The week of the Napoli game is very emblematic in many ways for AC Milan, because they are a club which have everything that the Rossoneri do not.
La Gazzetta dello Sport point out how Napoli have a traditional structure, an owner who acts in first person and a chain of command centred around a strong coach: Antonio Conte. Milan, on the other hand, said ‘no, thanks’ to that coach a summer ago and its owner is a fund.
RedBird Capital invested €170m in December to refinance the loan with Elliott and reduce the capital quota to €489m, thus changing the club’s horizons. The new loan deadline is July 2028, the date by which Gerry Cardinale’s fund will have to return the sum obtained in 2022 with 7% interest.
In total, therefore, RedBird owes €610m to the old owner of Milan and now faces a very complex moment, with a restructuring of the management on the horizon.
A new sporting director will be chosen presumably in April, a new coach will be identified in the coming weeks, a revolutionary market expected for the summer. The last year, in terms of results on the field, has been dark, with logical negative consequences on the budget.
For the 2024-25 budget, Milan expect a small profit or a small loss, but the game is already being played in 2025-26, when the club will not have the revenue from the Club World Cup (for which Milan have not qualified) and the Champions League ( barring any sensational surprises, they will not qualify).
It is the worst possible scenario. The Europa League, which is still to be won, would have a much lower impact: little more than a consolation prize. RedBird therefore risks running into the first budget deficit of its management: Milan closed at €6.1m in 2022-23, the first profit since 2006, and a year later declared a profit of €4.1m.
The numbers are very different with Elliott, which invested more on the market to achieve a complex turnaround, the recovery from the Li Yonghong disaster to the championship: €-155.9m in 2018-19, €-194.6m in 2019-20, €-96.4m in 2020-21, €-66.5m in 2021-22.
The turnaround was clear. RedBird declared an initial investment of €600m and added €170m for refinancing and €55m in two instalments for the stadium. On the market, until January 2025, it never spent more than €20m plus bonuses for a player, unlike what Elliott did (€38.4m for Paquetá, €35m for Piatek).
In 2023, RedBird spent €20.5m for Reijnders, €20.8m for Pulisic, €19m for Loftus-Cheek, €21.2m for Musah, €21.1m for Chukwueze and €15.5m for Okafor. Last summer they added Morata, Pavlovic, Fofana and Emerson Royal for a sum not far from €65m in total and in January they spent over €30m in Santiago Gimenez, with Walker, Joao Felix, Bondo and Sottil also joining.
The next few months will therefore be decisive in defining the success of this Milan era: after a negative year, a radical change is necessary. It will not be easy. RedBird wants to complete, together with Inter, the purchase of the San Siro area by July, to then start the construction project of the new stadium.
It is an investment that, in the medium term, will require great efforts from the owners. In the same months, the CEO Giorgio Furlani will choose a sporting director to lead the new course, in an evolving situation, without a clear favourite.
Soon, a decision will also arrive on the coach, who will change, and on the players: there is a good chance that a good part of the core of the team will change. A clear picture: all the possible changes, all together. They say it is 2025, it is year zero.
RedBird played couple pf rounds of roulette.
1) round was sacking Maldini and never bringing new sporting director
2) Round was hiring incompetent persons like Furlani Ibrahimovic + 2 very cheap coaches.
3) round of roulette was, when they decided not to bring Italians to the club, and investment in complete flops for up to 20 million which their data showed that they are opportunity on the market.
4) round was goal to achieve 4th position and to push for top serie a position
It is fine to Red Bird finance first deficit budget, it was their, at last goal to fight for position number 4. They catch 8th position. So they are barely close to it….
I hope they lose every penny and Elliot bring back the A Team before selling to a proper owner
Whats the A Team?
Maldini and Massara?
You do realize that it was Elliott that wanted the “A Team” gone in the first place?
You remember Maldini crying in the media that his and Massara’s contracts were not extended? Elliott was the owner at the time.
BTW Furlani is an Elliott executive.
And don’t be so sure that the new “proper owner” will want to bring Maldini back. No owner wants a director who is losing the teams best players for nothing and than cries in the media for more money while talking bad about the owner.
Also, there is a difference between the club losing money from the owner losing money.
If Milan misses on UCL, they’ll just spend less to make up the revenue from the UCL or even sell some players.
You are so wrong is and you speak with such confidence what the heck. Alteast fact check before you start japping. Maldini and Massara was still here far in to Redbirds first season. We wouldn’t be in this situation if not for Maldini and Massara. We would still be in banter era. Maldini fighting for what the club needs is exactly what we are missing right now. We have only yes men who will not do anything special, they wont fight for us fans. They don’t care about milan like maldini and us. Maldini didn’t lose a player for free, ELLIOTS salary gap did. Lets be real here. If a played demand 10 m and you are only allowed to give 4 by the owners, its not your fault lol. Why are you fighting against the club? why do you not want them to spend? are you working for Cardinale to spread propaganda?
Thank you
2 seasons. That’s all it took them to tear down foundations. Cannot wait for summer to see what these narcissistic m0r0ns will cook now after it all fell apart🍿
It’s fair to say they try to make a miracle in winter mercato and from first point of view it was good. Zlatan do good job this one time. But generally it’s mess in club and this time it will be really importent how they finish season and also how our management react in summer.. if they buy again some nonsense 18 years players for 7m€ and will think next year we will fight for top 4 without real power they are totally out of mind
Everyone can make a bad decisions, that’s okey we all are human. But it’s shame we need another ” revolution ” in club to start from bottom . In last 10 years it is third or four revolution… Big club like Milan need to make one good mercato and not every two years… I don’t see revolution in Inter, Liverpool or Real Madrid they are long time powerful and need just 1 big summer mercato and every year fight for top 4 in CL
Sorry but making bad decision with an assets worth 1.2bn on which you have a vendor loan with 7% interest rate on top… These people are experienced Wall Street sharks with billions of dollars worth of assets in their management. You don’t make such mistakes. This is from investment point of view.
From sports and fans points of view, these clowns are incompetent of building a competitive team and flushed 250 millions down the drain for 18 players out of which 2 turned out to be an added value. That’s a statistical probability even you and I without any prior experience would achieve.
Yes I tottaly agree….inside me is still hope for better times with this owner, for now they really looks like Sport amateurs, but if we faild to qualify in next CL, it will be even more interesting watch what they will do. I think for our management is best if we finish out of top 4, because they realise how bad they are and also how much investment they need to do… if you want to play for Scudetto or even top 4, you need to invest. Otherwise you are same club like FC Torino or Udinese.. same with coach , if there was chance to play with Conte, Sarri or even Alegri, its nonsense to chose Fonseca who don’t have experience with big club and then try to safe season with Conceicao who don’t has time
Agree that finishing out of top 4 would be for the best. Sometimes you just need to learn the hard way.
Redbird brought more harm than good to AC Milan,I suspect Redbird is an hindrance of good will