Pato Interest in Inter Sees Milan Fall Behind Rivals

During all the controversy over oriundi and the misdiagnosis of Claudio Marchisio that has blanketed the headlines over the past week, a very curious piece of news managed to pass mostly beneath the radar—despite its implications for one of Italy's biggest clubs.

It came from the mouth of Alexandre Pato. The former AC Milan man has been playing in Brazil for the last two-and-a-half seasons after sustained injury problems saw him marginalized by the Rossoneri and sold in 2012.

Initially he underwhelmed back in his home country. This season, however, he has taken advantage of a loan to Sao Paulo and rediscovered the form that made many predict he would be one of his country's next star strikers at the tender age of 18. That resurgence has prompted talk of a return to Europe, and the 25-year-old gave a surprising hint at a possible destination.

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

"Inter?  They're a great team," he told Sky Sport 24 (h/t Goal.com) in an interview. "In football, one never knows."

That statement raises a somewhat startling prospect. Both Milan teams have been in the doldrums for the last two or three seasons, and many eyes have been fixed to the San Siro to see when they will be able to right themselves.

That Pato—a former Milan player and an in-form striker who, despite seeming to have been around forever, is only just entering his prime—would openly mention the Rossoneri's crosstown rivals as a possible landing spot says a lot about which of those teams is likely to return to form first.

Pato is not the only player with whom Inter has been linked recently. Manchester City star Yaya Toure has been linked to the Nerazzurri by several sources, including Sky Sports last month. La Gazzetta dello Sport reported (h/t Football Italia) that the team was preparing a package of players to swap with Torino for highly regarded fullback Matteo Darmian. Britain's Metro has put Mancini's men in the mix for Palermo phenom Paulo Dybala.

Milan isn't getting connected to players anywhere close to that caliber. It's becoming clear that they are losing ground to their bitter rivals in the race to get back to what they were.

Look at the differences between the two clubs, and the reason why becomes readily apparent. Inter is making all the right decisions, Milan all the wrong ones.

In the midst of a difficult time financially for all Italian clubs, Inter have for the most part spent their money. They have bought young players like Mauro Icardi, Mateo Kovacic and Xherdan Shaqiri. All these players are major parts of the long-term plan that could be bolstered by more signings and become a truly dangerous team.

On the contrast, in recent years Milan's money has gone for the likes of Michael Essien and Fernando Torres. Exciting young players like Bryan Cristante, Riccardo Saponara and Suso have sat totally unused while players like Essien, Daniele Bonera and Sulley Muntari paper over the cracks that they could have filled.

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

It's no wonder that the last two men to occupy Milan's manager's chair have been rookies with no first-team coaching experience. There is absolutely no plan, and more pedigreed coaches—like Roberto Mancini, who returned to Inter after Walter Mazzarri was sacked earlier this season—would rather look elsewhere than take the blame for the failure of a subpar roster.

The engine behind Inter's attempt to climb back to the top is Erick Thohir, a young, aggressive owner who isn't shy about throwing money around to make the team better.  

It was likely a sign of things to come when they beat out Juventus—the titan of the weak Italian financial market thanks to the revenue generated from their palatial new stadium—for Shaqiri's signature. If they supplement that with a big mercato in the summer, they could well find themselves fighting for a place in the top three next year.

Milan's ownership, by contrast, is stodgy and unimaginative. The holding company that owns the team, Fininvest, cut the team off from the rest of the Berlusconi family holdings five years ago, and the subsequent financial crunch has seen top-rate players leave and mediocre ones take their place.

Milan has released plans for a new stadium that would be located in the Portello district of Milan. It's a major starting point in working out a plan back to greatness, but the rest needs to follow. So far that hasn't happened—and it may not until the Berlusconi family finally relinquishes control of the team.

Until a concrete rebuilding plan that embraces talented youth and sound spending is put into place soon, Milan faces the ultimate nightmare scenario: banishment to mid-table for the foreseeable future while their mortal rivals from the blue part of town climb their way back to the top—alone.