MN: ‘Between ambition and reality’ – can Milan earn success sustainably

By Ben Dixon -

Questions have been rife this summer about AC Milan’s spending, or lack of it, and questions must be asked about the Rossoneri’s goals and how far they can go with the aim of being sustainable and successful. 

Whilst you can attempt to find positives from last season, it is very difficult to do in a sea of negativity, especially when you look at the two seasons before the last.

In the 2021/22 season, Milan won the Scudetto, and in the following season, the Rossoneri progressed deep into the Champions League, albeit with a very bitter ending.

The key factor in both seasons? Success. The differences between them and the last season? Several.

As Milan News writes, there is a conflict in the Diavolo’s aims – trying to balance sustainability with success. In recent years, there has been less pressure on the club to sell because of the increased revenues. However, with reduced pressure to sell, perhaps, there should be an increased level of spending.

Questions were floating about a ‘sacrifice’ leading up to the summer mercato, and whilst the need to make a sacrifice is non-existent, if it is the key to success, maybe it should be taken.

The report refers to Milan’s aims – attempting to win the Scudetto and be competitive in the Champions League – but the mercato so far does not reflect these aims. Adding Alvaro Morata to last season’s squad, might not bring the Scudetto, and it will likely not bring the Champions League.

Of course, further spending is planned, and the mercato is a difficult sea to navigate, but there is a growing need to get business concluded quickly to allow Paulo Fonseca as much time as possible with a complete squad.

There is still time until the mercato concludes, but if the Rossoneri are going to return to previous levels, their business must reflect aims to be successful and sustainable, rather than solely focusing on the sustainability of their operation.

Tags AC Milan

19 Comments

    1. The issue is, Is that there’s a massive grey area between the two extremities that Redbird present to us…one they don’t like people probing into. I mean we don’t need to spend like Madrid or PSG but we also don’t need to be the embarrassing beggers on the side of the road…Dobvyk may go to Roma for 35m…..Juve still looking at Koopmeiners…both would up our levels exponentially. The mantra will always be spend the least possible..and that’s why we’ve missed out on so many targets.

      1. For every “winning is boring” or “we compete for 4th place” there is a “we’re ambitious” or a “we think about the third star” so yeah the message is confusing but the moves made by the club are loud and clear. Fonseca for Scudetto winning coach Pioli and Morata for Giroud… Seems like the plan is only to build a stadium, focus on the 70 billion fans in the US and wait for a 16 yo kid who played 3 minutes in Serie A to eventually turn into a football great. I bet we’ll wait a long, long time before seeing the UCL semifinals again.

        1. I also find Cardinale’s terminology interesting. ‘Was want to return Milan to the world stage’…no offence ‘buddy’ we’ve been too of the world stage since the 1950s….we need to start winning again. I’ve even wondered if the lack of Italians in the side is calculated to the end that it begins about more global reach. I mean whoever is in the side the Italian Milan fans will always support The club…as far as I’m concerned and until someone can present a counter case, this club is being run solely as a business. Like you say, it’s always sideways steps, tread water, deflect the criticism with the ‘next summer’ BS….

          The only thread of hope for Cardinale is that they are looking to introduce the likes of Zeroli, Bartesaghi, Mirabelli, Camarda in 2-3 years in a class of 92 Manchester United way.

          1. Next time you watch Real Madrid play, the greatest club in sports, peep how many Spanish players they have in the squad. If everyone is healthy there is only 1 Spanish player in the starting line up and that’s their RB Carvajal. They have couple bench players that are Spanish the rest are foreign players. And yet, they are winning UCL every other year.
            This campaign by some fans for Milan to go out of their way and sign mediocre overpriced Italian players, because that’s the path to success is ridiculous.
            How many Italian players have Juventus, inter, Roma, Napoli signed so far?
            Juve signer 4 players, only 1 is Italian, the Goalkeeper. They are looking to sign at least 3 more, Koopmeiners, Todibo, Adeyemi, surprise, surprise, neither one of them is Italian. On top of that they are trying to get rid of the “great” Italian player Chiesa. the.60 million bust. The 40 million bust Locatelli is going to the bench to make room for Thuram and Douglas Luiz. Juve just like real Madrid and Milan will probably have only 1 Italian in the starting 11.
            Milan needs quality players. I don’t care if they are from italy or Mars

          2. I’m sorry 🔴⚫️…for those of us Milanista who didn’t quite hear you..could you please repeat yourself? Did you say ‘Real Madrid are the greatest club in sport’?’…not sure why the need for the superfluous second ‘s’…..

            You claim to be a Milan fan…then come onto a Milan page, and grant the moniker of ‘greatest club in sport’ to Real f@cking Madrid….why the f@ck is the matter with you….literally lost for words…you’re a disgrace to the stripes…

  1. First we started with the hope & dreams of landing Zirkzee for 40m(it would have been awesome to see him with Milan), and then we got Morata for 13m… But us fans understood because of the agents and Man U etc.
    However, was it too much to think we could get Fofana for 30m and Pavlovic for 22m?
    64m Total spend for 3 needed players whilst keeping Thiaw, Musah, Bennacer and of of course the senators Theo and Maignan.
    After commercial success was that really too much to ask? Roma who have a 100m loss this year are buying Dovbyk, Soule and la Fee. I don’t get why it’s so difficult for this management to execute deals that are afforded.

