz he has done good.

 

[Pravesh]

Let me just sum up a bit, with the players we have at the moment who were bought by the Branca team (it is pretty much Branca and co's team at the moment) -

(1) J.Cesar
(2) Lucio
(3) Maicon
(4) W.Samuel
(5) C.Chivu
(6) D.Stankovic
(7) Muntari
(8) Cambiasso
(9) W.Sneijder
(10) Mariga
(11) Motta
(12) Eto
(13) Milito
(14) Pandev
(15) Arnautovic
(16) Quaresma


Then, we have:

(17) Zlatan
(18) A.Mancini
(19) Jimenez
(20) Orlandoni
(21) P.Vieira
(22) L.Figo
(23) Mihajlovic
(24) Burdisso
(25) J.Cruz
(26) D.Pizarro
(27) S.Solari
(28) etc etc

 

[lonewolf19]

Very good thread. Generally I am very pleased with our mercato team in the recent years and this season is definitely the best. Will comment on the details later.

 

[coolmavs]

Great thread.......

interesting to see what people have to say how we have changed as a team over the past 6-7 years.

 

[cuckooc]

Here is the 2003-2004 squad:

Goalkeeper:

1 Francesco Toldo
12 Alberto Fontana
50 Simone Villanova
52 Giacomo Bindi
71 Alex Cordaz

Defenders:

2 Ivan Córdoba
4 Javier Zanetti
13 Thomas Helveg
15 Daniele Adani
17 Fabio Cannavaro
23 Marco Materazzi
24 Carlos Gamarra
26 Giovanni Pasquale
31 Jérémie Brechet
34 Devis Nossa
77 Francesco Coco

Midfielders:

5 Emre Belözoglu
6 Cristiano Zanetti
7 Andy van der Meyde
8 Sabri Lamouchi
11 Dejan Stankovic
14 Francisco Javier Farinos
18 Christian Kily González
19 Giorgios Karagounis
22 Buruk Okan
25 Matias Almeyda
29 Fabrizio Biava

Forwards:

3 Mohamed Kallon
9 Julio Cruz
10 Adriano
20 Alvaro Recoba
30 Obafemi Martins
32 Christian Vieri

Players that left:

Goalkeepers:

27 Mathieu Moreau Spezia (On Loan)

Defenders:

16 Gonzalo Sorondo Standard Liège (On Loan)
17 Michele Serena Retire
27 Alessandro Potenza Parma (On Loan)
31 Nelson Vivas River Plate

Midfielders:

7 Sérgio Conceição Lazio
10 Domenico Morfeo Parma
11 Andreas Guglielminpietro Bologna (On Loan)
11 Luciano Chievo
14 Luigi Di Biagio Brescia
18 Stephane Dalmat Tottenham Hotspur (On Loan)
21 Nicola Beati Triestina (On Loan)
28 Mario Rebecchi Genoa (On Loan)

Forwards:

9 Hernán Crespo Chelsea
19 Gabriel Batistuta Al Arabi
78 Nicola Ventola Siena (On Loan)
33 Abdulahi Isah Eliakwu Parma (On Loan)

 

[skeet]

Here is the 2003-2004 squad:

Goalkeeper:

1 Francesco Toldo
12 Alberto Fontana
50 Simone Villanova
52 Giacomo Bindi
71 Alex Cordaz

Defenders:

2 Ivan Córdoba
4 Javier Zanetti
13 Thomas Helveg
15 Daniele Adani
17 Fabio Cannavaro
23 Marco Materazzi
24 Carlos Gamarra
26 Giovanni Pasquale
31 Jérémie Brechet
34 Devis Nossa
77 Francesco Coco

Midfielders:

5 Emre Belözoglu
6 Cristiano Zanetti
7 Andy van der Meyde
8 Sabri Lamouchi
11 Dejan Stankovic
14 Francisco Javier Farinos
18 Christian Kily González
19 Giorgios Karagounis
22 Buruk Okan
25 Matias Almeyda
29 Fabrizio Biava

Forwards:

3 Mohamed Kallon
9 Julio Cruz
10 Adriano
20 Alvaro Recoba
30 Obafemi Martins
32 Christian Vieri

Players that left:

Goalkeepers:

27 Mathieu Moreau Spezia (On Loan)

Defenders:

16 Gonzalo Sorondo Standard Liège (On Loan)
27 Alessandro Potenza Parma (On Loan)

Midfielders:

11 Luciano Chievo
18 Stephane Dalmat Tottenham Hotspur (On Loan)
21 Nicola Beati Triestina (On Loan)
28 Mario Rebecchi Genoa (On Loan)

Forwards:

9 Hernán Crespo Chelsea
78 Nicola Ventola Siena (On Loan)
33 Abdulahi Isah Eliakwu Parma (On Loan)

holy shit...

that's like 40 players including the ones loaned out

 

[mario.santon]

I think they have started doing well even before Calciopoli.
It's just that we started to feel the results.
it was very difficult moment for us during calciopoli. Since the biggest player agency were related to Moggi.. We could not really trust those players.

I sense that Branca needed to go elsewhere and refraining from signing italians (we used to have 5-6 italian NT members, and sucked in the league).

Now, the league is more clean. Less Moggi's influence. But Somehow, Milan and Berlusconi still have some power over it.

 

[Handoyo]

Summer 2003 was a failure of epic proportion when it comes to transfer dealings. We bought absolutely useless players while sacrificing Crespo in the process. It truly was a summer of quantity over quality. There isn't even one player bought during that summer that still stay with us!

The best transfer mercato still had to be the summer of 2006, when we bought J.Cesar (Returned from loan), Maicon, Zlatan, Vieira & Crespo. Boy that was absolutely ace. But yes this summer's dealings, in the long run, has the potential to be better.

 

[brehme1989]

I don't think many clubs in the world bought players in 2003 who are still with them

The 2006 was our best mercato since Branca, true, but it was the more heated one as half the people didn't want Zlatan, a lot didn't want Vieira and Crespo coming back after spending a year at Milan did not seem ideal, since we had Adriano and Martins(the so-called future of Inter ) Turned out that Cruz was the most effective of them all

Turned out great, except Vieira who I still find a bad idea to start with! We should have gotten a more technical player instead.