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It took me a little longer to get around to it this time, but welcome to the annual mercato budget article! Given the major developments on all fronts since the end of May, it was probably for the best to wait with my prediction, but now there is definitely enough information to give a semi-good answer. Even if it might not be to the liking of everyone…
Before we get to the bottom of everything, I have to admit that this is probably the most difficult ‘budget explained’ article to date. Yes, there are certainties that we can go by, such as the lack of European revenue and the fact that we made one of our main signings already in January (Santiago Gimenez), but there is also so much uncertainty. Who will leave? Who are we targeting? How will the money be distributed?
Furthermore, loads of big developments took place during the course of writing this article. Some of these have actually helped give us a better picture of the summer, so it’s not all doom and gloom, even if we remain in a very speculative territory. Speculative or not, though, I’m certain that I can give you a better understanding of what Milan can do this summer.
In any case, the easiest way for me to explain the situation in a way that makes sense is to look at the player costs we had at the start of 2024-25, what the costs are now, how the financials are looking for 2025-26 and what that means for the transfer budget. As always, I will show concrete figures and examples to guide you through it all!
Note: There is a summary at the end of the article if you’re in a rush, but I do recommend reading the entire article to get the full understanding of the situation.
What does 2024-25 tell us?
Let’s start with how the player costs looked at the start of the 2024-25 season. It might sound irrelevant, but it’s actually the opposite as we can compare these figures with the current situation. I have referenced his words in previous bonuses as well, but Milan’s Chief Financial Officer Stefano Cociri said the following after the shareholders’ meeting back in October…
“More or less, we expect a range of a small profit or a small loss in the absence of large sales like that of Tonali last year […]. In this year’s budget, we have reaching the play-offs in the Champions League,” he stated.
Milan ended up reaching the play-offs of the competition, so one would have expected them to at least be close to break-even, but the latest reports suggest the 2024-25 result – before Kalulu’s and Reijnders’ sales – was at a deficit of around €20m. I would need the official figures to understand why, but what I can say is that it won’t be the final figure for various reasons, including some transfers before the end of June.
As for the actual costs at the start of the 2024-25 season, combining the amortisation and gross wages, the players were responsible for about €176m on the accounts. The wages made up roughly €104m of that, which is perfectly reasonable – if not too low – for a big club like Milan. It was similar to Juve’s wage bill, totalling about €108m, but quite a distance from the city rivals Inter at around €141m.
Moving on to how the January window impacted the situation, it’s not hugely relevant aside from the Warren Bondo and Gimenez signings, as the others are expected to leave. In other words, while the likes of Joao Felix and Kyle Walker had a significant financial impact on the 2024-25 accounts, it won’t tell us much about the future. I would recommend reading the financial breakdown of the January window for the figures.
Finally, we also need to look at the loanees and determine who will return. Pierre Kalulu has been redeemed by Juventus and represents the only certainty, while players such as Alexis Saelemaekers, Ismael Bennacer, Yacine Adli and Noah Okafor are coming back as things stand. Milan will need to figure out what to do with these, as all of their costs will be added back in full to the accounts for 2025-26.
It sounds incredibly vague at the moment, but don’t worry, I will get to the figures and concrete examples shortly. The key thing to remember here is the €176m in player costs that Milan had at the start of 2024-25.
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