It feels as if we've been talking about this topic for years. As the team declined since the sales of both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva, many Milan fans feel the club hasn't reinvested from the return. As a business major, you learn a lot about finance and economics among other things. For the sake of staying on topic, I'll select the terms "investment" and "ROI" which means return on investment. Stay with me on this.
In July of 2012, Milan sold both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Thiago Silva to the wealthy French club, Paris Saint-Germain for €20 mil and €42 mil respectively. Simple addition here. €62mil. That can really help a team rebuild for the present and future. Prior to selling both of these stars, Milan finished the season second in the league behind Scudetto champion Juventus. The top 6 in the Serie A table :
1. Juventus- 84 pts
2. Milan- 80 pts
3. Udinese- 64 pts
4. Lazio- 62 pts
5. Napoli- 61 pts
6. Inter- 58 pts.......Yes, Milan were 19 pts better than Napoli and 22 better than Inter.
It's quite clear this team didn't slip after winning the Scudetto the year before. Ibrahimovic led Italy in scoring with 28 goals to his name and Silva was and still is, the world's best central defender. The club was in a poor financial state, which is a large reason why both players were sold. Milan needed to cut the deficit and these players would retrieve the largest return to help them do that. However, Milan still had some core players in tact with some young talent on the come up, which was a positive.
Milan did lose several key, yet aging players from the decade in Inzaghi, Nesta, Gattuso, Zambrotta, Van Bommel and Clarence Seedorf the same summer. We all knew the day would come when our older players would set off into the sunset but this actually stamped the end of an era. The players Milan added after losing several key performers that summer included (w/ fee):
Bakaye Traore- free Cristian Zapata- loan
Riccardo Montolivo- free Giampaolo Pazzini- €7mil+ Antonio CassanoGabriel- €500,000 M'Baye Niang- undisclosed
Francesco Acerbi- €4mil Bojan Krkic- loan
Kevin Constant- loan Nigel De Jong- €5mil
As you can see, this isn't nearly enough to replace two of the world's elite players. Montolivo, De Jong, Zapata and Pazzini have been solid players for Milan. However, Niang, Constant, Bojan and Acerbi contributed little.
Last January, Milan sold Alexandre Pato to Brazilian side Corinthians for a fee around €15mil. Milan then acquired Mario Balotelli from Manchester City for around €22mil. Even after acquiring a premier talent like Balotelli, Milan, mathematically speaking, still had nearly €35mil left to spend on adding players but it has never occurred.
A team in Italy that did reinvest from selling off a big time talent was Napoli when they sold Edinson Cavani to PSG for around €60mil last summer. Napoli spent no time bolstering their squad as they added Dries Mertens, Gonzalo Higuain, Jose Callejon, Pepe Reina and Raul Albiol. Their ROI has resulted in them currently holding a Champions League spot while Milan sit in 10th. Imagine the position Napoli would be in if they didn't reinvest? Hmmm....
As Milan fans, we all understand the club is undergoing construction and transition is the current phase. However, Galliani and Berlusconi really need to give Clarence Seedorf the funds to go out and field a winning side again. This summer is one of the more significant windows in club history. Free transfers, short-term loans and minor additions won't bring Milan out of the depths of Italy. We saw first-hand what Napoli has done with their funds from a summer sale. It's Milan's turn to do the same this summer. Return the favor Galliani and Berlusconi.
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