Goals for AC Milan to Focus on in 2015

With the winter break imminent, there are a few goals Milan must focus on going into the new calendar year to bring optimism back to the San Siro.

First and foremost, climbing up the Serie A table is a must. Anything outside of a top-five finish has to be seen as a colossal disappointment. A club such as the Rossoneri belongs in the Champions League, and anything else is simply not good enough.

While the Europa League has its perks for smaller teams, there's still something unsettling about seeing a team like Milan compete in it. An even more depressing point is that the side could finish this season off and miss out on it altogether.

It's a worrying scenario that needs to be corrected by Adriano Galliani and Silvio Berlusconi in the January transfer window.

There's plenty of dead weight on the roster and changes are needed. A striker who can regularly find the back of the net is needed. Don't be surprised to see the failed Fernando Torres experiment end prematurely, while Giampaolo Pazzini has been shopped around more than a counterfeit purse outside Milan's train station according to Darren Witcoop of the Daily Mirror.

Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

The first goal has to be improving the roster in the transfer window. Lately, the January transfer period has grown in popularity and has seen more and more of the kind of high-profile, lucrative moves that would normally only happen in the summer.

The upcoming window will give Milan fans a chance to see just how much the higher-ups want to get the club truly competitive. A few more pieces are needed throughout the squad if they want to make a serious push for that vaunted third place, which is good for a place in the Champions League play-offs.

Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Even if new players are brought in, pushing up the standings is still not guaranteed. Teams such as Genoa and Sampdoria have surprisingly crept into the top five, while Milan still face stiff competition from Inter, Fiorentina, Napoli and Lazio among others. 

As you can see, it's a very congested table when you take a look at the teams outside of the top two, Juventus and Roma.

Regardless of table position, Milan must overhaul their strategy next summer. Selling some of the youngsters to bring in washed-up or free-transfer players just isn't the right attitude. For example, letting Bryan Cristante leave for Benfica last summer was an inexplicable move.

Cristante was used in the first team for a while earlier this year and looked very promising coming through the ranks.

If Milan can go back to focusing on their youth and building players who understand what it means to wear the Rossoneri crest on their shirt, then a revival is possible.

Also, if you think money is the only way to fix it, just take a look at the wage bill of Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone and the massive success they achieved last season. All Milan need are shrewd investments—nothing else.