At this point, I assume that most of you have seen the Diego Moreira news. If not, then the quick recap is that Milan have secured the versatile wing-back for €50m plus bonuses from Strasbourg. I will leave the player profile for the bonus podcast lads, but there are a couple of interesting things to note here.
The money aspect has to be discussed first, because if you look at the total spend so far, Moreira’s arrival takes it up to a whopping €150m. And that has only been spent on three players, excluding bonuses! If several €20-30m deals were the MO of the old management, then the strategy has clearly changed.
While I never doubted Milan’s financial strength, as explained in countless bonus articles, this has gone way beyond my imagination already. Not so much because of the total spend (it was €158m last summer), but because they have done it without any sales, in a financial year without Champions League revenue.
It’s risky, and certainly puts pressure on Ruben Amorim to deliver now that he’s been given the players he wanted, but Milan needed to try something new. The other thing worth mentioning is that all of these deals have been carried out in secrecy, with the news breaking just days before completion.
Gila was the only exception, mainly because he had already been linked with the club before, but it does suggest that Cardinale is very keen on avoiding transfer sagas in the media. Perhaps that is also why he has spent so much, not wasting any time on haggling back and forth.
Opening round. Torino away. Ignazio Abate as the opposing manager. There is a recipe for disaster if I have ever seen one! The season opener certainly won’t be an easy one for Amorim and his men, but at least the win against Man Utd has given them some much-needed confidence.
In the last five years, Milan have won three of their opening games, drawing one and losing one. That sounds like an okay record, but it’s worth considering that the draw and the defeat came in the last two seasons, meaning they could go 0 for 3 as far as wins are concerned on Sunday evening.
The fact that they are facing Torino away from home doesn’t fill me with much confidence either. Adrien Rabiot and Christian Pulisic helped us win that fixture last season, but before then, the Rossoneri had only won one of their last 12 games on away soil against Il Toro (the 0-7 win in 2021).
Abate’s arrival at the club cannot be overlooked either. Milan’s former Primavera manager was sort of pushed out of the club, ignored for the Serie C gig with the Futuro, and instantly achieved success with Ternana in the same league. Then he took a further step up, leading Juve Stabia to the play-offs in Serie B.
Don’t get me wrong, his appointment is still a bit of a gamble by Torino, but he has shown a lot of promise despite being such a young coach (39 years). I think most Milan fans actually want him to do as well as possible, but it’s just typical that we are facing his side in the opening round.
Below, we have collected the most important Milan news from the last week, including our longer reads and newspaper reports.
Milan Futuro continued their pre-season with a friendly against the fellow Serie D side Oltrepò earlier today, coming away with a very impressive 6-2 win. In transfer news, Victor Eletu departed to join Pescara, while there were two operations involving goalkeepers: Leo Paul Bouyer renewed his deal, and Ilja Pantelin signed from TSC Bačka Topola.
The big news of the past few days has once again concerned the influence of the powerful agent Jorge Mendes. He is believed to have been the main orchestrator of the Diego Moreira deal and met the management at Casa Milan on Wednesday. On the table were potential targets - especially for the centre-back role - and some names that could leave.
There have been some great interviews from current squad members in recent days. Luka Modric spoke about his love for Milan and why it was easy to renew, while Samuel Chukwueze admitted he has been given a chance he must take. Goncalo Ramos discussed having ‘no doubts’ about joining, and Ardon Jashari was very positive about year two under Ruben Amorim.
Mercato round-up: Milan enquired about a Fiorentina defender but were rebuffed; Andrej Kostic has left on loan and David Odogu has departed too; an Arsenal winger remains a target; Nkunku appears to have numerous suitors; Gimenez’s move to Porto has hit a roadblock; Ricci has been offered to a side within Serie A; Milan and Juve are in talks over several names.
Our longer reads from over the past week include a look at the seven players who could be wild cards in Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system, a worried piece about why the long evaluation period may have set Milan back in the market, and an analysis on why Moreira’s versatility could make him the aspirin to various headaches.
Below, we have collected the bonus content from the last week. Remember, you can try seven days completely for free!
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