Free Substack bonus: What Cardinale must understand amid imminent Bartesaghi offers

Davide Bartesaghi’s breakthrough with AC Milan hasn’t gone unnoticed by anyone. Read our bonus article on the left-back below, now available for free after initially being published over on our Substack, SempreMilan Insider. 

Who would have thought? A Bartesaghi brace?! I guess a lot of us saw a good performance coming, given his positive and confident start to the season, but two assists rather than two goals would have sounded a lot more realistic. Nevertheless, his success got me thinking about RedBird and Milan’s transfer strategy.

I know, it’s pretty sad to almost immediately think about Milan’s transfer strategy after such a good performance from an academy player. In fairness, I got to shower him with praise in all of my articles after the game on Sunday (on the main website). And besides, you know me! There’s always a financial element you can tie things back to, and in this case, it’s something we really need to consider.

Of course, I’m talking about Milan’s stance on capital gains. If I had to put it in short, rough and perhaps lazy terms, that stance would be something along the lines of “Register capital gains whenever you can!”. There’s nuance to this, so don’t scream at me in the comments, but I can’t help but feel a tad worried about Bartesaghi’s development and the mounting interest from abroad.

What do I mean by this? Well, it’s only a matter of time before another big club comes knocking on Milan’s door, asking for information on Bartesaghi (if they haven’t already). With a full capital gain possible, since the left-back’s residual value on the accounts is zero, it will surely tempt the Rossoneri. There is one important thing RedBird must learn here, though, which I will go through.

Short Version

• Rumours are suggesting that Bartesaghi has attracted quite a lot of interest from abroad, and with potential offers coming in, Milan must realise that the left-back’s price tag could still go up. Not to mention that he’s an important player for the team, with more positive performances on the cards.
• Milan should try to avoid the ‘selling club’ label at all costs, because a) you don’t want other clubs to think that you will accept any offer for the sake of capital gains and b) it would be a violation of the academy players’ trust. Most of them dream of playing for the first team, not to be sold almost immediately.
• Based on previous comments, we certainly cannot trust the directors on whatever they will have to say about Bartesaghi. We all remember Reijnders ‘will 100% be with us’ and ‘no sacrifices are necessary’. At the end of the day, money is what matters and that is indeed a little worrying.
• As a project, Milan can only really evolve with proper big sales and, above all, great contributions on the pitch. In simple terms, this means you can’t sell your stars or promising players when the first opportunity to do so comes along. You have to be patient, trusting your players and the process.

Quality (and price tag) could increase

Starting with the obvious point on the matter, while an offer in the region of €20-30m could probably arrive as things stand, what’s to say that it cannot be doubled with a little more time? €30m would be a significant capital gain that could help the club a lot, but at the same time, Milan are clearly sitting on something special here that should be fostered a bit more.

Bartesaghi will turn 20 later this month, so he remains very young, and we have to remember that this is only his first proper season with the first team. In 2024-25, he spent most of his time with the Futuro team and while the sole purpose of that team is to develop players, it doesn’t mean you should sell them immediately. Again, there could potentially be a lot more upside to this.

Another thing to consider is that Bartesaghi has already broken into the starting eleven at Milan, so it’s not like he’s just getting a little bit of playing time here and there. Instead, he has become a very important player for the team – as evidenced by the brace against Sassuolo – and a potential €30m capital gain thus has to be weighed against the impact he has on the team.

After all, a capital gain from a transfer is a one-off, while securing Champions League qualification a) results in a lot more revenue and b) usually has a snowball effect on upcoming seasons. This is why so many have pointed at the Sandro Tonali case despite the hefty capital gain of around €50m. Side note, this is perhaps the first season since his exit that we feel the midfield has recovered.

‘Selling club’ label to avoid

In addition to the potential financial upside of keeping the player, which in this case feels probable, Milan also have to consider what signals a sale would send. RedBird have made it pretty clear in recent years that any offers resulting in capital gains will be seriously evaluated, often accepted even, and that has surely made its mark already on the transfer market.

The Tijjani Reijnders exit perhaps isn’t the best example, as Milan were actually under a bit of pressure to accept given the lack of Champions League, but many thought at the time that they didn’t get as much money as they deserved. Again, it’s probably not the best example as Man City knew the Rossoneri’s desperation, but the inclination to sell could have the same effect in the future.

