AC Milan’s policy of getting the accounts in order being prioritised over making the right investments to succeed on the field has left fans with a right to feel frustrated, according to one journalist.
Some Milan fans and pundits have become frustrated with the Rossoneri’s decision to have a low-cost January window, because plenty of them believe the team needed the reinforcements most out of the top five teams given the problems with injuries and absentees.
Instead, it is Inter and Juventus – both of whom registered losses over €200m in the last financial year – who have made the biggest moves along with a struggling Roma side, which does give the feeling that while others strengthen Milan are standing still.
The well-known journalist and Milan fan Alberto Cerruti has written and impassioned column for Calciomercato.com revealing his feelings and concerns about the path that the Milan ownership and management have chosen to go down, and how it may end up in a lack of success compared to rivals.
“Juventus signs Vlahovic, 21 years old, after three and a half seasons with Fiorentina. Inter take Gosens, 27, after four and a half seasons with Atalanta. AC Milan, on the other hand, signs Lazetic, 18, the promise of the Red Star for his Serie A debut,” he said.
“Who is right? If we look at the figures spent and the balance sheet certainly Milan, but we do not remember any carousel of fans to celebrate the balance sheets in order. The fans want to celebrate the victories and the managers should think about winning, preferably with the balance sheets in order of course.
“The goal of the Milan managers, on the other hand, is above all to reduce losses, or better still present balanced budgets, if not in surplus and then sell the club, earning a profit, to new owners.
“Thus we can understand the disappointment of the Milan fans who in these hours do not feel in second place, albeit on a par with Napoli who won at San Siro, but much further behind in the standings than those of the other teams that are strengthening to win immediately.
“Juventus, in the first place, has taken on a great striker who is not a promise, but a certainty like Van Basten was in his heyday, with a great future ahead and not behind him like Ibrahimovic or Giroud himself.
“Even if they do not finish in fourth place, Juventus with Vlahovic secured the best striker in the Italian league for the next ten years, showing that they want to get back to winning as quickly as possible.
“Inter did not fall asleep on the laurels of their Scudetto (and a half), with the addition of the Italian Super Cup, and the certainty of having reached at least the knockout stages of the Champions League, and by taking Gosens, waiting for Caicedo, they showed their will to be even stronger.
“Milan, on the other hand, continues with the policy of young players at low prices, of eternal promises that then have to gradually enter a league they do not know, with all the unknowns of the case.
“It is the politics of those who are content to participate, like Percassi’s Atalanta who have their balance sheets in place and participate in the Champions League but have never won even a Coppa Italia and since they do not have the glorious history of Milan, this deserves the applause of all.
“Even more than Atalanta, given that Gazidis is the operational representative of the Elliott fund, AC Milan’s model is the policy of Arsenal from where the Rossoneri CEO comes. Despite the beautiful new Emirates Stadium, which replaced the old Highbury – and therefore the higher revenues – Arsenal have not won a league title since 2004 and their highest European milestone was the 2006 Champions League final, which they lost to Barcelona.
“If this is the model for creating a winning team, the Rossoneri fans are right to complain. Because it will also be true that this is no longer Berlusconi’s AC Milan, but neither is Inter Moratti’s anymore.
“Yet Handanovic and his team-mates won the last Scudetto and two seasons ago they reached the Europa League final, despite playing in a stadium that does not produce wealth and also for this reason it risks being knocked down to make way for a more modern stadium, hopefully with better grass. Meanwhile, Juventus celebrates Vlahovic. While Milan have to settle for another Serbian whose name ends with ‘ic’.”
READ MORE: All bark no bite and double teaming – Tactical analysis of Milan’s draw against Juventus
So instead of investing to win, we are investing to exist. Or aim is to be Atalanta, participate in UCL and win nothing.
But considering how Arsenal did under Gazidis (did and failed miserably) and is still doing years after they chased him out. He almost destroyed the club, but they have a nice shiny stadium. We can look forward to decade or more where even qualifying for UCL is gonna be a challenge.
I feel like I’m repeating myself.
Yes we are..
Last hope is only on luck n maldini-massara intelligence..
Someday….acm may win something based on luck..repeating 98/99 season…
Of course you are. Arsenal is without Gazidis for a few years, spent a lot on new players since he left, not really winning titles or playing CL. However, they are still making the same amount as Juventus for example, so it shows the club is organized well and not dependant on those funds that much. Milan with 150M yearly revenue can’t buy 75M player. If you can’t udnerstand that there is no help for you. 😀 https://www.statista.com/statistics/1231497/revenue-of-football-clubs-in-2021/
You can’t convince this shiva person no matter what facts and statistics you throw to their face because they are brainless glory hunters who only know one think: just buy expensives players and everything will be fine lol.
