The Italian media is following the usual pattern of AC Milan coverage before a big game, and sadly we do not mean considered analysis nor tactical breakdowns.
Milan’s upcoming Derby della Madonnina clash against Inter is their biggest match of the season for multiple reasons. Firstly, it is the return derby and the chance to maintain a good recent run against the city rivals. Secondly, it is last chance saloon in the Scudetto race.
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Thirdly, it will be the most-watched game all season from a television perspective, viewed all over the world too. Finally, there are valuable points at stake in the Champions League race too, which remains the Rossoneri’s main objective.
Yet, as the countdown to Sunday’s game at La Scala del Calcio continues, the usual media campaign to try and create a storm around Milan has once again begun brewing. This time, they have taken a multi-pronged approach.
A ‘divided club’
Milan are second in the league table having finished eighth last season, one that saw two head coaches and negative headlines aplenty, ones that were warranted. Now, the Rossoneri are second, nine points clear of fifth place, and have just had a 24-game unbeaten run.
That, coupled with the fact that Milan have as many points at the same stage as Napoli – the eventual Scudetto winners – did last season, suggests the conditions for harmony, right? Well, not in the eyes of the media.
Earlier this week, Calciomercato.com spoke of ‘internal frictions’ within the Milan management. They said that above all it is Igli Tare and Giorgio Furlani who are not getting along well, because of incoming operations.
“The length of the negotiations for Ardon Jashari and the sum spent to acquire him from Club Brugge (almost €40m with bonuses), as well as the sums spent on Christopher Nkunku and Pervis Estupinan, were not particularly appreciated by Furlani,” it was stated.
The report went on to add that Tare’s future will be assessed at the end of the season, given the ‘differences he has had with some of the management’ in recent months. Furlani – who apparently negotiated the Jean-Philippe Mateta deal on his own – recently ‘renewed’ until 2028. His position is strong.
Tuttosport then gave their take on things on Wednesday morning, stating that there is a sense of ‘a divided club’ at Milan at the moment, with differing views on the mercato and general management of the sporting side.
They also cited tensions between Tare and Furlani, who seem to be stepping on each others’ toes when it comes to certain operations, and completely ignoring each other for other deals. Again, we stress the ‘pinch of salt’ approach to this piece.
Allegri unhappy and on his way
What does the infighting mean? An unhappy head coach, of course. This particular report from Sportitalia director Michele Criscitiello actually precedes the articles above, but sews the seeds for what is an apparent general climate of mistrust.
“Allegri is unhappy with many things, with the management of the Rossoneri transfer market, with the confusion that still reigns at the corporate level, with the ownership, and with the interlocutors within the club,” Criscitiello said live on the station.
“Today he is focused on achieving the top four places, that’s the minimum. He was called to bring Milan back to the Champions League, and he will do it like the great professional he is. But as of today, Massimiliano Allegri no longer has the absolute conviction to continue with Milan.
“That is unless he receives certain confirmation and reassurances. Also because, from what I understand, the relationship with Ibrahimovic and Furlani, the two key players, is not as solid as it could have been a few months ago.”
Now, it is natural that a coach might want a bit more ambition and unity in the management structure above him. It is also not unusual that he might wish to meet with his superiors for clarification on the vision moving forward.
Allegri chose to address the rumours of his discontent during his pre-Cremonese press conference, insisting that there is total harmony and the desire to make his second spell at Milan a long one. Case closed, then.
Apparently not. Step forward Wednesday morning’s edition of Corriere dello Sport, who made the rather bold claim that Florentino Perez is looking for a new head coach and that a third attempt to hire Allegri was being evaluated.
The president of Los Blancos apparently wanted Jurgen Klopp, but it doesn’t seem as though the German is willing to leave his Red Bull role. So, naturally, he would turn to a manager who is experienced and with a winning CV, but not exactly known for champagne football.
With the management crumbling and the head coach about to leave after a year and land at Real Madrid, that’s surely everything that the newspapers have to go at to try cast a shadow.