I know it’s been said before, many times by myself even, but we have all yearned for the days when Milan don’t have issues with selling their players. For years and years, they were forced to accept cut-price deals simply because of bad negotiating. Now, it finally feels like the Rossoneri have reached a good position and we certainly don’t want to spoil that with a bad precedent.

This discussion doesn’t just apply to interested clubs either. We also have to think about what a ‘selling club’ label does to the players. Most of the youngsters who come through the academy have dreamt about playing for the first team since they were very young, often with parents who support the club too. So when you get there, like Bartesaghi, I can’t imagine that the first thing on your mind is leaving.

In that sense, a club like Milan – with so much history and prestige – should NEVER pressure their starlets to leave the club earlier than they want to. Of course, if we are talking about a player who barely gets playing time and struggles to perform, then that’s a different situation. But with someone like Bartesaghi, pushing him out the door for a capital gain would be absolutely shameful.

I understand doing it several years into the first-team tenure, when the player in question is a little bit older and perhaps want to try a new experience as well, but that’s then. Basically admitting to the entire academy that they will be sold for financial profit at the first opportunity once they reach the first team (or maybe even before that!) would be an incredible own-goal.

I also think that Milan’s somewhat lacking academy output in recent years plays a part here. Correct me if I’m wrong (I probably am), but I can’t really remember an academy product with consistent starts since the time of Patrick Cutrone. Obviously, that is excluding players like Matteo Gabbia, who spent a lot of time out on loan. It just makes it all a bit more special.

No more easy way out…

So, where do Milan stand with RedBird? I have to admit that I’m a little bit worried, as mentioned earlier, since Gerry Cardinale and his team have proven time after time that making a profit (or at the very least breaking even) is the most important thing at the end of a season. Foolishly accepting a good offer because it looks good in the moment, as such, cannot be ruled out.

I’m not saying that such a capital gain wouldn’t help the club at all, because it definitely would, but you will never evolve as a club if you always take the easy way out. There needs to be some sort of long-term vision involved, not just to collect more money down the line but also to help the team perform as best as possible (by keeping the stars a little longer).

Again, Reijnders might not be the best example given the Champions League exit (and subsequent need for money), but Giorgio Furlani and Geoffrey Moncada grossly contradicted themselves. Come to think of it, you could argue that it’s the best example as Milan showed their true colours. Anyway, the directors both said that the Dutchman would remain as no major sacrifices were needed.

Could big players leave now?

“I would focus on what we need to strengthen ourselves, because there have also been mistakes in the squad planning. The way we are managed, sacrifices will not be necessary,” Furlani said before the game against Monza in May.

Where will Reijnders’ future be?

“100% with us, he is already in the biggest club in the world at Milan. He changed countries, from AZ to Milan, and he is already at a top level. We are very happy with him,” Moncada said before the game against Udinese in April.

Maybe it was just a sales tactic, who knows, but the point is that we cannot trust what the Milan directors say. Ultimately, it all comes down to money and that is exactly what worries me a little with the Bartesaghi situation. It’s easy to say that you want to keep all of your star players and make the team as competitive as possible, but actually doing that when you’re so money-focused is a different story.

Cardinale has to realise the importance of keeping the players for a little longer, not just to build value but also to foster a good relationship with the fans. We all understand that a massive offer has to be accepted, 9 times out of 10 anyway, because that’s how the football ecosystem works currently. But then that means the offer really has to be massive, and not just “good for a player of his age/quality right now”.

For a guy who likes to paint himself as ambitious, both with words and action, you would expect Cardinale to eventually realise the above (if the “Cardinale devi vendere” chant hasn’t already done the trick). He simply needs to stop pushing for what looks good in the moment, especially since he has made it clear through various people that he wants to stay for the long haul. So act accordingly, Gerry!

I also expect Igli Tare and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who understand these situations a lot better, to intervene and, in the Swede’s case, consult the ownership so that the right decision is made. We have already seen it a little bit with Francesco Camarda and it should apply to Bartesaghi as well. Then again, I’m not entirely comfortable with trusting the management to make the right decision…

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