  2. I think sustainability is top priority.

    1) eventually RedBird will sell club
    2) sustainable club is more valued and in higher potential than club who loses the money
    3) long term unsustainable club is near bankruptcy and not possible to operate
    4) either club is sustainable or not there is no guarantee for success so money must be invested smart

    RedBirs is spending Ac Milan money smart and it would unexpected for them to start investing more than club can earn from success income

  3. The other faux pas is that Maldini got ejected for allegedly 1-2 bad transfers, yet if rumours are to be believed, we are looking to rebuild the midfield that we rebuilt last summer…..

    1. That point is not being talked enough about.
      Allegedly we had a successful transfer campaign last summer….so successful in fact that we’re chasing the missing piece we could and should have bought last year (as we had a 120m budget) but ppl give that a pass somehow. The reason why we’re chasing down what looks to be like a DM is that they fcked up last summer’s spree by getting quite a few players we didn’t need. But no apparently the problem was Maldini and his work (the only managerial change btw). And I really highly doubt we’re making a UCL semi anytime soon. We could get a Scudetto but the way they constantly chop key areas of the pitch, I highly doubt..

  4. Being to ambitious without thinking, or spending more money then you have is also very dangerous. Look what happened to Leeds united and Malaga? Or what happened to Bordeaux now? Barcelona is also an example of mismanaging the club economy.

    Inter went in hard and is in massive debt. Dont forget Milan was in deep deep sh*t after the Chinese ruined the club. First and most important step for Elliot and Redbird was to make Milan profitable and stable again.

    Now we can slowly build towards being a powerhouse in Europe when we have financial stability. The last piece of the puzzle is to have our own arena.

    Alot of people here scream buy buy buy, but you cant spend without having any money.

    1. – you can’t spend without having any money –
      Exactly!
      Why bothers to buy Milan in the first place??

      If you can’t afford a ferrari don’t buy it.
      Don’t complain about the car cost of fuel, the cost of maintenance, the cost of taxes, etc.

      If you can’t afford AC Milan don’t buy it.
      Talking is always easy, want this for the club, want that for the club.. it’s the “action” that matters.

      So… just put your money where your mouth is!

      1. You guys really dont know how it works nowdays do you?

        The FFP rules changed everything.

        Now you cant come in and just give billions in shareholders contributions or other forms av “loans” to the club as an owner. You cant buy the name right to the stadium for 1 000% above its market value anymore like City did, or do other forms of financial “doping”. You have to earn the money you gonna spend on your own as a club.

        Even clubs like Aston Villa who have the richest man in Egypt or Newcastle who have the Public Investment Fund as new owners, who could in theory spend billions on the club, have to sell players before they buy.

        The days of the Roman Abramovich and Silvio Berlusconis who could inject unlimited money into their clubs are over.

        Why do you think Man City use offshore accounts, pay players and coaches salaries by giving them made up jobs in their other companies, and make another 100 FFP breaches despite all their money? Cause they cant use it in the club without breaking the FFP rules.

        If Milan want to spend more on players, they need to make more money. Redbird cant just give it to them. Why do you think you see all these new events with new sponsors etc? Redbird do what they do best, they market the club and get sponsors and other things to increase revenues. Which they have done a good job with so far.

        Real Madrid can spend 10x more then Milan because they have 1 billion euros in revenues and have had insane revenues for years, because Florentino Perez is one of the best businessmen in Europe.

        Milan hope to have revenues around 430-440 million this season and they have only made small profits in the last two years. Before that they had 13 years of losses, that accumulate and limit you for a long time forward. Thats why there arent more money to spend on the mercato unless they sell.

        Still Milan do have around 80 million to spend this summer. It was suppose to be like 110-115 million but the sale of CDK wont go into the books until february 2025 because Atalanta didnt have any money to spend this year and had to be creative, and Saelsmaekers who they expected to sell for 15 mil to Bologna didnt happen. Thats like 35 mil less for the mercato and probably why they are being so cheap. They want to buy 5 players this summer (fw, dmf, cmf/omf, rb, cb) and just have 80 mil instead of the expected 115.

    2. No risk man, Milan neither is ambitious nor spends money so we’re safe. But yeah let’s build a Scudetto winning team like the exact one Milan had two years ago and let’s turn this modest and humble Italian football club with only 7 UCL into a powerhouse 🇺🇸

  5. How Roma are able to spend close to €100m on Dovbyk, Soule and Le Fee? They closed the most recent financial year with losses of €115.5m, compared to the €229.1m they lost the year before.

    And we’re here listening how we’re working with small profit, accounts are flawless, no need to sell and we’re one of fastest growing football brand.

    Oh right, there’s still plenty of time for reinforcements. Silly me🤦

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