The growth of AC Milan’s project and the players at the centre of it will require the ownership to make some sacrifices in order to keep the core together, a report has claimed.
Calciomercato.com have published a report highlighting the importance of Rafael Leao and Ismael Bennacer who have become immovable members of the first choice starting line-up, having both arrived in the summer of 2019 as more unknowns that certainties.
Bennacer has created 23 chances and has recovered 89 balls this season with a pass success percentage of 89%, making him the leader in the middle of the park with his work both in and out of possession, something he has now transferred to the Champions League stage too.
Meanwhile, Leao has a goal, two assists and 15 successful dribbles in the first phase of the Champions League, with more dribbles than Kvarastskhelia, Dembelé and Neymar, behind only Mbappé and Vinicius Jr. After winning the Scudetto last season as the Serie A MVP, the feeling is that he has the potential to get even better still.
The Milan project is heading in the right direction and it is strongly centred on the intuitions of Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara, as the signings of Mike Miagnan, Pierre Kalulu, Theo Hernandez, Sandro Tonali and Charles De Ketelaere among others show.
However, it is project which – in order to go to the next stage – risks going through inevitable sacrifice. Difficulties have emerged in the negotiations for the contract extensions of Bennacer and Leao, and in order to keep jewels you must pay them for what they are worth.
True! If we had bought Kvaratskhelia then we could afford to lose Leao … however that is not the case!
No one can ever guarantee that he can perform as well as he’s in Napoli if Milan bought him year ago. That’s just football. There are many uncontrollable and out of paper factors. I’m not buying this whole hype of Kvara. Let’s see what he can do on the other half part of the season or next season. When players already known better how to handle him. There are just too many examples of one season wonder.
The thing is Milan needs him but he can not still stand on his own he still has to grow so he also needs Milan to become world class
Paolo , get it done already!
Why does it take this man so long to negotiate for players’ extensions or transfers?
And before people start blaming the owners, Milan reportedly has a 4mil salary cap. Bennacer is asking for 3.5-4mil, why isn’t he extended already? I get the Leao situation is more complicated and the owners need to approve breaking the cap limit, but he has no excuses for Bennacer.
Also, he had 50 mil transfer budget, and he decided to blow almost all of it on 1 player.
Well it takes two (or more, with agents involved) to tango. And agents these days will more and more advise their clients to wait until the end of their contract, leave for free and then demand a huge sign on bonus and salary from the club they join.
For Leao, he could sign for Chelsea next summer and Milan make 80m or he can sign for them in summer 2024 and he and his agent personally can split 20-30m. And he’d get a bigger salary.
We’re going to have to get used to losing players on a free because keeping them on a low salary for another 18 months and ensuring better results might earn the club more money in the long run than selling.
Agreed with @Poli, just sell Leao to avoiding same past mistakes again but for Bennacer is different situation, just give him 4 + 4.5 Million then done. Bennacer is a metronome of Milan style and difficult to finding similar type like him. Btw I want to see Leao if him leaving Milan, he more better or flop like Kessie lol
Leao wants Milan to pay his fine against Sporting Lisbon, which makes the negotiation complicated because Milan isn’t legally involved with the case.
Milan already offered 3 million + bonus to Bennacer before Red Bird acquisition. But Bennacer flat out refused because he wants to wait until Red Bird finished the acquisition and see what the new owner wants to do with the club. Now the negotiation probably already continue.
Moncada already scouted CDK for quite long and Pioli also wants CDK to fill CAM role. Maldini himself wants Botman and multiple players but his budget only 50 million. So blame the owners for limited budget, NOT Maldini.
Milan can’t just sell Bennacer and Leao without talking to Pioli considering both players are key players in Pioli formation.
Not just that, if Milan only thingking about selling important key players then it will ruin the project that Maldini, Masara, and Moncada already build for the last 3-4 years. Milan isn’t a feeder club like Fiorentina, Sassuolo, or Atalanta who sell their important key players for big club.
And new players also needs to adapt which takes time. But most of you here are talking crap when CDK still adaptin and only made 1 assist and 0 goal.
“Milan can’t just sell Bennacer and Leao without talking to Pioli considering both players are key players in Pioli formation”.
Maldini let 2 players very important for Pioli’s system, Hakan and Kessie to leave even though Pioli wanted them to stay because Maldini waited too long to renew their contracts.
