The AC Milan management are planning big moves during the summer transfer window to try and bridge the gap to city rivals Inter, and there will be outgoings to help finance it.
According to this morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Milan are planning to spend around €100m on three or four quality additions for each department ahead of next season.
How will it be financed? Not with the players who currently look likely to leave given that Olivier Giroud, Simon Kjaer and Luka Jovic would all leave because their deals have expired and therefore would only constitute savings on salaries.
In addition, is unlikely that those who are performing below expectations could help the cause. If Milan decided to sell one of Noah Okafor or Samuel Chukwueze after one season for example, it would rather be a question of avoiding a loss in the accounts.
That leaves two paths: the budget that the owners will allocate – recently the president Paolo Scaroni declared that the 2023-24 accounts, still in the plus, will be able to help – and the possible sale of a big player.
Looking at the past we can reflect on the future. Sandro Tonali’s farewell financed a good portion of the last summer window and in four months the same could happen. The candidates are no mystery: Bayern like Theo Hernandez and Mike Maignan, while Rafael Leao is in PSG’s sights.
If a big transfer window was a way of reducing the gap im sure the current gap would have been less wider than last year’s, so a big window might further widen it up, creating even more problems
You don’t know what you’re talking about, inter are better and more considering than last season and our team will most likely finish in a better top 4 position than last year in the league where we wouldn’t have qualified for the ucl if juventus didn’t get points deducted.
More consistent*
The article is talking about the gap between ac and inter, and i said the gap between the 2 teams was 2 points at the end of the season, and ac did a bigger transfer window than inter, and the gap has widened to more than 10points, so im asking why do they believe that having another bigger transfer window will reduce the gap, my point is its not all about making a very big change to the squad that improves the quality of the team, our current squad suffered massive changes recently, such that i feel it needs a smaller adjustment, and the quality will improve, i think i know what im talking about
what does next season’s summer transfer window have to do with the current points gap between inter and milan in serie a?
Do you guys even read people’s comments or the article itself. It says it right there in the beginning.
“The AC Milan management are planning big moves during the summer transfer window to try and bridge the gap to city rivals Inter”
His comment is directly related to this. he’s saying we already did a big summer transfer last year that didn’t bridge the gap so why would the next one be the same 🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
That all depends on who’s gonna be the manager by that time, and spending a lot money doesn’t necessarily mean signing 10 players.
The article is the one relating the next summer transfer window to the current points gap between inter and milan, not me, ask the guys who published the article, why argue just for the sake of arguing
You’re right. What we need is just 2 or 3 quality players. Signing too many players affects the whole team because it normally takes time for the players to gel.
Exactly the point
your point has nothing to do with what he was talking about.
Inter are better because their mercato was far more efficient than ours for more than a season. The reason: Marotta. He could dance circles around Furlani. The man is a legend in the field with a wealth of experience. The sheer number of free agents that are actually good…. Good Lord…
They also have a world class manager and a system that hasn’t changed for 7 years straight
Inzaghi is not world class. He just has a system and players that work. .
Exactly, an efficient transfer window is what is needed to improve the quality of the team, the more you explain it, the more they argue out of context
No credit is being given to Inter for having an incredible season. They’ve won 21 games out of 25 played, drawn 3 and lost only 1. They are on pace for well over 90 points! It is difficult for any team to compare itself with this.
That’s correct and that’s credit to them and their coach.
But it should be noted that aside from them, most serie A top teams are absolute garbages compared to last season or 21/22.
Look at how Napoli, Roma and Lazio used to be and look at them now.
No I’d say both Juve and Milan are better than last season, so are Atalanta, Bologna is as good as Lazio were, Roma was never good. Napoli are the only ones to drop off.
That’s why I said “most”.
Milan is definetly better than last season.
I was gonna say Juve as well, but with their recent dip, I’m starting to doubt. And they were already better than us last season.
I doubt Bologna were as good as 22/23’s Lazio. Lazio had a better team with Savic and were ranked second and had the best defense after Napoli.
Roma seemed to have gone up sinced sacking Mourinho, but remember they were used to be competitive for European spots and even UCL in 21/22 and 22/23.