Uncertainty over stars
Sadly, that’s not the case. There have been a lot of headlines surrounding Christian Pulisic too, which is perhaps obvious given that he is a huge name in his own right, and has become one of the leaders at Milan as well as one of the best players in Serie A.
After playing through discomfort and putting up excellent numbers in the first part of the campaign, Pulisic has had a bit of a slowdown in recent weeks. He doesn’t have a goal or assist in 2026, that much is true, but he has hardly played every minute. In fact, he hasn’t even played every game.
Pulisic remains Milan’s talisman, and yet a rough patch of form is enough for the vultures to circle with their pens talking about the uncertainty of his future.
The American’s contract will have to be addressed given its 2027 expiry (plus option for another year), yet the idea that this is the moment he secures a big move away seems comical.
Meanwhile, Wednesday morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport claim that Leao penning an extension with Milan until 2030, with his current deadline being 2028. Happy days, right?
Well, the paper spoke of the need to ‘fend off interest’ from the Premier League and Saudi Arabia. Then, the reliable Matteo Moretto said: “Milan would certainly like to extend the player’s contract by the end of the season, and then decide in June what to do and what options to pursue.” A rich renewal to be followed by an instant sale. Sounds productive.
The André saga
The story of the week has without a doubt been the chaos surrounding André, the teenage midfielder for whom Milan agreed a deal worth €17m in the past few days. Before the start of the week, his name hadn’t even been linked once.
The Corinthians’ president is trying to block things at the last minute because he wants more money out of the sale. The Rossoneri hierarchy are apparently evaluating legal action through FIFA as a result, because they claim that the relevant documents were already signed.
At this point, it seems that Milan have three options: to stand firm on things and potentially go to FIFA, to walk away entirely over the handling of the situation, or to raise their offer and get the green light.
A legal battle while the directors fall out, the coach wants out and the big names ponder their future too. With conditions like these, it’s suffice to say that Milan stand no chance in the derby against Inter.
Thanks for calling out the BS!
I will say however that I understand the frustration with the moment spent on incoming transfers.
And they’re another reminder of how many utterly pointless transfers Milan has been involved in over the last 20 (yes 20) years.
They spent all that money on Estupiñán when they already had Bartesaghi. And make no mistake it’s largely down to luck that Bartesaghi got his break. Had Estupiñán performed at anywhere close to his level or not been suspended, had Bartesaghi made any mistakes in his first few games, Bartesaghi would’ve joined the thousands of former Milan youth players (the cream of their generations) stuck in the lower leagues.
And Nkunku is basically the same as Okafor (the pointless signing from a few seasons back then managed to nip in with a key more key goals mostly coming off the bench ). Those players are basically the same level.
Of the literal thousands of transfers Milan have been involved in in the last 20 years there’s been (what?) 50 signings that moved the dial?
This summer the two signings that moved the dial were Modric and Rabiot. They raised the level of the rest of the team and got existing players to perform at a higher level (the magic of good quality signings).
Most of the thousands of signings basically involved endlessly swapping out players of basically the same quality with the added bonus of destabilising the whole squad and ensuring nobody reached their level.
But still the crowd called out for more.
Just curious, who are all of these super talented Italian youth players that just haven’t been given the chance? It’s more likely that Italy just is not producing great talents anymore, which is why they have not qualified for the last 2 World Cups and may miss a third.
Just curious as to why you think Italy suddenly stopped producing talented footballers around 2006?
And even still Italy won the Euros with a squad that had 4 former youth players.
It’s these meaningless quality standards that people use to rate players like some kind of modelling competition.
The ability of a player at this level is mostly determined by how they’re developed, trained and played.
Thus the exact same squads can suddenly transform under different managers.
See what Allegri has done for yet another example.
“They spent all that money on Estupiñán when they already had Bartesaghi”
You do realize that Bartesaghi was then the only LB right ?
You do realize NOT purchasing another LB means that if Bartesaghi was injured (like now) or suspended we won’t have a replacement right ?
Wow passionate defence of the back up LB there!
