AC Milan are already beginning to outline the team that will try to go for the Scudetto again in the 2022-23 season, and there are some strategies in place.
As we have learned through our colleagues at SempreMilan.it, the first step is to find Alessio Romagnoli’s replacement and lock down the young talent Pierre Kalulu with a new deal, so as to safeguard the future of the centre-back department.
Romagnoli is now unlikely remain at Milan beyond the end of this season, because his contract is about to expire his contract and he has not found an agreement with the Rossoneri yet, who are preparing for his exit by pursuing Sven Botman of Lille.
Rewarding Kalulu
Even though Romagnoli is set to depart, there is the aim to make sure that Kalulu will commit his long-term future to the club. The 21-year-old French defender turned out to be a real revelation for Pioli who on more than one occasion complimented the Rossoneri talent scouts for having found such a pure talent.
He is still under contract until 2020 having signed a five-year deal when he joined from Lyon back in summer 2020 – his first professional contract – but the hierarchy are already working to present him with a renewal until 2027 with a pay rise from €600k net per season to €1-1.5m.
Cutting the weight
Milan also intend to downsize their biggest salaries again, something that is part of the reason for Romagnoli’s farewell given he earned €5.5m net per year at the moment which is close to €11m gross.
To this will be added a possible ‘downward adjustment’ for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who is very unlikely to stay on the €7m he will get for 2021-22 given his age and physical condition.
All of the money that is saved will be reinvested on new purchases by Elliott or on armouring their current cornerstones, to continue the virtuous cycle of the project.