Atalanta might have a case but I think the reason they’re so well ranked this season is many teams dip in form.
In fact, Roma is now charging up the table after getting rid of their drama queen park the bus dinosaur coach. De Rossi whose entire previous experience was going 3-6-8 over 17 matches with SPAL on their way to relegation from Serie B and he’s lead Roma to 6-1-1 including a very creditable Europa League round of 32 victory over Feyenoord. Roma clearly has a talented squad and they should probably be considered to be back in the race for 4th.
I disagree. The performance and number of serie a teams still competing in Europe does not suport your italian teams being garbage statement. At the end, Serie A teams may not win any of the 3 UEFA competitions, but they prove that the quality of the league is not as bad as it is being pictured.
Napoli, Roma and Lazio are rebuilding with new manager / younger players. Juve and Atalanta are back and rebuilt after a few poor seasons. Fiorentina are still there. Bologna under Motta are the surprise package and filled with interesting young players. So there are plenty of optimism for the league going forward. My only hope is that those involved in running the game in Italy would also follow suit to improve the off field quality of the league
It is a delicate moment, if the owners show willingness to invest in the squad we have some chance of keeping Theo,Mike,rafa.
If they don’t make the required investment those players may well want to leave.
Of course if we decide to sell them to “rebuild” then I think fans and players will see that this club is not focused on winning titles but more on making profit.
Inevitably that will make it harder to attract and keep good players who will view Milan as a “stepping stone”
That in turn will reduce Milan’s marketability and therefore revenues.
Madrid got to the top by buying the biggest stars and winning big trophies.
They are now the most successful club in the world both on and off the pitch
Probably Adli, Gabbia & Calabria are the only ones in the starting eleven who don’t see Milan as a stepping stone. Sad but true.
And even with that…. At some point many thought that Tonali will never leave the club and that’s he be a bandiera. Look at what happened.
If we want to avoid being seeing as a “stepping stone”, sooner or later we will have to raise the salary ceiling and also win titles.
In this day and age, you simply can’t keep good players if you can’t promise them more than 5M a year and if you consider “qualifying to the UCL” to be an objectif and a titless season to be good.
I don’t want to get into financial details, but I’ll raise the cap to 7M or even 8M per year.
I think Maignan is going to go, and given his underperformance this season, I won’t go much over 6M a year for him.
We should try as much as possible to keep Theo who seems to be happy in Milan and despite his bad start this season, has already vastly improved in goal contribution.
Given how many teams want Leao, I think keeping him will be difficult as well, but the player wants to stay we should keep him out of the market and if he wants to leave, it should be for 175M minimum.
As for the transfer, going for a striker is a logical decision, but rather than going for a big name defender, I’d rather reinforce the defensive midfield, which will be more effective and perhaps even cheaper, and finally, perhaps a right wing like Berardi or Orsolio or an offensive midfielder if we decide to keep Pulisic on the wing.
Regarding Leao, he doesn’t have that many options of where he can go. Is PSG really that appealing right now?
If Madrid were set on buying him there would be little we could do, but I think we can make a strong case that he can be more successful at Milan in the short term
I definetly think that Milan is the best team for his development at the moment. City and Real Madrid have many options for the left wing and Leao might not even be a starter, especially if he maintains that lazy attitude he sometimes has. PSG will most probably go for him after Mbappe’s departure. He can most certainly guarantee a Ligue 1 each year, but I don’t see him developping there.
Now the problem is, while you and I can make assessment on what is the best for Leao, eventually it will be his assessment, or lack thereoff that will be the deciding factor.
Sure it will be his assessment. I guess I’m saying if the club want to win trophies they could make a strong case to keep him, if they stand there with their hand out it will be a different story and he’ll leave
PSG could be really tempting to Leao. Paris has everything. Fashion, music, good connections to everywhere. And he will have no issues in finding a good studio for his rapping sessions which is probably the main thing in his life.
Is anyone actually going to pay 175m for Leao? Unless we accept less, I feel pretty safe we can keep him until at least 2026. He’s the one I’m least worried about.
