Journalist Franco Ordine has offered a reflection on AC Milan’s summer transfer window, suggesting that the purchases made were not what the club needed.
Milan made a total of seven signings for the first team, reinforcing various positions, and we took a look at the signings and the details of each in a piece after the window closed, from the contract length to the transfer fee.
What the table says is that the Rossoneri have lost three games in the league already and they currently sit 11 points off top, having been most recently beaten by a Napoli side who chose to go and get a winning coach in Antonio Conte and back him with €150m of spending.
Ordine published his weekly column for MilanNews and as part of it he looked back at the acquisitions that the management made in the mercato, outlining why they may have been wide of the mark.
“Let’s skip over the value of the Portuguese coach and instead look at the format applied by Milan. Moncada acted as sporting director (without being one) and as a market prompter,” he began.
“Emerson Royal arrived (with characteristics opposite to those requested), Pavlovic (still inexperienced as demonstrated by the push he received from Lukaku), Abraham, Morata, and Fofana, adapted to the role of breakwater that he did not play in Monaco as Fonseca himself often repeated.
“Here is the first point: Milan’s mercato has shown a superficial vision in the sales (Kalulu and Adli) and has followed a contorted line in the purchases independent of the new coach. Fonseca, without complaining, is also dealing with these ‘holes’ in the team and with a lack of substance that is the Italian rib of the team.
“By putting together only foreigners, the sense of belonging and also the sense of history of Milan is lost. Buongiorno, followed last January, before converging on the return of Gabbia (good solution) – was for example a negotiation to continue in the summer.”