As AC Milan continue to be linked with players from around Europe, it is worth bearing in mind that there are various regulations that they must adhere to with regards to the squad list.
Milan are heading into a very important summer in which they must hire the right head coach and give him the correct pieces when the transfer window opens to try and bridge the gap with Inter.
In addition to operating within certain economic constraints such as Financial Fair Play and a Settlement Agreement, the management must also keep an eye on the make-up of the squad and how much Italian/non-EU influence there is.
Rules and current situation
The current rules are clear: UEFA, in order to register a 25-man squad for their competitions, require teams to have four academy products and another four players having come through academies in that country.
There is an additional stipulation to the homegrown rule: only players who between 15 and 21 years have played for 18 months in a club within an Italian club will be considered, which is why Jan-Carlo Simic for example did not count towards.
It is worth noting that players under the age of 22 are exempt from the rules, and that’s the only way to exceed the 25-player limit. Therefore, players from the Primavera can be called upon as long as they meet the aforementioned quota.
That leads us on to how Milan’s squad looks currently and how that might impact the choices that Geoffrey Moncada and co. make in the summer transfer window.
Academy graduates
Davide Calabria
Matteo Gabbia
Tomasso Pobega
Lorenzo Colombo (returning from loan)
Daniel Maldini (returning from loan)
Home-grown players
Marco Sportiello
Alessandro Florenzi
Filippo Terracciano
As MilanNews writes, we can probably presume that Colombo and Maldini will not remain at the club and that they will leave during the summer, which means that two players are missing. Lapo Nava, Kevin Zeroli and/or Davide Bartesaghi are potential solutions to fill the gaps.
However, it is also true that both in Serie A and in the Champions League (list B) they can be registered without occupying one of the 25 slots, while we must see which players are used in the U23 team.
Looking at a player like Pobega, while there might be widespread calls among fans for him to be sold, there are cons as well as pros. He would generate a pure capital gain that could be reinvested, yet it would also shift the balance related to the quota mentioned above.
Non-EU regulations
Another aspect that will certainly have to be considered, and this year fortunately is less strict than in the past, is that which concerns the limit of new non-EU players that can be registered in the squad.
Serie A clubs will be able to register two non-EU players per year starting from the summer transfer window without the obligation of having one leave.
As a working example, Milan had four non-EU players in their squad at the end of the 2022-23 season, so they were able to register one new signing without any restrictions in summer 2023.
To register the second non-EU player then one of the existing non-EU players had to leave, with Devis Vasquez, Fikayo Tomori, Rade Krunic, Junior Messias and Marko Lazetic all candidates.
However, back in July, the Italian Football Federation (FIGC) decided that players with Swiss and British citizenship are equivalent to EU citizens in all respects, and these provisions will apply with reference to the 2023-24 season too, meaning effective immediately.
Loftus-Cheek arrived from Chelsea and only has an English passport so he took one of two non-EU slots, which previously meant a sale of a non-EU player was needed to free a slot for Samuel Chukwueze.
However, given that he is now equivalent to an EU player in the composition of squad lists, Milan got that non-EU slot back to use on a player without a European passport. It also means that Noah Okafor does not count as a non-EU player too.
The latest rule change (two new registrations with no exit requirement) means that Milan have further leeway, but even if multiple non-EU players were to leave the club in a window, the limit on new non-EU players registered remains two.
Impact on the market
It is reasonable to presume that some of the transfer business done will be geared around Milan’s position related to the quotas mentioned above.
There have been various names linked with a move to Milan that currently play domestically and are Italian such as centre-back Alessandro Buongiorno, midfielder Daniel Boloca and striker Andrea Pinamonti.
Part of the problem though, as the Rossoneri have found with players such as Buongiorno when negotiating in the past, is that Italian clubs and their owners/presidents tend to try and charge a premium on top of fair market value.
Signings like that of Terracciano in the January window are low-cost deals that help towards meeting the regulations, but at the moment there are not many concrete links to suggest Milan will be rebuilding an Italian spine like they had in the 2000s.