AC Milan have certainly invested plenty of money since RedBird Capital took over, but at the moment they have very little to show for it.
As Corriere dello Sport write, since 2021-22 – the year they won their 19th Scudetto – Milan have gradually scaled back their goals, seeing their historic rivals win every season (except for the Supercoppa Italiana in January 2025) and overly celebrating milestones like top four.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
This year will be no exception: no trophies won, Inter (or, if miracles happen, Napoli) with the Scudetto on their chest and smiles among the Rossoneri ranks merely for a top-four finish. Admittedly it is very much needed, for sporting prestige and the revenues it would bring.
Cardinale’s story to date
This decline began with the arrival of Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Capital fund and, more generally, with the arrival of the new post-Elliott management. The first year, with Paolo Maldini still at the helm, saw the Diavolo in the Champions League semi-finals.
Then, the Milan legend was fired, and with him sporting director Ricky Massara also packed his bags. A new era began: CEO Giorgio Furlani saw his powers increase even on the sporting front, assisted by former scout Geoffrey Moncada, who was promoted to technical director.
Milan, aided by the big sale of Sandro Tonali, made a number of acquisitions, but were eliminated in the Champions League group stage, exited in the Europa League quarter-finals against Roma, and finished second in the league behind Inter, who won the Scudetto in the derby.
The arrival of Zlatan Ibrahimovic as the ownership’s Senior Advisor doesn’t help. On the contrary, last season, the Swede’s technical decisions and those of the rest of the management condemned Milan to a resounding eighth-place finish.
Lastly, the current season has seen the arrivals of Igli Tare and Massimiliano Allegri in an attempt to fix the situation in a never-ending cycle. Every year, a new beginning, often (reluctantly) focusing on less than exciting choices, just like with the players.
Yet, a lot of money has been spent, totalling more than €500m in four years: €62m in 2022-23, €132m in 2023-24, €139m in 2024-25 and €170m in 2025-26. The sales of players like Tonali, Theo Hernandez, Malick Thiaw and Tijjani Reijnders helped generate a total of €315m in revenue.
It’s clear that, for the foreseeable future, Milan need to qualify for the Champions League, and Allegri will work towards this. This summer, smart decisions will be needed and, above all, unity of purpose among the management.
The club went backwards since Redbird took over. Most of the things they are boasting about have already been setup by Gazidis, and we are seeing the benefits of his work.
They’re new to the sport. This is to be expected.
Wait, you had two movie/TV stars buy what was basically a Sunday league team who are now in the Championship League and aiming for the EPL. They admitted they knew nothing about football. They were smart at marketing and investing but made sure to appoint football people to actually run the team. ACM may have been better off with them as owners… LOL
That’s his only excuse coz he knows it’s true too. Just doesn’t wanna admit lols.
New to the sport what???
They didn’t spent they wasted.
We can only agree that they increased the revenue. Milan was on 200 million per year.
But their ambition is positive balance sheet. Thats why they collected 300 from sales. Basically Red Bird owners invested probably very small amount of theirs money in to the club.
Dont forget Milan have a big debt in the past. So they must balanced the sheets
Elliott paid their debts. RedBird bought Milan with a clean slate.
Sudah saatnya MILAN MERESET ULANG DARI KEPEMILIKAN SAMPAI DENGAN MANAJEMEN TERENDAH. MILAN MESTI DI JUAL KEPADA PENGUSAHA YANG MENGERTI SEPAKBOLA, AMBISIUS DALAM MENJUARAI SCUDETTO,JUARA LIGA CHAMPIONS,PIALA SUPER EROPA DAN PIALA ANTAR DUNIA. CARI PEMILIK MILAN SEPERTI SILVIO BERLUSCONI. KASIHAN PELATIH SEKELAS ALLEGRI HANYA DISEDIAKAN PEMAIN BERKUALITAS KELAS III DAN TIDAK BERBOBOT UNTUK MENJADI SEORANG PEMAIN SANG JUARA. LEBIH BAIK ALLEGRI TERIMA PINANGAN UNTUK MELATIH TIMNAS ITALIA.
End of the day owners also see this as an investment assets for profitability and future gains. Of course they wants positive balance sheets. Have they wasted funds and not been efficient and effective? Of course.
But let’s not forget the banter era a decade ago….
Yes, and Redbird had nothing to do with that. It was Elliot fund. Redbird took over after Milan won the Scudetto. Somehow it was possible to win a title and play CL semi finals? And then they fired Maldini and let bankers run the club…
this is going nowhere under this ownership. until they sell, it will be fight for top 4 and first round exit in CL.
And yet Milan still out sell everyone else in Serie A for ticket sales except for maybe Inter. The ownership doesn’t deserve the fanbase of Milan.
Half a billion for one insignificant trophy ? What a bunch o amateurs whiteout any management skills and vision…😆😆
People have been fired for way less. Why not at Milan?
Careful… a certain ‘uberhulk’ will jump on u hahaha
Miracle maignan resigned!
Yes, the facts are that a lot of money has been wasted on signings. You can’t go for players that might work out. Lets be honest, Pulisic was bought as a back-up for Chuck. I think the only truely good buy was TJ. Oh, and Jimenez and Chuck are looking pretty good in the EPL.
So actually milan only spent 185m ? 503m its big for italian club level but its not for mid table EPL clubs. Hehe…
Still can’t imagine we want from three amazing years 2020-2023 and whe won a scudetto made the UcL semis and had some amazing signings under our belt and then those bozos blight Milan and fired maldini and ruined everything
The problem isn’t that Milan isn’t spending. It’s that they are spending very poorly, without a clear plan of what this team is supposed to look moving forward. There’s no clear organization of roles, there’s no power structure. So we get Furlani talking to Busardo on Nkunku, Tare salivating over Jashari and whoever else pulled the trigger on Ricci…
So we end up with a team full of holes, mediocre players and players that aren’t even being used… “Always winning is boring” is rich coming from an owner who hasn’t actually won anything…
In the end it’s not just looking at the balance sheet. When you sell a player for big bucks how wisely do you spend that money? I don’t think ACM has spent their profits from selling players wisely.
when Milan poor (in debt) mngmt relies in Maldini w/ impossible target + financial limitation
when Milan had $, foolani fired MnM, promote moncada & suddently they spend lot budget for mediocre overprice players,
cardinale maybe doesn’t know anything about football but foolani & moncada know how to get $ (not 4 Milan off course) 40m Nkunku? even Arabs wont spend that for player like him
Maldini
Actually only spent 185m ?