Dusan Vlahovic joining Juventus and Robin Gosens moving to rivals Inter from another rival in Atalanta has some Milan fans restless about a lack of movement.
Instead, the Rossoneri’s most influential moves could well be for an 18-year-old striker and a young defender that will hardly make a difference between winning the Scudetto on not. However, La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Rossoneri ownership have a strategy that is equally understandable.
CEO Ivan Gazidis has often highlighted the key phrase of self-sustainability and this is the premise of any investment authorised by Elliott Management. Spending €60-70m mid-season to sign a top player would be the exact opposite of the club’s guidelines in the face of a drastically improved balance sheet, and the Paqueta and Piatek signings stand to prove that spending big in January doesn’t always bring results.
Milan’s accounts have substantially improved but they still read almost a €100m in the red. Elliott’s ultimate goal – not necessarily imminent – is to resell the club to new ownership, but in the meantime they want to make Milan as attractive to the market as possible.
A club without debts, with the balance sheet in order, and with a vital asset like the stadium, certainly boosts the chances of getting the right buyer in. Of course all of this comes hand in hand with sporting results too because they drive revenues and keep the club relevant among Europe’s elite.
A top defender will arrive in the summer, just as a centre-forward on the same level will have to arrive, but fans forget that over €70m was spent on new signings and turning loans into permanent deals over the summer.
The essential basic objective of the Rossoneri ownership is mainly to keep the virtuous circle of revenues from Champions League appearances going, because knowing that you can rely on that €50m each year is huge.
Consolidation of the accounts is the number one target of Elliott’s vision and they have already invested €560m in capital for a total of €740m when factoring in money spent on the squad. However, it must be balanced with the real risk that the American fund have no titles to show for their tenure.
Critics point at Gazidis and his time at Arsenal, noting that in his nine-year tenure the Gunners settled their accounts, increased their revenues through a new stadium and improved their balance sheets, but no league titles have arrived. Patience will be needed, but it is necessary to understand how much patience there will be.
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