This summer, AC Milan did not plan to reset. However, they did. From top to bottom and bottom to top, several changes were made.
There is something rather hypocritical about how Milan moved this summer. At the start, there were no plans to completely overhaul everything. Most, though, felt like it was needed. A complete restart and something new to build.
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Fast forward a few months, and the Rossoneri had a new sporting director, head coach, and several new starting pieces in the team.
The edge of experience
The biggest change, though, is in the market. In recent years, the idea of a ‘RedBird signing‘ has been felt heavily. Younger players who have a high resale value, and this was still the case this summer. Look at the likes of Ardon Jashari and Zachary Athekame, for example.
However, as Corriere dello Sport write, via AllMilan, there is something else added, a ‘secret ingredient’.
Milan added experience. Luka Modric, Adrien Rabiot, Pervis Estupinan, and even Christopher Nkunku. Players with experience in top leagues, often fighting for silverware, or exceeding expectations.
Even as an average, last year the Rossoneri had the fifth youngest squad, at 25.1 years old. However, this season it has risen to 26.4 from the first three games, which makes them the sixth-oldest squad. Talk about change.
Even off the pitch, it rings true. Massimiliano Allegri has ‘won everything’ in Italy, whilst Igli Tare spent 18 years with Lazio. Both have seen a lot, if not everything, that Italian football has to offer.
In recent years, there have been claims that the club, at least behind the scenes, has not been sure of Italian football; that has now changed.
Those averages don’t mean anything when there’s one extreme case skewing it upwards! Swap Modric for a 30yo and the average age goes down to 25.5.
That said, experience and leadership has been top of the list of was missing last year, but we’ve only partially addressed it.
IMO, it’s not coincidence that our most successful recent spell was when we recruited Giroud, Ibra and Kjaer into the team to add leadership that the young team missed and we’re still missing some of that in our defence.
Leadership, rather than just experience, will be the important thing for next summer, especially when Mike leaves.
I think the team missed Giroud’s leadership last year. I can imagine him confronting the antics we saw and knuckleheads from last year.