How much the owners invest in the squad will only contribute so much to a player’s decision to remain. Mike is asking for 10m per year. If we signed Zirkzee or Sesko for 50m and got a proper DM, do you think he would lower his demands? I doubt it. He’s looking after himself, as he should. Simple math dictates that 10m is a sum we cannot afford to cover. Sell Mike and add his fee to the usual money plus CDK money to fund the striker, DM, replacement GK and backup LB, and keep the others. Inter sells star players every summer and I don’t see the other players clamoring to leave. In fact, they reload, go to finals and win trophies.
Taking a step back (selling one player) to take two steps forward (solving the striker, DM and backup LB issues while also replacing the departing player) is a no brainer if done properly. So that is the caveat. Let’s see what happens. Finally, and almost as import, is getting the coach right, as I think barring winning the EL, Pioli has shot his bolt at Milan.
MM16 won’t sign the extension so he should/will be sold. That should cover the missing $$$s. That’s it. Do not sell other starters and we have a decent core for the next season. And keep Giroud & Kjaer too as they’re cheap and not easily replaced.
hard pill to swallow, but Mike is probably the easiest to replace. easiest or cheapest.
Yep it’s the position, not him 😂
I think Milan could find a 23/24 version of Mike no problem but finding a 21/22 version of Mike will be hard
We don’t need a 21/22 Mike. As long as their better than 23/24 Mike. So a 22/23 Mike? Lol.
The couple of extra points he would bring in over a GK the style of Vicario or Di Gregorio is not worth not getting the 60m he can bring in, which would allow us to spend in other areas, take the overall average quality of the squad up. Look at Inter. They sold Onana and brought in Sommer. People laughed. They’re not laughing now.
Anyone remember SuperSeba Rossi? He was a good goalkeeper, but by no means was he world class. Just good. He set records. Why? Because the 10 players in front of him were top notch. You can have Buffon, but if the 10 players in front of you are a 4th place quality team you’re not going to win anything.
Well said. Especially about Rossi. I appreciated and liked the guy but honestly he was “just above average” yet still set records and is regarded almost as a legend. At least in the sense that his name is well known.
Agreed.
We shouldn’t renew a GK at 8mil a year. Sends the wrong message. Mike definitely deserves more money but not under our ownership. So if I had to chose a sale, I’d be OK with Mike going before Leao, Theo.
The flip side of this argument is that we don’t know what our salary cap is. How much will Theo get renewed to? Or Mike if he does get renewed? 7mil for stars? Will anyone make more than Rafa?
Big gap to bridge! There aren’t many of our starting eleven get into Inter’s team at the moment, maybe none…
If they plyed for Inzaghi would use most players to the best of their abilities, theo, reijnders, tomori, thiaw, ruben, isma, giroud and maybe even leao would all play well consistently if they were starters for inter milan.
Like Hakan in the past ?
Deschamps doesn’t seem to consider Giroud to be inferior to Thuram.
also Milan and Inter have vastly different systems so I don’t think comparing player by player is a good thing.
I love watching Mike on our goal but probably most people would agree that if we have to sacrifice one star of the team it would be the goalkeeper! Of course, it all depends on the amount of the offer and his personal choice. I think, Leao would be harder to replace because there aren’t a lot of players like that on the market. Lately, he has been resented by the lack of goals, but a lot of actions that end in scoring start with him. Hernandez needs to get a higher salary and stay in Milan for the rest of his career !
Looking at the present performance of Mike, he should be the one to be sacrificed. We can get another quality goalkeeper for a cheaper price.
Lmao, they will spend no more than 20M.
This is ALL speculation. If last summer is a blueprint, then our Merato for the most part will be self sustained. Injection of maybe 40mil and proceeds from sales.
The other question is whether there will be a coaching change, and what requests wuold a new coach have?
Even if that is all, we would have enough. 30-40m as we’ve had in the past plus 30-40m from selling CDK, Saelemaekers and probably Colombo. That’s 60-80m. This is enough for the striker and DM that are the minimum requirements this summer.
We need new tactics and a striker
Bologna’s Motta and Zirkzee. That’s all
Different management would be a start.
Same every year, a few months into the new season and the squad is ravaged with injuries…