Naturally, the wages were going to come down this season, but what is AC Milan’s history like with wages?
Since Milan were taken over by RedBird, there has been an extended focus on the money being spent and received. In fact, the idea that profitability and sustainability have been more important than results has often floated, too.
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Frustrations have continued to grow, and they reached a boiling point last year, when the Rossoneri struggled in the league and the Champions League, even if they won the Supercoppa Italiana and reached the final of the Coppa Italia.
The year was not good enough, and fans made the club aware of that. Of course, those frustrations always came back to the idea of priorities, with RedBird and, more specifically, Gerry Cardinale being questioned.
In the past, the mercato has been delved into heavily on our Substack, where we have provided yearly balance sheets. However, with wages a talking point at the moment again, thanks to Rafael Leao’s position and Mike Maignan’s renewal, it made sense to revisit the RedBird mould for wages.
2022-23
In this season, Milan saw the wages rise after the Scudetto season, as you would probably expect, really. However, the difference was not really too great, with the rise only being around €5.5m, taking things to a yearly net cost of €57m.
Whilst Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Alessio Romagnoli stepped down, as Calcio e Finanza recall, the increase was due to a renewal for Theo Hernandez, as well as the signing of Divock Origi – and what a signing he was (!).
The duo sat as the highest paid players that season, both on net salaries of €4m, whilst Serginho Dest took the last podium place with a wage of €3.8m. Interestingly, though, his wage had the second-highest gross cost of €7.03m per season.
Olivier Giroud and Fikayo Tomori (€3.5m), Mike Maignan (€2.8m) and Sandro Tonali (€2.8m) stand out as some of the better ‘investments’ on that list, so to speak. Whilst Ante Rebic (€3.5m) and Tiemoue Bakayoko (€2.5m) don’t look great.
Of note, Ibrahimovic taking a wage drop to €1.5m certainly helped, too. Whereas Rafael Leao, earning €1.4m, looks slightly out of the ordinary!
2023-24
After a ‘dominant’ mercato, which saw Sandro Tonali leave the club after the Rossoneri had reached the semi-final of the Champions League, the wage bill rose again in terms of net salaries, reaching €59.7 m, per Calcio e Finanza reports.
However, this came with a few big changes in the squad list, as well as a decrease in the gross total of wages.
No longer was €4m the highest salary in the squad, as Leao was given the highest contract at the club, signing his renewal that season and, in turn, taking his wage to €5m net per season – a €3.6m increase.
Then, Theo Hernandez, Ismael Bennacer, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic and Samuele Chukwueze sat below him on €4m. Of course, the latter trio all signed in that summer, funded by Tonali’s exit. A summer which has become a big talking point, since.
There were no real changes elsewhere, with things remaining quite balanced. However, there was only really one notable standout that year, Mattia Caldara (€2.2m). Arguably, a better year in terms of wages, but the squad, as a whole, looked rather interesting.
2024-25
Last year, the salaries jumped, hitting €71.9m from the previous years of around €60m net. A substantial increase, and it only made things worse considering the year that Milan had on the pitch and in the mercato, as found by Calcio e Finanza.
Leao at the top, whilst he was joined now by two January loanees, whose contracts worked out at €4.5m per year; those were Joao Felix and Tammy Abraham. Elsewhere, Tijjani Reijnders established himself as one of the best midfielders in Europe, earning a €3.5m per year renewal (which only lasted a few months).
This also saw the wage bill increase to more than €107m per year in gross salaries, something which the Growth Decree aided still, but not as heavily as before. More than €20m was added just in new signings, and that is without considering the contract of Alvaro Morata.
A poor year on the pitch, a poor year off it, with salaries more commonly in the €2-4m bracket than the €1-3m bracket, of course, barring some exceptions either side.
Importantly, this is where the club had a lot of focus on renewals for their French stars, Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez. Lasting issues that were never solved; Theo requested a deal that kept him amongst the highest paid players, something which he already was, in fairness.
Whilst the goalkeeper sought a renewal that reflected his value, given he was (and still, but more on that, earns €2.8m, which did not have him in the top 10 biggest earners last season.
The here and now
So, we reach now. Understandably, the club had to lower the wage bill with the omission of European football. A self-inflicted position, yes, but a position that they had to remove themselves from in some way.
So, the wages dropped by around €7m, taking the total to €63.9m net per season. However, the gross tally only dropped 0.6%, as Calcio e Finanza writes.
Now, the podium is shared by three players in first place, Adrien Rabiot, Christopher Nkunku and, of course, Leao, each on €5m. Luka Modric arrived with a €3.5m salary, Pervis Estupinan, Ardon Jashari and Samuele Ricci on €2.5m per year deals.
Elsewhere, other summer signings arrived for less than €2m per year, whilst Matteo Gabbia received a deserved renewal, taking his salary to €2m per season.
Maignan, still, remains outside of the top 10, despite arguably being the most important player at the club currently. However, with Milan being the ones to step away from a renewal last season, it will take a lot to even see him enter the top 10 in the future.
Renewals for Christian Pulisic and Fikayo Tomori are being discussed, whilst Alexis Saelemaekers should reach a mid-tier wage with his planned renewal. It arrives as the Diavolo are seemingly considering a new game plan, with the mercato starting to sway towards proven talents, rather than potential ones.
So, strengthening the situation of servants, rather than summer signings. It could be the way forward. RedBird, in fairness, have kept things fairly stable and remains the lowest wage bill of Italy’s top clubs, which is a promising thing.
Arguably, the squad looks better than it has in recent years, too, with more balance on the books and on the pitch. Of course, there are notable issues like the €4m salaries for Origi and Ismael Bennacer. However, that will probably change in the next year.
The landscape constantly changes, and it may change this year with renewals. We have to wait and see. However, RedBird have managed the changes well, most notably this summer, even if frustrations remain.
Per the data (net wage bill)
21-22 €51m
22-23 €57m
23-24 €60m
24-25 €72m
25-26 €64m
Maybe I missed it but our squad was too big last year, and most of us seem to believe that Tare did a job off-loading players surplus to requirements.
Further, we were able to add Rabiot, Modric, DeWinter, Nkunku who are clearly in the plans as starters or regular squad players.
We brought back a high quality Saelemakers.
We have clear investments in the future midfield with Ricci and Jashari.
I interpret this as we are spending less on wages but improved pretty drastically in quality this season.
The fact that our worst season under consideration is our highest wage bill but over 10% indicates that it is not only how much money we spend but how intelligently we spend it.
So far (not much to go by) it seems ownership learned some important lessons last year and have corrected well.
The proof will be some actions based on what was learned this year when the clown shoes aren’t as big and easy to pick out.
If we are not a learning organization we are losing to one.
It appears that, lo and behold, bringing in a real Sporting Director to buy and sell players and arrange the squad has helped!
Also: I think Origi is done as of now and won’t be receiving anything more from us going forward.