AC Milan’s disastrous league season is inarguable, with a very realistic possibility that they finish in the mid-table region of ninth place.
MilanNews write that if you add that to a failed Champions League campaign from January onwards, it is clear that this time it will really be necessary to examine the mistakes made, regardless of whether the Coppa Italia is lifted next month.
Money spent, but spent badly
One of the biggest faults that the management is the spending in the transfer window. The problem is not the amount of money spent – budget has been available – but rather how it has been invested by the directors.
In the must recent summer Milan paid out €13m for Alvaro Morata, €15m for Emerson Royal, €18m for Strahinja Pavlovic, €20m for Youssouf Fofana, €5m for Alex Jimenez and €1.5m for the loan of Tammy Abraham.
The winter window came around, and the mistakes were admitted. Morata left, Emerson was on the sidelines (due to injury) but was also in advanced talks to be sold, and a new batch of players arrived to back the new coach (another error they aimed to fix, after hiring Paulo Fonseca).
The spending was as follows: €32m for Santiago Gimenez, €10m for Warren Bondo, €5.5m for the loan of Joao Felix and €1m for the loan of Riccardo Sottil . Doing a quick calculation the total expense is €121m.
The result on the field? Out of the Champions League at the hands of Feyenoord, with no chance of qualifying for the next edition, and perhaps the Coppa Italia to add to the Supercoppa Italiana.
Philosophy and management
This must not be a satisfactory result for a club like Milan. They spent €121m in a season and did not get a Champions League spot, let alone never being in the running for the Scudetto. This is a serious fact and it must make the leadership reconsider their philosophy.
Milan have gone from winning the Scudetto, from the semi-final of the Champions League, from second place last year, to this disaster. Either they must change the way of doing things or they need to change the management, to have different people with different ideas.
The hiring of a strong and competent sporting director feels crucial: it is not possible that a club aiming for the top can do without them. This is the first move and it should have already been closed a month ago because time is money, and too much of both has been spent.
Maldini was fired for De Ketelaere ? Okkkk….🤔🤔
*250 millions
Exactly! Don’t let the media push this narrative. Last season wasn’t a success. We finished second but 19 points behind Inter and exited the CL in the first round after spending around 120 million on random signings, most of whom are on the bench and on their way out. I don’t want to get into the players we let go. This season, another 120 million down the drain. You can’t just throw money without a plan in mind. Ownership and management need to be held accountable.
To compare, under Maldini and Massara (and Boban), we had a stable coach, a clear system/starting eleven, qualified for Europa League, then qualified for the CL, then won the Scudetto, and in their final season we finished fourth, 20 points off Napoli, and reached the CL semis, despite spending only 50 million and losing Romagnoli and Kessie.
It is enough to read names and understand what the problem is. Boban and Maldini, players with most character in history of football on one side. And then you have Furlani and Ibrahimovic who sign Fonseca because he is “a coach, not a manager”. Time to get rid of these fools.
where’s this clowns management buzzers? hiding in their cave?
let me guess, soon will be news about how bad Origi transfer as counter, that only left cz they can’t used CDK as an excuse anymore
It is irrelevant how much is spent. Inter gets 1-2 first team players for 0. Every season. Milan is saving 500k in wages m. Like the cheapest club on the planet, thrift shop club. Maybe open a dollar store instead of the Milan fan shop? The problem is the idiotic US way of managing sports. Cardinale said he will change Milan, I guess he making a mid tier club is that change…
Haha and people in these threads have nerve to call out Maldini’s transfers.
Only 121m wasted? LOL, it’s More like 250m to be frank.