AC Milan have done really well to reinforce their squad in the last few years without spending crazy amounts of money. As a result, the most expensive player currently in the squad is a surprising one.
Gorgio Furlani and Geoffrey Moncada targeted players at around the €20m mark this summer and thus managed to sign a total of 10 players. We have previously written about the Rossoneri’s strategy, not willing to spend a hefty amount on one player.
As a result of this strategy, which has been in place for the last few years, the most expensive player in Milan’s squad is Mattia Caldara. The defender arrived from Juventus back in 2018 and the Rossoneri paid €37.7m for his services.
Riuscite a indovinare il più costoso per ogni club di #SerieA 💳? Attenzione ⚠⚠⚠, non il più costoso all-time, non il più costoso di questa sessione di mercato, ma il più costoso attualmente in rosa 😇.#TMmercato #TMdatabase pic.twitter.com/PfJTHWussY
— Transfermarkt.it (@TMit_news) September 10, 2023
Caldara has struggled with many injuries in his career and he has only made two official appearances for Milan. In January, he’s expected to leave the club and could even be let go for free.
considering bonuccis valuation at the time of the swap deal was done and the minutes caldara then has played for the first team (155 mins) im fairly confident to say that its the worst deal ever done by the club and by many margins. Nothing really comes close as i see it even though he has also been very unlucky about injuries setting his career back.
I prefer to look at it as another wasted talent, and if you want to add Bonucci to the mix we managed to waste two talents for the price of one.
well then all clubs in between this deal has wasted his talent, we should never have traded him regardless if its easy to look back in hindsight we never reallly used a 3-5-2 formation that he clearly is the most comforttable playing,
If bonucci wanted to leave he should have been sold to a european club or for cash to juventus instead of what we got,
Agreed.
The tendency for clubs to strengthen their immediate rivals is another one of the great mysteries of the modern transfer market…..
That deal was indeed a strengthening of our immediate rivals.
Reminds me a bit F Redondo.
But as far as I remember he refused to get a salary on his last year of contract.
Redondo actually played 25-30 matches from what i can recollect and as i remember it he actually refused his salary for the two seasons he was out. Caldara must be the most expenssive player in the clubs history considering the investment/trade and how few minutes he has played and what he has been paid in the meantime combined.
Redondo deal was bad considering his injury nevertheless but certainly also a more prominent player when we got him than caldara ever was.
Had he been healthy, who knows how it would play out. They should at least give him a look.
He was among the most promising defenders at the time. Sad outcome
It was Leonardo’s fault. He was destroying everything like he did at PSG
“The defender arrived from Juventus back in 2018 and the Rossoneri paid €37.7m for his services.”
But that’s only part of the picture and is very misleading. We never “paid” anything or paid very little as Bonucci, who was valued at the time for around the same amount, went the other way if my memory serves me correctly. The amount of 37m is a valuation and not an actual expense.
It’s like saying Inter paid 30m for Eto’o to swap with Ibra, when in fact they basically got Eto’o for free plus 45m. Or like saying we paid Inter 10-20m for Seedorf during the Seedorf -Coco swap🤦♂️
I’ll forgive the club the Coco swap since we got Seedorf!
Still better than Maguire
Caldara was a wonderkid back then
If any of you had actually been paying attention, following all of Serie A, you would know that he has played in 71 games over the last three years while out on loan. Often quite effectively. The current Milan management just has not thought that he was a good fit for the way they play, or that they have had better options, not that he has been out injured the entire time.
Im fully aware that he has played on loans for other clubs but if he had done as well as you say some of the clubs who had the options to buy would have done so and if they didnt buy him because of his salary then others would have stepped in to do so either in italy or abroad,
Spezia and Venezia both would have redeemed him if they stayed up, couldn’t afford him in Serie B. Not really his fault they went down, poor teams. Caldara was the best player on Venezia.
I get he had fairly decent loans at those clubs but even if they couldnt afford him or got demoted why wouldnt someone else in serie a step in and buy him if he is so good and we have been actively trying to offload him several seasons ? Why hasnt any of the coaches since he joined us given him a chance after he returned from injury ?`propably because isnt good enough,
So it comes up to 18.5 million per appearance which is insane
Exactly thats in the vicinity of how expenssive he has been for us and that is minus his wages and sign on fees as well hence why he is our most expenssive player ever considering what we got back for the money,