AuthorJeffEyesRimmer Over the past several seasons, three in fact, a behemoth of a European football has been missing from the Champions League – AC Milan. It has been a great shame that AC Milan have not been in the premier competition in Europe, especially for someone who grew up during the 1990s watching some of the legends of the game play for the Rossoneri. Players like Paolo Maldini, Clarence Seedorf, George Weah and Filippo Inzaghi. The club is the fourth most successful club in the world, with 18 officially recognised UEFA and FIFA titles and so seeing this great club going through hard times has been quite sad. AC Milan’s last title victory came six years ago and since then they have dropped substantially with their final league positions being 2nd, 3rd, 8th, 10th, 7th and then finally 6th this season. When they last won the Champions League back in 2007 they were five UCL cups ahead of Barcelona and only two behind Real Madrid in terms of competition wins. How times have changed. They are now five behind Real and Barcelona is only two behind Milan. The second most successful club in Europe could easily lose that crown.
So what happened to the club and why do I think we will see them back in the big time in the near future? Well first let’s look at into the reasons behind the decline. It’s actually not difficult to identify the main issues that have troubled the club over the past six years and it comes down to three major factors:
Milan has always been slightly hamstrung by the fact that they rent their ground but with Silvio Berlusconi they had a financial backer willing to prop up the club. However, revenue dropped year on year from 2013 and with Berlusconi hopping on the financial fair play (FFP) train the club could not compete with the muscle from England and Spain. Basically the Italian club could not keep pace with those leagues new found wealth without being hit by the FFP penalties and so could not afford a lot of the top players anymore. Additionally, their big rivals Juventus during this time had built their own ground and reaped the rewards that it brought – 4x domestic titles in a row. The squad that last won the Serie A title in 2011 consisted of players like Andrea Pirlo who was 32, Christian Abbiati and Gennaro Gattuso who were both 33, Massimo Ambrosini and Mark van Bommel who were 34, Alessandro Nesta and Clarence Seedorf both 35 and Pippo Inzaghi who was 37! Of those players only Pirlo left at the end of that season. Then in 2012 players like Nesta, Inzaghi, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thaigo Silva left club. These players were either not replaced or money was squandered on poor buys like Maxi Lopez or Alessandro Matri, big money failures both. The planning for the future of the club was not done and no youth players were brought in to replace the ageing squad. This coupled with the club culture of the ‘quick fix’ variety and numerous players past their best were brought in to provide an instant fix to the problems. Players like Ronaldinho, Kaka (a second time), David Beckham on loan, Michael Essien and Fernando Torres. None had resale value and none really contributed to the team in meaningful ways. Then there was the revolving door of managers, since the sacking of Massimiliano Allegri in 2014 AC Milan has had six managers. They also relied upon former players like Inzaghi and Seedorf to try to stop the rot but to no avail, all were only given a season to try to do this too. Hardly a way to future proof or create meaningful longer term success. Now with Vincenzo Montella in charge they are hoping another ex-great player can change their fortunes. And I think this time it might work and there a couple of reasons why. I think the main reason is that Montella led AC Milan to a least some silverware last season, albeit the Supercoppa Italiana (Italy’s version of the charity shield). What it shows is that the new man in charge provides qualities that can match Juventus and while yes the victory came on penalties against the Old Lady the fact that they have beaten an all-conquering Juventus side should not be sniffed at. It can be built on. A huge factor in why I think AC Milan will be back at the big boys table very soon is the new ownership. Berlusconi accepted the position of honorary president and finally sold the club he had owned for 31 years to a Chinese private equity fund for €740 million. The club was sold to a Chinese Consortium called Rossoneri Sport Investment Lux, led by Yonghong Li, who purchased a 99.9% stake in the club. They have also publicly backed Montella stating ‘We'll have a significant budget for the next transfer window, Montella has our full endorsement’. Now often that kind of statement rings hollow but the Milan board has certainly put their money where their mouths are. Where previously the clubs transfer policy has been to purchase big name players past their best their transfer policy so far this close season has been the opposite. Milan have already purchased striker Andre Silva (FC Porto £32million), centre back Mateo Musacchio (Villarreal £15million), left back Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg £15million), defensive midfielder Frank Kessie (Atalanta Undisclosed) and striker Fabio Borini in on loan from Sunderland (ok the last one might be a bit silly). They have also confirmed that Hakan Calhanoglu has jetted into Milan to complete a £20million transfer from Bayer 04 Leverkusen. It also seems increasingly likely that promising goal keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma is now looking to remain at the San Siro. None of those players are over the age of 26. They are also players that were wanted by clubs currently in much better positions like Chelsea, Liverpool and Atletico Madrid. If Montella were to stick with the 4-3-3 formation he played last season they could have very exciting and youthful looking side: GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma - Aged 18 RB: Mattia De Sciglio - Aged 24 CB: Alessio Romagnoli - Aged 22 CB: Mateo Musacchio - Aged 26 LB: Ricardo Rodriguez - Aged 24 CM: Hakan Calhanoglu - Aged 22 CM: Giacomo Bonaventura - Aged 27 CM: Frank Kessie - Aged 21 RW: Suso - Aged 23 CF: Andre Silva - Aged 21 LW: M’Baye Niang - Aged 22 Now its highly likely that seasoned performers that are still at the club like Carlos Bacca (31 and who scored 14 goals last season), Juraj Kucka (30), Riccardo Montolivo (32), Ignazio Abate (30) and Christian Zapata (30) will still retain their places in the team but its quite the nice mix of youth and experience I think you would agree. They could be a great team to watch moving forward. Next season might be too much for a title challenge but it seems like the Rossoneri are back and I can’t wait to see how they go. |
AuthorsJust Some Fans Writing About Football. Archives
June 2018
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