The future is indeed looking bright for AC Milan. Not only are they doing well financially, but they also have a great foundation to build on. This was highlighted by Gazzetta dello Sport this morning.
As per the pink newspaper (via SempreMilan), Milan fans have every right to be excited about the future of the club. In particular, three areas deserve to be highlighted, so let’s dive in.
Stefano Pioli
The manager has been criticised a lot during his time at Milan, especially this year, but the numbers don’t lie. He’s one of the best in the Rossoneri’s history, even if there are a few managers that did even better.
Pioli is just four wins away from equalling Arrigo Sacchi’s win tally (111) at the club. The legendary manager needed 220 games for that record, while the former Fiorentina boss is only at 198 games right now.
Furthermore, the Rossoneri have already scored more goals than Sacchi’s Milan, 340 against 328. And ten more goals l will be enough to reach Nils Liedholm in the special ranking. The likes of Nereo Rocco and Carlo Ancelotti will be hard to reach all things considered, but Pioli still deserves praise for his work.
Star players
Rafael Leao’s most important autograph arrived in the summer, when he signed the contract renewal until 2028. The negotiation was set up by the old management, and shortly after the new one arrived.
However, Giorgio Furlani and his team have no intention of changing the strategy for the star players. They are already working on the renewal of Mike Maignan, whose contract will expire in 2026, and there should be a decent pay rise for the Frenchman.
He currently earns €2.8m per year and the idea is to get him closer/equal to Leao, Olivier Giroud and Theo Hernandez. In short, Milan know that the stars need to be locked down in order to make a profit down the line.
Young talents
Milan aren’t just monitoring young players on the market, such as Juan Miranda of Real Betis, but they are also closely following the development of their talents in the club. Davide Bartesaghi is a great example, having made the journey through the youth ranks.
The Primavera are flying under the management of Ignazio Abate and it’s simply impossible for the management to ignore this. Francesco Camarda, Kevin Zeroli, Jan Carlo-Simic: the list goes on and they could all become stars for Milan in the future.
Nice article, you ought to pin piolis stats permanently on the front page in comparison with previous coaches while obviously updating it, maybe it would even enlighten a few people around here… we could at least hope for it 😛
I agree. Every manager has his idiosyncrasies and that can be frustrating for fans. Ancellotti was not great at giving youth a chance while at Milan for example.
Some fans forget what it is like to be an unstable club with a revolving door of managers.
Imo the most important job of a manager is to bring stability, team spirit, hard work.
After that comes their tactical capabilities.
Forget banter era, a better example is Milan in the late 90’s.
We had an amazing squad and plenty of money. Yet once Capello left we completely collapsed under Fatih Terim and Tabarez etc. Despite having the likes of Weah, Maldini etc etc.
Be careful what you wish for! Most clubs who are stable and competitive like Arsenal under Wenger fall to pieces when they trade that for something “better”
Absolutely ancelotti wasnt too good promoting youngsters or for that matter wining serie a, not that anyone in between has one more but considering the squads he has it wasnt especially impressive there either,
Wining will always be the mst important aspect for a club of milans size but i also agree with your assesments as well.
96/97 and 97/98 was propably worse than the banter years considering the teams we had as we ended up 11th 2 years in a row and to far of the relegation points wise.
Stability is indeed of utmost imporrtance to attain succes.
Yes those years were quite disturbing. Particularly when we had Prime Paolo Maldini and yet our defense was torn apart week in week out. No darker times than those when you see an all time great struggling
Yeah i agree considering the squads we had we should have been dominating in those years but right after the two 11th placed serie a seasons we at least won the sudetto again. The banter era was a longer stretch so more painful but nevertheless more understandable considering the crop of players we had then.
Well Pioli is winning mediocre matches that is why we have only 1 trophy in 4 years.
Enough of this Pioli PR. Let him write his name history. If Pioli is that good how come he have only the Scudetto won by Milan as his only troph? He coached big teams before Inter, LAZIO and Florentina.
The other Coaches are winning important matches that is why they have Champions league, scudettto and many other trophy.
In 1994 Milan won the champions league final against Braca simply because of the Coach we had then.
Barca was a complete team and 100% favorites in that match.
Yes Sack Pioli bring De Zerbi who won nothing and lost 6-1 to Villa, thats your idol lmao
You are missing the point.
I am saying sack Pioli as there is obvious to do that.
My point is, it is very wrong to compare Pioli which legendary Milan Coaches based on winnings in matches played.
Sacchi, Capello and Ancelloti won champions league for Milan. For Rossoneri fans that is the only achievement for legendary Milan coach.
If Pioli can win Champions league then he can be mentioned along with the legends.
For me, Pioli have his good side despite his obvious limitations.
Atalanta and Inter have embarrassed Milan under Pioli watch and it has to with his limitations.
We needed Zlatan to come and wake up the players after the crushing defeat to Inter this year. Without we would have gone do2n the hill.
I like and respect Pioli for allowing Zlatan Intervention and that shows that Pioli does and goes through a lot for us to win. I respect that and we should still with being the devil we know for the last 4 years.
But he is not legendary for us. At least for now
You are missing the point.
I am not saying sack Pioli as there is obvious to do that.
My point is, it is very wrong to compare Pioli which legendary Milan Coaches based on winnings in matches played.
Sacchi, Capello and Ancelloti won champions league for Milan. For Rossoneri fans that is the only achievement for legendary Milan coach.
If Pioli can win Champions league then he can be mentioned along with the legends.
For me, Pioli have his good side despite his obvious limitations.
Atalanta and Inter have embarrassed Milan under Pioli watch and it has to with his limitations.
We needed Zlatan to come and wake up the players after the crushing defeat to Inter this year. Without we would have gone do2n the hill.
I like and respect Pioli for allowing Zlatan Intervention and that shows that Pioli does and goes through a lot for us to win. I respect that and we should still with being the devil we know for the last 4 years.
But he is not legendary for us. At least for now
The future is bright. You can BET on it 🤭