GdS: At least eight players could depart if Milan miss out on top four

By Oliver Fisher -

If AC Milan fail to qualify for the Champions League next season, it will cause profound reflections in view of the summer transfer window and the business done, a report claims.

As this morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara would have to take some more risks when it comes to the transfer window because of the €50-60m that would be ‘lost’ in terms of revenues.

Sales would become more important, in the hope of cashing in and boosting the funds available for subsequent signings. At the moment, there are obvious exits: Ciprian Tatarusanu, Antonio Mirante, Sergino Dest and Tiemoue Bakayoko will not stay, as their contracts/loans run out.

Aster Vranckx has a possible but not probable chance of being bought permanently, while a decision will be taken on Zlatan Ibrahimovic at the end of the campaign given he has an expiring contract.

Yacine Adli will probably leave as per the paper, while Fode Ballo-Touré has some admirers and therefore he too could leave, meaning eight players could go out of the exit door.

Tags AC Milan Antonio Mirante Aster Vranckx Ciprian Tatarusanu Fode Ballo-Toure Sergino Dest Tiemoue Bakayoko Yacine Adli Zlatan Ibrahimovic

18 Comments

      1. Yes. A better coach wouldn’t drop points against Udinese, Empoli, Bologna, Roma, Salernitana, Sassuolo and Lecce in the space of 3 months.

    1. Erm, he’s taken a team with a lower budget than Serie A rivals and no-where near the top UCL sides to a league title and European Cup semi final….. if people think he’s not done enough then I think only someone with actual superpowers would be acceptable

    2. Can you find free coach ( not in contract with other club ) that have similar salary with pioli but can bring squad win scudetto and get to semifinal CL ? If you want coach from other club then you must pay fee to that club , it is easy to comment since it is not your money but AC Milan money . To hire de zerbi example ,you need to pay brighton 13m euro ( release clause) then give him 3-4 years contract with 5m euro / season and dont forget you must pay pioli salary until his contract expire in 2025. Dont tell me you think sacked coach and you think club dont need to pay that rest of contract for coach ?

  1. All of these players should go regardless if Milan qualify for champions league or not.

    These players add no quality to the team and honestly majority of them were awful signings which was really poor choices by Milan management.

    I don’t even understand what in the world that convinced Maldini and Massara that players like Dest, Ballo-Toure, Origi and Vranckx were good options. Smh

    As for Pioli, he’s going nowhere. There’s no coach out their that’s better than him at his salary rate. It would be beyond stupid if Milan let him go.

    1. Exactly, people expect him to walk the league with Tataratsanu and Origi. Outside of the January/February collapse this is still a very high performing team.

    2. You can see the logic in each, but some of them were certainly gambles. Dest has shown big potential in the past and is on no commitment deal, Ballo-Touré is a budget backup for Hernandez (who doesn’t need much cover), Vrancx is another who showed potential and is just here as cover with an option.

      They’re just the squad players we have and need every season; hopefully we can acquire some decent replacements next season, but a lot will depend on that top 4 finish. Fortunately, the run to the semis will offset some of the financial loss from not qualifying again.

      Origi certainly looks like a mistake as he doesn’t fit into the team dynamic and work in the same way as Giroud or even Rebic… but again he’s a gamble in the hope he’d be consistent.

      CDK is looking like the biggest busy at the moment bearing in mind he’ll cost more than the others combined, but hopefully he can turn into something in future.

  2. People keep asking for Pioli to go but for who? Conte?

    pay 15m/ye, 3 times the salary for shit CL performances and similar league performances?

    if not who else? Nagelsmann? He doesnt speak Italian and also used to earn over 10m/ye, what does he guarentee? nothing

    1. I’ll take Galtier from PSG since he’ll be fired at the end of the season. He shown his quality with low budget team and Young players. I don’t he would mind a salary cut.

  3. Who else were Maldini and Massara supposed to sign with their budget? AC Milan doesn’t have connections to a sovereign wealth fund, oil money, or some Russian oligarch.

    1. Well, there’s certainly better value to be had out there and presumably they are the bosses of the scouting team too. Budget isn’t the biggest, isn’t the worst. I certainly would stick with them but this hasn’t been their finest year in terms of budget allocation. Fortunately we have the best assets apart from Leao signed up to decent lengths of contracts.

  4. IF Milan misses on top 4, who is to say that Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara are not going to depart along with these 8 players and many more?
    If we miss top 4 and analyze the situation why that happened, there is no one more responsible for that failure than those 2. Their poor work when it comes to negotiating extensions, losing our best players for free, zero sales, and even worse spending of whatever budget was available, they decimated the squad and set up Pioli and the players for failure.
    Also, outside of Adli and Ballo Toure, every other player mentioned will be leaving because his contract is up, his loan is up or he is old as dirt. No word of sales, just players leaving for free as per usual under M&M.
    Reflections should be made top to bottom.
    And even if Milan gets to the UCL final but doesn’t win it and doesn’t finish top 4, this season is a massive failure.
    We can make a big deal of getting far in UCL, but realistically, a lot of luck was involved in our draw this year that allowed us to get this far. From the pretty weak group we got with bad Chelsea team, that still smacked us, Dinamo and Leipzig, to Tottenham in round of 16, Napoli in QF, and now also trash Inter team.
    For comparison, ManCity, if they get to the finals, they had to go through PSG, Bayern, Real Madrid, and Milan/inter.
    Real Madrid already knocked out Liverpool and Chelsea this year, and last year, they had to go through PSG, Chelsea, ManCity, and Liverpool to win it all.
    No one is safe if we don’t qualify for the UCL next year.
    But there are still 8 games in serie A for Pioli and the players to save the season, and anything can happen in UCL at this stage.

  5. People are blinded by the Champions League success. The real reason Milan are in this position is Pioli; his bad management has cost us close to 20 points this season. Since January, outside the UCL, we have been absolute garbage. Dropping points to the worst teams in the league both home and away. Shocking results against Inter, Lazio and Sassuolo. The guy is a decent man manager and when everything is working, he is fine, but every season under him we’ve had a spell of a month or two where the entire team has collapsed and been terrible. Tactically, he is inept, his formations are stupid, his starting selections are stupid, and his substitutions are always late and make no sense. If we miss out on UCL football next season, Pioli needs to leave.

  6. Pioli he’s good coach but he lack consistent in time of top 4 race in the league race,and also our new management do buy good players for him,I don’t blame pioli for this issue we are facing now

  7. Cash in on Saladmaker too. 1 goal (though a great one) from your starting RW is woeful!

    And don’t give me any crap about his efforts or running.

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