That really gets the dial turned up around here. Criticising the transfer market….
First Estupiñán was signed as a first choice LB because:
a) the club forced out Theo; and
b) the club didn’t believe in Bartesaghi.
Now had it been me I’d have kept Theo and slowly introduced Bartesaghi.
Does that solve the problem for you???
Same issue across the squad for 20 years.
Theo is so crap no one in whole of EUROPE wanted him but go on tell everyone how great he is
You’ve just called a Scudetto winning player “crap”.
You’re a disgrace.
As for what other clubs want or don’t want, that’s the nature of the transfer market. There’s no logic.
No Mr. hair Theo disgraced himself. If you cannot admit that then it becomes complicated to take anything else.ypubsay as more that personal fantasy.
If Théo stayed Bartesaghi would probably never started. The reason Bartesaghi became the main LB is because Estupiñán was so bad.
With Théo leaving we NEEDED 2 LBs, not just rely on the youth and hope he never gets suspended or gets a yellow.
As for for signing Estupiñán as a first choice LB: it doesn’t matter, in the end he became second choice.
In football sometimes the player you sign as first choice stays as such and sometimes a backup breaks into the starting XI.
Keep defending transfers!
I’d be on with Theo keeping Bartesaghi out of the first team because he was a world class player.
The club went through 6 x RBs (Calabria, Kalulu, Florenzi, Terraciano, Walker, and Emerson Royal) last season and 2 x LBs (Theo and Jiminez).
Keep defending and trying to rationalise this farce.
Ricci has been a great squad player for us. Good signing. Also Italian so helps the roster quotas.
Jashari continues to prove he has a very high ceiling. Good signing.
De Winter may now be the best of a solid crop of defenders and he still has room to grow as well.
C’mon man. It’s not like you are outright wrong, but the utter lack of nuance take you from analysis to chicken little.
We are in second. We have the same number of points Napoli did at this time last year. All this with Pulisic injured. All this with Leao injured and trying to adapt to a new position.
Maybe we can forgive the sins of the past?
Honestly Mr. Hair …. The reason Italian kids don’t develop is obvious. They make one mistake and nobody ever will forgive them. They are done. (like when I spilled the gnocchi on my nana’s carpet). You cannot seem to accept the mistakes and let them go.
Mistakes are the opportunity to learn. We learned. We are better and we can get better. Get back on the bus, we are heading to UCL.
The Italian National Team is made up of people afraid to make a mistake. Go watch any game this last 12 months. We do not play with the freedom necessary to express the talent in our roster b/c of fear.
Champions are not set above because they love to win. Champions are forged through their hatred of failure.
That is a far far far different thing than a fear of failure.
Italy instills a fear of failure. Until this changes, there will be no party in the World Cup, UCL, etc.
(All that and for the love of all that is holy, please start dropping cards for simulation at every possible chance, let’s create a fear of getting caught play-acting)
25 m for Ricci, for Serie A financial standards, just to be a bench squad player is just of a bad signing as Chukwueze, Musah and Nkunku.
It doesn’t look like they learn from their mistakes.
25m for a starter is the standard Italian tax.
I don’t for a f’ck about “roster quotas” which clearly aren’t working.
I like Ricci but he’s not going to reach his potential at Milan so I fear the club has ruined another player.
Ricci should’ve stayed at Torino like Berardi stayed at Sassuolo.
Milan should not be in a position where it needs to waste money on back up midfield signings. Milan have forced out multiple midfielders (both youth and non-youth).
For example Locatelli, Pobega, Cristante and Brescianini all play for clubs around them in the table.
Signings should be focused on raising the first team not fiddling around the edges in some misguided notion of DEPTH.
yeah people should listen to you, 15 year old raging online, clearly you know best you play FIFA online afterall
How does that address anything I’ve said?
(But people do get angry when I criticise the transfer market)
The nuance is in a balanced transfer strategy like they have in Spain and Germany.
The squad is 2nd largely down to Modric and Rabiot lifting the players who were already there.