“Milan isn’t a feeder club like Fiorentina, Sassuolo, or Atalanta who sell their important key players for big club”.
I agree Milan isn’t a feeder club like those who sell their players, Milan just let those players leave for free, basically gifting them to other big clubs.
@Poli is right, Maldini dragging out the renewal process allows players to gain leverage by raising their demands closer it gets to the end of their contracts. Happened to Hakan, Happened to Kessie.
Milan never had a chance to keep Giggio, Maldini was the only one that didn’t realize that.
Alessio left because he didn’t fit the system anymore.
The better Bennacer plays his demands will go higher , same with Leao. If Leao plays good at the world cup he might ask for 10 mil when he comes back, as Kessie did after the Olympics.
“Maldini let 2 players very important for Pioli’s system, Hakan and Kessie to leave even though Pioli wanted them to stay because Maldini waited too long to renew their contracts.”
This “Maldini waited too long to renew their contract” is a false narrative form by CLUELESS people.
– Kebab Snake isn’t a very important player for Pioli. He played ONE good game and then flop for THREE match with a repeat cycle. Remember last season we won scudetto without Kebab Snake and back in 20/21 Kebab Snake got replaced by Diaz. Heck, Krunic played more consistent than Kebab Snake.
And Kebab Snake decided to left Milan because he can’t stand when Ibra scolded him for being mediocre. Maldini offered him 3.5 million /year despite his inconsistent performances. Now look at him in Inter, that he thinks won Coppa Italia and Super Italia are more important than won a Scudetto lmao.
– Yes Cashie is a very important player for Pioli. But it was him who also decided to left Milan. Maldini offered 5 million + bonus just like Cashie asked. But Cashie and his agents got seduced by Xavi words despite they knew Barca in financial difficulty. Now look at how Cashie do in Barca…a benchwarmer and can’t even save Barca in Champions League lmao.
It’s crazy how there are Milan “fans” who keeps blaming Maldini and still defending Cashie and Kebab Snake.
Wrong.
I couldn’t care less for Hakan, but Pioli liked him.
Hakan never lost his place to Diaz or Krunic. Hakan was always the starter, and Diaz was playing on the wing. Krunic only played when Hakan was injured.
And we can trash Hakan all we want, but his position has been a revolving door since he left. The only player that wasn’t tried in the 10 role last season was Maignan . The same situation is happening this year.
Hakan isn’t my favorite person since he left Milan, but those are facts.
Pioli liked Hakan because he is a very versatile player. Inconsistent as hell but versatile.
At Milan, he played as a winger, #10 and a mezzala.
At Inter he played as a mezzala and in the last month or so he has been playing very well in the regista role in Brozovic absence. Main reason why Inter got out of their UCL group.
Pioli liked Kebab Snake but he never claim the Snake as irreplaceable player in his formation.
And yes Kebab Snake did lost his place to Diaz or Krunic. You need to rewatch all matches from season 20/21 again. Go watch when he played one good match and then flop in the next three match. Rinse and repeat.
Also lol at Kebab Snake as “versatile player” :))
20-21 Serie A season
Hakan – 4 goals 10 assists in 2627 minutes, 33 games all starts, missed 5 games because of Covid and injury
Brahim Diaz – 4 goals 4 assists in 1228 minutes
Rade Krunic – 1 goal, no asists in 705 minutes.
“Hakan was always the starter,”
Yes. Did he deserve the spot? H*** NO! He was ALWAYS in the starting 11 even though he played 5 TRULY AWFUL matches in a row.
That’s not the point @bb.
It doesn’t matter if we think that Hakan deserved the starting spot or not. As i said Pioli liked him.
Most of us on countless occasions have said that Krunic shouldn’t play especially in the past, but Pioli likes him.
The other person said he lost his spot to Diaz and Krunic, facts say that’s not true. Not that he just didn’t lose the spot but he played almost 700 minutes more than both of them combined.
Can’t neglect facts just to make ourselves feel better.
The guy is so upset and hurt by those guys leaving that he can’t even use Gigio, Hakan and Kessie’s names
Hakan was shy and inconsistent. The only reason Pioli kept playing him was because we didn’t have a decent player to replace him in the starting 11. Kessie was way more important to Milan than inconsistent Hakan. Maldini is not to blame for players who wanted to leave. He has to work within the budget because he has to get approval from the owners.
