Sky journalist Peppe Di Stefano believes that big changes are coming if AC Milan fail to qualify for the Champions League.
It has been a strange few weeks for Milan. Back on Easter Monday fans and the media were talking about the dream of the Scudetto, and yet two games later they are talking about the nightmare of the Europa League or the Conference League.
Four defeats in the last seven games have not only seen the title hopes die, but second place has been handed over to Napoli and now the cushion to fifth has been eroded to five points. Milan must get back on track, starting from Sunday’s game against the almost-relegated Verona.
Revolution imminent without top four
After the 3-0 collapse against Udinese, Di Stefano spoke to MilanVibes in an interview published on their website and he answered a couple of questions about the crossroads the club could face.
What will happen at the end of the season?
“If Milan do not qualify for the Champions League, it’s a total failure. And it’ll lead to a revolution. The big mistake was made years ago: you had a young team that had won the Scudetto, all you had to do was add pieces. Instead, you dismantled everything and lost your focus.
“Today, you’re constantly buying and selling, managers and coaches change. But football isn’t about finance: it’s about teamwork, continuity, and the atmosphere. Pioli’s Milan wasn’t the strongest, but it was the most united.”
How central is Allegri to the project?
“It’s crucial. Milan today is Allegri’s creation , and together with Tare he has recreated a positive environment. He’s a coach-manager – he doesn’t need protection. I hope he stays. But it’s clear he’ll demand guarantees: next year, Milan must be truly competitive. Finishing fourth isn’t enough.”
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we had noe of the best young teams in europe. enter redbird.
This annual revolution will keep resetting the successful project clock back. Patience, consistency, is needed not constant distruption
“The big mistake was made years ago: you had a young team that had won the Scudetto, all you had to do was add pieces. Instead, you dismantled everything and lost your focus.”
“Today, you’re constantly buying and selling, managers and coaches change. But football isn’t about finance: it’s about teamwork, continuity, and the atmosphere.”
This has been the problem in a nutshell. Letting of Maldini, Massara, and Tonali go was insane and unjustified. Just look at the difference in short- and long-term vision. M&M were not given a proper budget to upgrade the squad.
1. They signed CDK as an understudy and eventual replacement for Diaz (in case they couldn’t hold on Diaz). He had a tough first year (as did Tonali, Leao, Kessie before him) but eventually improved at Atalanta and won the Europa League.
2. They signed a young long-term Romagnoli replacement in Thiaw.
3. The rest was on free transfers and loans to fill gaps Origi, Vranckx, Dest. Even though they didn’t work out, not much money was wasted.
Compare that to the current management. Scudetto winning core disassembled, 350 million spent, 30 players signed, and no footballing success to show for it.
“This has been the problem in a nutshell. Letting of Maldini, Massara, and Tonali go was insane and unjustified.”
The Tonali fund was used to sign Pulisic, Reijnders and RLC so which to me wasn’t an absurd decision as it was definitely used to strengthen the squad. That was not a bad development decision.
The problem in a nutshell started a season before that when the revered M&M amaturely let the contracts of Kessie, Donnarumma and Hakan run out and they left for free, we lost a potential 140m for their exit.
The club had to sell an asset in Tonali to buy a goalkeeper and two midfielders, but M&M again instead of owning up for thier blunder wanted ownership to just roll out funds. A football club is not built that way.
Kessie remained not replaced, they sold Tonali and effectively replaced him with Reijnders while attempting to replace Kessie with RLC but that didn’t work out.
When players, especially star players refuse to renew their contracts, a vibrant and active management ought to make a decision to sell instead of waiting till the final year of the contract with no leverage whatsoever as any contract disagreement would lead to the player leaving for free.
This was the blunder of M&M but fans remain defiant to state the truth and display the ignorance of fanboys.
100% correct.
That’s what RedBird has been doing since taking over – dismantle, rebuild. Dismantle, rebuild.
“You dismantled everything”
There is one thing they did not dismantle: Leao’s employment… The one thing they SHOULD have dismantled.
Under another article I went through the changes just at striker just in the last 3 years:
1. bought, loaned out and sold Okafor;
2. loaned in Jović;
3. loaned in Abraham;
4. bought and loaned out Morata;
5. loaned out Colombo x 3 to 3 x clubs;
6. promoted Camarda before loaning him out (at the age of just 17 (so basically handing his development to another club at just 17 years old));
7. bought Giménez;
8. loaned in João Félix;
9. loaned in Nkunku;
10. loaned in Füllkrug;
11. converted Leao to a makeshift striker;
12. converted Pulisic to a makeshift striker.
That’s just in the last 3 years, and that’s just strikers.
They’ve gone through 8 x RBs in just over a year:
1. Calabria
2. Kalulu
3. Terraciano
4. Florenzi
5. Emerson Royal
6. Walker
7. Athekame
8. Saelemaekers
(9. Tomori)
In just over a year.