Most of the starting 11 this season were already at
Milan. They were at Milan (or on loan) when Milan finished 8th. Suddenly those exact same players have taken Milan to 2nd.
That’s what a world class manger and world class signings do.
Unless a transfer is going to materially improve the squad they shouldn’t bother.
PS The squad could’ve be closer to 1st if Theo was bombing up the left.
This comment is so delusional. The fact that Theo is not there is the biggest reason for the team getting better results than last season. As if him making a few great runs every 5 or 6 matches makes up for zero defensive effort the entire season. Him being gone instantly makes the defense much better and his toxic attitude was a cancer in the locker room.
Yes you are right 👍👍👍, I don’t know why Milan both management and coach are disarrangement the team will
Bartesaghi had 4 games for us last year, starting with him as the undisputed starter this season was not even reasonable to think, getting Estupinan for 17 million was not some crazy wild idea.
Wait, didn’t you the other day said we should use the transfer market to move players on if they are injured?? Hypocrite’s Heir strikes again
I guess Maldini Hair is just a shadow of Maldini. This is why Italy are barely qualifying g for major tournaments or Not. The moment you protected the Italian players in Serie A it is when you started the decline. This is like going from free market to Socialism.
I remember the time when Serie A was what EPL is today, Italians that deserved playing they did and we loved them, cause they had class and they earned their place. Now you have quota and yes you do have possibly more Italians but the results tell you everything.
I would say remove quotas and start seeing the rebirth of Italian football. Yes maybe you will have less Italians filtering through, but those who do would be Maldini and not Maldini Hairs… Fake cheap copies, entitled and protected, wannabe something instead of being genuine and having the identity
Just seeing the words “Allegri Leaving” put a smile on my face, even if unfortunately it probably won’t happen. What other team would take Allegri at this point?
Real Madrid have actually made a move for Allegri. Allegri is a great coach, after an utterly abysmal season I’d rather have him steady the ship with boring football than miss out on another season of Champions League football because people want to see us play like Atalanta and ship 60 goals a season.
Hah! You actually believe that? Teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona would never play this type of ugly, anti-football, regardless of the results the football being played on the pitch actually matters to them.
I would sign a second main coach. Allegri will lead us against strong teams. And the second coach leads us in all-in-brute-force-mode against the opponents from the bottom half of the table. Haha.
It’s Marotta creating such new before the Milan derby, such dirty tricks, Milan will stand firm and beat Inter‼️ Forza Milan‼️
Love the irony! Beautiful article.
And a big F U to to Italian (Inter) media.
What about this article is ”lousy” journalism? Criticizing Italian media is ”lousy” journalism all of a sudden? What are you on about?
Allegri might very well be on his way to Real Madrid, same thing that happened to Capello with Berlusconi and “boring” football after winning 4 league titles, going invincible, winning the champions league title by the biggest margin in Champions League history with a 4-0 Victory over Cruyff and Romario’s Barcelona without Baresi, Costacurta or Van Basten, and conceding only 11 goals for the entire season but only scoring 36,and then came Fatih Terim and horrible seasons followed till Carlo steadied the ship.
Finally, an article worth reading that is not player ratings. Thank you.
If our team will lose, i hope cardinale sees that he has to invest more money in his, and more important to my/our team, than ill see if its worthy to spend so much time in the milansti cloud…time is too short to spend time for such useless stress… I have enough problems these days🤣🫰🏽🫰🏽😁❤️🖤
I don’t think Allegri would go to Real. No coach in sane would train those spoiled superstar influencers. They will eat Allegri alive by publicly humiliating and refusing to follow his orders.
Sure, pen pusher banker Furlani has issues with a director that has moved on players and made some good signings and similarly Allegri must be furious with a board that gave him Rabiot and Modric and have been trying for two Allegri targets – Gatti and Vlahovic. I don’t think Cardinal is so stupid as to break up a winning team.
What about lying that Furlani signed those players? Is everyone done with this? Furlani signed the bad players and Tare signed the good ones? 🤣
Youth first, then transfer where needed. That is my belief.