“Maldini let 2 players very important for Pioli’s system, Hakan and Kessie to leave even though Pioli wanted them to stay because Maldini waited too long to renew their contracts.”
BS! Maldini let Calha leave because he was disrupting the morale and wanted way more he’s worth. Calha leaving was the key factor to Milan’s scudetto.
Napoli summer Mercato:
– Khvicha Kvaratskhelia €10 mil
– Mathias Oliveira €15 mil
– Min Jae Kim €18 mil
– Giacomo Raspadori €5 mil loan fee
-Giovanni Simeone €3 mil loan fee
– Tanguy Ndombdle 1 mil loan fee.
Do the math and look what a sporting director can do with 50 mil budget
Kvara and those players are not yet give a single trophy for Napoli but this boy already hailed them like they are Scudetto and Champions League winner lmao.
Seriously, go support Napoli if you don’t like what you see in Milan. But don’t cry if Napoli didn’t win a single trophy at the end of this season.
It’s already well established that you don’t have the capacity to put emotions and feelings to the side and analyze a situation based on reason and logic.
They can tell you the sun is round and yellow, they can take you outside and show you the sun is round and yellow, but you will still say no the sun has a shape of the number 3 and its red and black.
There is a saying ,
A wise man learns from the mistakes of others.
A smart man learns from his own mistakes.
A fool never learns.
Guess in which category Maldini ,the sporting director, falls after not 1 but 4 players left, and he got 0 for them back. And if he doesn’t hurry up, 2 other players are about to do the same.
It’s already well established that you’re a smartass who thinks knows more than Maldini do, when in fact you are clueless as fvck.
Now go support Napoli and never comeback in here Poli boy.
It’s crazy how a 12 years old boy thinks he can do a better job than Maldini who already brought Scudetto for Milan and won Best European Director award.
So, one of us is upset that important players, one after another, leave Milan without Milan getting any compensation back, and it looks that the current 2 most important players are about to do the same, all under sporting director Maldini. And that person is accused to be a Napoli fan.
While the other person is blaming everyone under the sun for the situation and is praising Maldini.
One of us is a Milan fan , the other is just a Maldini idolater.
Maldini can’t sell a glass of water to a thirsty man in the desert, but he is mad that the owners won’t give him bigger budget. If he has the ability to sell players he would have bigger budget.
Again, just for example, Napoli financed their whole Mercato by selling 2 players who were on expiring contracts and asked for too much to renew.
Koulibaly 40 mil to Chelsea
Fabian Ruiz 25 to PSG.
Maldini would have just let them walk for free next summer.
Its an over simplification of their transfermarket because several of those players will have to be bought next year so even if they seem as cheap they are infact much more expenssive transfers as they will have to spend cash from next summers mercato to actually buy them.
Im not saying napoli hasnt done well this summer but rest assured they have a lot of cash out on some of those loans.
Raspadori+simeone+ndombele most likely will cost them at minimum 50 mil next summer.
No one who Krava was before this season. Stop pretending not signing him was a mistake.
I’m not surprise if they are Napoli fans.
I see you still pushing this narrative that no one knew who Kvara was before this season even though Milan was after him in the summer of 2021. Rubin Kazan asked Milan for over 20 mil and Milan backed out as they did with Nikola Vlasic from CSKA Moscow. A simple google search can show you the articles and the dates when they were written.
Let me rephrase what I said. Not a single one of you bluffers even knew what Krava looked like, his age, what position he played in or his nationality before he signed, nor did any of you bullshitters claim, before a ball was kicked, that he would light up Serie A. Don’t try to act clever, as if you’re scouts or directors.
Let me rephrase what I said. Not a single one of you bluffers even knew what Krava looked like, his age, what position he played in or his nationality before he signed, nor did any of you bulls#itters claim, before a ball was kicked, that he would light up Serie A. Don’t try to act clever, as if you’re scouts or directors.
And football clubs are linked to dozens of players every year, most of those claims are nonsense.
@poli boy
It was Kaladze who reccomended Kvara to Milan, not the other around.
Now i’m gonna ask you who thinks like a genius and know more about scouting and technical directors job:
– Should Milan buy Kvara last year despite they already own Leao and Rebic, who played pretty well?
