It is exactly one year ago today since AC Milan hoisted the Scudetto after a 3-0 win against Sassuolo at the MAPEI Stadium, and a lot has changed in 12 months.
As Goal write, the most recent victory against Sampdoria was important for Milan for several reasons, such as the fact that it was a good response after being knocked out of the Champions League by Inter and it was a crucial three points in the quest to earn a Champions League spot.
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One year after winning the league title in Reggio Emilia the word ‘rebuild’ is circulating, with some pretty sizeable changes expected in the summer with regards to a playing squad that has mostly disappointed.
The game against on Sunday could well be decisive in qualifying for the 2023-24 Champions League while waiting for the new sentence of the Federal Court of Appeal, which could change the standings and the hierarchy among the top four.
It feels as though 12 months on from being crowned champions of Italy for a 19th time there are now more question marks than answers. Will the Rossoneri continue with Stefano Pioli on the bench? And, if so, with which players? Who will no longer be part of the squad? Will Maldini and Massara remain?
These are all questions that the management and the owners will have to answer, because despite reaching the semi-final of the Champions League after 15 years there is no ignoring the domestic disappointments since 22 May 2022.
Were they to finish fourth, the Milan team would be the first since Andrea Pirlo’s Juventus to finish below the top three in the season following their Serie A title win.
We must admit that Napoli have had an extraordinary season yet at one point Milan were clearly in second and were hanging on to their Scudetto defence. The middle to end of May was decisive last season, and the feeling is the same this year but in a far less positive way.
Rebuild? The budget is 50m again (as it seems to be every summer). You can’t rebuild with 50m. So, if there are big changes it will be at the coaching/management level, not the player level. Most of that 50m will probably be spent on a striker. Then it looks like Kamada on a free to replace Diaz (at least I hope so), and then who knows what will happen at the perennially needy position of RW.
If Maldini and Massara were good directors they would have capitalized on selling players at the right time so that the club could reinvest the money from the sales of players like Donnarumma , Calhanoglu, Kessie and Romagnoli then use that money to help rebuild the squad that way we would have had more money to use for the transfer market.
Also, it would have made more sense to buy 1-2 quality players during the summer and winter mercato that would have made the difference instead of signing 4-5 useless players.
Wasting 10m on Adli is beyond ridiculous but what’s worst is after signing Adli for 10m the season before for AM then they went ahead and spend 35m on CDK for AM who needs more time to develop into a top player.
That 10m for Adli and 35m could been tused towards getting a player that was good enough to replace Kessie and then sign Dybala on a free transfer. Also signing Muani on a free transfer would have made more sense than getting a useless Origi.
Rebic and Kjaer should have been sold last season too but Maldini kept them on for another wasteful year. Signing Messias permanently would have made sense if we turned and sold him for a higher fee.
Gabbi and Pobega should have been sold too so that they could recruit better players. A lot of this situations is really down to the poor handling of players going out and players coming in.
Not selling players at the right time is a big problem but worst is investing in the wrong players when you have a small budget.
Maldini and Massara are the real problem behind this mess that we are in today. Having a bigger budget doesn’t guarantee success as we have seen with PSG and Chelsea.
It comes down to getting the right players in and getting useless players out. That’s what Napoli Director Giuntoli did very well and the dominated Serie A to win the scudetto after a 33yr drought.
Hnmmm….so how many years have Giuntoli been in Napoli to achieve this feat ?
The point I want to make is how many directors can detect good players when they are still raw? Being able to detect good players at the Imcipient stage is not that easy. Some will come good ,some will come bad Leao was bought for 30M but look at his value now. Same goes for Hanandez, Maigna, Thiaw, Kalulu.
You can not buy certainty in football, and no magic formula. City and PSG spend tons of money and they never win any CL Thropy, perhaps City will win it this year.
I agreed if M&M made wrong decision last summer and winter Mercato, but who’s not? Let this be a lesson learnt from entire management to fix and move forward
Zion, all you said is correct only you forgot ibrahimovic that 3 people killed milan
“Rebic and Kjaer should have been sold last season too but Maldini kept them on for another wasteful year.”
LOL. Quite amusing since Kjaer has been THE best CB this season.
People need to calm down. AC Milan doesn’t have the budget of Premier League clubs. The club is on a very good trajectory improving every year for 4 years in a row now. We have arguably the best LB in the world w/ Theo; one of the best LWs in world with Leao. The 2nd best GK keeper in the world with Mike (after Courtois) and, IMHO, one of the best defensive mids in Bennacer. We have a great young base of players to build upon and continue to grow and improve the team. Getting Loftus-Cheek for RW would be a big help/improvement given the inconsistent play of Saelemakers/Messias; and getting Firmino up top (or some other good striker) is imperative with Giroud’s age. I think the 2 next biggest needs are: (1) improve RB position (Calabria too inconsistent and too slow) and (2) improve depth generally (getting another striker; and get an outside back who can play both sides and another midfielder — though I think Pobega can have a good future).
In the end, the new ownership do need to allow for a bit of a higher budget and more spending. I disagree that Maldini is the problem — he is the solution/answer. Now that we made it to semifinals of CL, we got more money; and hopefully today the final Juve point deduction news will come out and we’ll get more CL money next year — we need to invest in our future with more players in the positions I said above.
Rebuild? We’ve renewed our backline and mids with the exception of the CAM position which is still up in the air. Giroud is renewed as well as Leao most likely. So that leaves the RW and a new forward. That’s not a rebuild, thats adding to a solid base.