5 Ways AC Milan Can Return to the World Football Elite

For the first time in nearly 15 years, Milan failed to get into any European competition at the end of last season by finishing outside of the top five in the Serie A standings.

For a club that most recently won the Champions League trophy eight years ago, seeing a fall from grace of this sort is both worrying and depressing.

Many factors have played into their downfall. The lack of funds to secure the top players in the world compared to other leagues, as well as the general decline of the Serie A haven't helped.

Here are five ways in which the club can return to their elite standing in Europe and leave these last few dark years behind.

Build a Smaller, Privately Owned Stadium

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After Juventus left the old Delle Alpi and Stadio Olimpico behind, the move to the privately owned Juventus Stadium was partly attributed to the club's increased revenue by around 33 percent in 2013, via CNN.

The stadium was strategically built with no more than 40,000 seats, knowing that it would always be full and could help to create a great atmosphere on a weekly basis.

This is a model that every team must try to follow in Italy. While the San Siro is one of the most historic venues in Europe, it's owned by the Milan municipality, and the Rossoneri would undoubtedly profit much more from a state-of-the-art, lesser capacity stadium.

You can count the times on your hand in a full calendar year where the stadium actually fills up, despite Milan having the highest average attendance in Serie A with around 45,000 showing up per match.

So, if Milan had a smaller venue like the Juventus Stadium, it would look jam-packed and the club would be able to receive more revenue.

Stick with Inzaghi at the Helm

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In his brief managerial career, Filippo Inzaghi has already shown that he's more than capable of leading a club in the Serie A.

While he still has plenty to learn, Inzaghi's passion and knowledge of the game have been a welcome attribute, and there isn't another person who knows better than him what it means to play for Milan. 

Switching coaches midseason often sets the team back for months. All the work that was put in has to be redone as new tactical philosophies come into play with different coaches.

Inzaghi has a clear idea. He wants to play champagne football and use as many creative players in the midfield. Unfortunately, he's rather limited with his current roster, so the blame shouldn't fall on his shoulders but on the ones of the people making the transfer decisions.

Keep Inzaghi for the long haul, as he'll only continue improving and seems to have already cultivated fine relationships with the players on the team.

Change Transfer Policy

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While this sounds like an obvious one, the simple answer isn't to just start spending cash lavishly. That's not going to happen any time soon unless a foreign investor takes over.

However, going with over-the-hill veterans on a free transfer is hardly the way to spearhead the club forward to greater heights.

Selling players like the youngster Bryan Cristante to Benfica is hardly the way to go. These players who are homegrown and know the value of the crest on the kit should be the ones representing Milan going forward.

There's a reason why Milan were able to snag a few of these free transfer players. While some of these moves work out, such as the Keisuke Honda and Jeremy Menez deals, most of the players coming in are past their peak and have little to offer to a club trying to get back to winning ways.

The most logical idea is to start fishing the players out from the youth setup, which leads us to our next point...

Put Primary Emphasis into Youth Setup

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Milan must continue investing into the "Pulcini" and the youth sides. Milan's academy has produced some of the finest talents in the history of football, but haven't really been able to breed a new generation of elite talents in the past decade or so.

Inzaghi coached the youth team last season, so he knows which players are capable of taking the next step in their careers and making a difference.

As it stands, the 16-year-old Hachim Mastour is by far the most promising youngster in the Rossoneri youth setup. Videos of some of his best plays constantly fetch more than a million views on YouTube, and he has already been in commercials with the likes of Neymar.

Mastour already traveled with the first team this summer in North America and has been building great experience for someone his age. His technique, flair and dynamism is one that's seen once every few years at most.

The most important step after cultivating young talent of this sort is keeping them, which leads us to our final point in the article...

Getting an Investor

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Massimo Moratti knew that the best way to keep Inter from succumbing to mid-table anonymity was finding a foreign investor who could splash the cash more freely. With Indonesian tycoon Erick Thohir coming into the mix, Moratti sold most of his shares in hopes of a revitalization.

Milan must do the same thing. It's clear that the Berlusconi family isn't able to invest like they would in the last few decades.

The market has now been inflated by plenty of foreign investors who have purchased clubs throughout Europe. We've seen clubs in the Premier League, Ligue 1 and La Liga have complete overhauls under billionaires coming from around the world.

This isn't to say that the Berlusconi family should be ousted. They've been the main reason why Milan was able to become the second most trophied side in Champions League competitions.

However, the modern day is a different story. If Silvio Berlusconi is able to sell a majority of the shares to someone who's ready to heavily invest into the project, then Milan's success could be kickstarted.