But he or she used to have intelligent comments too
People are blind to money dont understand its a tool to reach goals, not a goal
No buy cheap players and don’t renew with your best players instead let them go on free. That is the way to do it. In 2 years we’ll lose players on free worth about 150 million. But I guess that is just imaginary money, not real.
Every single one of top clubs is registering X10 loses greater than ours each year, yet the sped x100 more than we are. Real, Man City, PSG, Juve, literally everyone, is investing to win, regardless of the financial situation, because winning gets you money, being mediocre, gets you chased out of a club.
Going into debt only works if someone is willing to lend you more money down the line to pay the interest of your debt. Eventually, no one will lend you the money as revenues will not justify the risk of lending the money. In such a scenario, the club would be bankrupt, go to Serie D and no longer be the club you know. It happened to the previous ownership group which is why Elliott now owns the club. It is almost happening to Inter as well where they are having a hard time finding the refinancing partners. I am just shocked that any fan would want this for their club. The difference between the other clubs you.mentiobed that are drowning in debt is that they generate far greater revenue than Milan so the risk to lenders is mitigated. I hope this helps explain how the real world works.
Dude, what the fuck, really?
Do not compare us with English teams.
Crystal Palace has more revenue than Milan or Inter, let’s make this our flag and stop complaining then…
It doesn’t work like this, when in each one of the last 5 mercatos you spend less than you were allowed due to FFP, guess what, all these goes into Elliott’s pockets instead of beeing invested.
Take for example summer of ’20. You are given 20m budget “plus sales”.
You make 35m through sales (mostly paqueta), and instead of bringing Chiesa, you decide to invest “only” 15 out of these 55m in order to “balance the papers”. This balance tho is short term, and proven, since every June they have to pay for the losses…
Bring in chiesa tho (it’s an example ofc), and the balance becomes mid-term because the revenue will level out in a little bit longer period. They do not do that so, because it’s a financial risk for them, not a non-viable strategy, and instead they spoon-feed us the “patience” fairytale.
I’m sorry, but fans are right to complain…
Gazidis raising Arsenal revenue destroyed club how?
Do you have any intelligence in you ? What exactly has Arsenal won since gazidis left?
Last three seasons Arsenal spent 400 MILLIONS AND THEY ARE STILL WEAK.
We would beat this Arsenal.
I bet in your life you are broke all the time too
Some of these milan “fans” and pundits are a complete moron 🤦♂️
Juve and Inter bought Vlahovic and Gosend and suddenly these fans and pundits acting as if Milan under Elliot / Maldini never bought Theo, Leao, Kjaer, Mike, Tomori, Saele, Tonali, Kalulu, Ibra, Giroud, Benacer, or Rebic -which some of them are clearly NOT CHEAP- but they are IMPORTANT players who pulled out Milan from the dark age by placed 2nd in the league and made through to Champions League again after absent for almost a decade!!!
So are we not learning from Yohongli big mistakes? Spent almost 200+ million euros in the transfer market and most of the players wasn’t needed?
Are we not learning from Barca financial problems that almost bankrupt them because of overpriced transfer and players with sky is the limit salary?
These act by some Milan fans & pundits are utterly disgusting and ungrateful not just against Elliot, Maldini, Pioli but also towards Milan players who fought hard for the past 2 1/2 years 🙁
Milan will be fine. Fans come and go.
There were cries after Hauge, i also wanted him to stay, but he could not prove himself even in frankfurt
Right now Milan has best project since 20 years, 2010 one was short lived.
Summer mercato will be interesting
Agree with you. Considering the strict budget policy given by Elliot. Maldini and Masara did a very good job these past years. He bought necessary player like theo, tomori, maignan, and sandro. Again, their budget is limited, but they could find a raw gem which is hard these days. We are lucky to have a scout like them.
About failure in renewal, this is a necessary sacrifice. I rather they lose player for free like gigio and hakan and earned second place last season, rather than monetized them earlier before expiring contract and then we are left with tatarusanu all season and stranded in mid table again. Now we need kessie and roman to help us maintain top four (which is the target from management) and let them leave, while we have botman and renato as their replacement hopefuly. Milan not yet a scudetto contender to this season. If they could challenge for scudetto, then those players performed beyond their capabilities, and needs a credit for that
“Fans” also tend to forget when the strategy is to field a young team to develop, time is needed. Some people just don’t have the patience to see out a strategy. They make it seem like 2nd place is a disaster, yet the club is young and sustainable. Down the line when the team matures, I expect incremental investment to be made to bring in higher profile and greater immediate impactful players.
You can’t explain a person that has no knowledge of finances. I honestly expect most commenting is done by under 16 kids that get money from their parents. So, finances are simple, you can spend all of it. 😀