Having stabilised after the Chinese ownership of 2017-18, AC Milan are hoping to move into phase two of their project under Elliott Management.
As MilanNews writes, qualification for the Champions League was the first major objective for Milan and there is a clear change in the club’s fortunes when looking at the pre and post-lockdown era. A fantastic second place finish followed last season and it has reignited a lot of interest among the fan base after some difficult years, but the ownership and management know that things are far from complete.
Elliott Management through CEO Ivan Gazidis and the trusted leadership including Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara have faced up to the problems that the club have had to battle and have continued with their own strategy.
A new phase of the technical project begun a year ago, as during October 2020 Milan had the youngest team in the top five European leagues, then Simon Kjaer and Zlatan Ibrahimovic arrived to mark the beginning of phase two, i.e. the insertion of experience pieces within the very young group.
Olivier Giroud has arrived already and, shortly, Alessndro Florenzi should too, an experienced duo given that the former is 34 years old and the latter 30. The objectives are clear, but perhaps more complicated than last year, given that expectations have now been created for Pioli’s team: a Champions League place must be confirmed.
Once the next season is over, the club will have the burden of choosing what to do: either to delay for another season or to start aiming high and for the biggest trophies.
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With the current team we cannot aim very high for the moment. We have a modest UCL team with decent chances of making another top 4 in the next domestic season. Given the transfer budget, I think Maldini managed a 6.5 transfer window. The third striker and a quality replacement for Calhanoglu will not come this summer. All in all, the team seems to be improved compared to last season. Which is OK given that Inter seemingly is weaker and Juventus is roughly the same
Mercato is a 2/10. Lost Donna and Calha for free which could have gotten us anywhere from combined 60-80m, sold Hauge for cheap, 2 year loan for Diaz with cheap buyback for Madrid, no prime striker (Giroud is great but still older), no prime RW, no prime AM, we are not holding a promising youth player in Pobega (loaned again…) just to bring in more french children and our team has literally improved none… if anything we’re a little worse off without calha (although I didn’t like him) and Gigio (Maignan will be similar quality but won’t have the immediate connection with the defense yet). Also we still have Conti, Krunic, Leao, and Samu… so yeah 2/10.
I agree on that. Milan still need some signings in the attack. CF, AMF AND RW. Milan’s team is worse than last year.
Well, the transfer window should be judged by the available funds. Given the current economic situation worldwide (covid19) and the club’s financial books, bringing in quality players was virtually impossible. Yes, the management made a costly mistake in the case of Donnarumma and Calhanoglu. This is on Maldini. On the other hand, both players gave assurance they will renew. That said, we should not make the same mistake with Romagnoli and Kessie. Imho, Romagnoli should have already been transferred (swop deal or sell). Given its link to Raiola it is clear he will not renew. As far as it goes with Kessie, this looks like a new Donnaruma-esque saga.