– How do you know Kvara gonna played well with Napoli when he doesn’t have a single record playing with any big Italian, EPL, La Liga, Ligue 1, or Bundesligue clubs?
– How do you know if Kvara isn’t a one season wonder? He could played well this season but could be a flop in next season.
You embarassed yourself here boy and how ironic of you calling me “didn’t have the capacity to put emotions and feelings to the side” when you’re the one who did what you claim lol.
Seriously stop acting like you know everything about scouting and technical directors job.
Ha ha ha.
The only thing worse than ignorance is arrogance combined with ignorance.
It doesn’t matter who recommended Kvara to Milan , Milan was in negotiations with his club to buy him a year earlier before he went to Napoli. He was just too expensive for Milan.
Yes, Milan should have bought Kvara to back up Leao, because Rebic was absolute trash last year.
The other questions just show you attempt to save face. How do we know that any player will perform well in serie A before they get here.? It’s not like Milan is buying ready-made stars from top clubs.
How do we know that any player is not just a 1 year wonder? It’s on the player to prove. I like CDK but how do we know that he will turn good?
Teams constantly miss in transfer markets but almost never lose 4 players worth combined well over 100 mil in 12 months. That happened under Maldini in a club in desperate need for funds. That’s a fact not me trying to be a sporting director.
Agreed with part of your statements, but to put all the blame to Maldini alone, well that’s just lazy. It’s not like he’s given all the budget in the world and not doing his job right. If you’re a director in a company, what can you do if the shareholders / owners do not accept / limit your decision?
I’m aware, as high as I admire Maldini, he’s not perfect. Maybe you forgot he became a Director just merely 4 years ago. And knowing from his playing history, the room of improvements are A LOT. And having just 4 years under his belt and yet already won a Scudetto for us (something we missed for 11 freaking years), he did a miraculous work (of course along with Masara, Piolo, and Co.)
And Napoli, thru his President, explicitly said that he wanted to ‘copy’ what Milan has done so far. Limiting the wages, not afraid to lose his best (or most expensive) players, and such. When he lost the kind of Insigne and Martens for free, of course many Napoli fans did rampage on him, to put it lightly. But now? Many of ’em eat their own words while cheering on the team & president.
“The only thing worse than ignorance is arrogance combined with ignorance.”
Yes that is you. Lol don’t tell me you didn’t look at the mirror when you post this crap?
“Yes, Milan should have bought Kvara to back up Leao, because Rebic was absolute trash last year.”
That’s an ignorant answer. Last year Rebic didn’t played much because of long injury and now he’s back and already scored 3 goals and 2 assist.
“The other questions just show you attempt to save face. How do we know that any player will perform well in serie A before they get here.? It’s not like Milan is buying ready-made stars from top clubs.”
Just say it you didn’t know the answer rather than act as if you know it all. This is you who attempt to save face after you slipped up and embarassed yourself.
This argument just show how clueless you are about scouting and technical director job. Last year, i never even see you in here posting “Milan should buy Kvara, the guy is a beast”.
You should take the L and stop acting like you know it all.
“t doesn’t matter who recommended Kvara to Milan , Milan was in negotiations with his club to buy him a year earlier before he went to Napoli. He was just too expensive for Milan.”
Too expensive? How about the truth? Ie. “not needed as Milan have that position well covered”.
I love how people use Napoli as an example to knock Maldini. Did you tools forget that Napoli refused to give into the demands of two key players, losing Insigne and Mertens on free transfers? Did you also forget the part management played in signing guys like Bennacer and Leao in the first place? Did anyone sit there thinking they’d help Milan win a scudetto? No, you didn’t. We have a salary cap because we’re failing FFP and without a new stadium, keeping key players is going to be difficult. Man United also lost Pogba on a free transfer. Many big clubs lose players on free transfers, PSG paid Mbappe almost €1 million a week to prevent him from leaving on a free transfer. If Milan get a good offer for Leao, he’ll be sold in the summer. Stop your whining. It’s not your money that you dictate what should and shouldn’t be paid to whom.
Part of human nature, the grass is always greener on the other side.
I fully agreed.
Again, this poli boy is completely clueless and really weird to see him keeps using Napoli as an example when Napoli is not yet win any trophy with their new players.
Well said.