AC Milan Must Ensure There Is Never a Repeat of Mid-Table Serie A Mediocrity

Two straight seasons without Champions League football is enough. In fact, it's already too much. AC Milan cannot afford to coast any longer.

The numbers speak for themselves: a record €91.3 million loss from the past fiscal year points to not only a lack of investment but horrible planning. More and more investors are circling around the club, like vultures around a carcass, with president Silvio Berlusconi confirming on Monday interest from three different groups from China. That's on top of the main bid from Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol, whose negotiations with Berlusconi have "seemingly stalled," according to ESPN FC.

"To all these people I ask if they want to make profit for themselves due to the popularity of Milan, or if they really intend to make Milan the greatest team in the world," Berlusconi told Primocanale (h/t Football Italia).

It's clear that the 78-year-old does not have the financial power to levy a complete overhaul of the club by himself. Not anymore. Berlusconi's holding company, Fininvest, cannot carry Milan's baggage much longer.

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AC Milan fans gather in protest to spell Basta ('Enough') at the San Siro last night. pic.twitter.com/uILjA6fN52

— Soccer St. (@SoccerSt_) April 30, 2015"

Fininvest has covered all of Milan's losses over the past few years, even while shedding some of its own weight. (Fininvest had to sell a 7.8 per cent stake in broadcaster Mediaset earlier this year.) The company itself is struggling too: they posted €428.4 million losses in 2013, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Berlusconi's own political power is waning. Those weekly helicopter visits to Milanello are not enough.

Even as it is right now, Milan risk sanctions from UEFA. Financial fair play has long been an excuse for the Rossoneri to cut measures, but they are still paying a high price for mediocrity. They are not even good enough to make the competition, and yet they are posting dangerous numbers. It's an embarrassment.

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

In the event of a takeover, there are rumours that Milan could go on a spending spree, with names like Radamel Falcao, noted by Corriere dello Sport (via CalcioMercato), and former player Zlatan Ibrahimovic, according to Sky Sport Italia (h/t Football Italia), already linked to the team. But that isn't the only the answer: Milan's prospective owner would have to find a way to invest and reduce debt at the same time. More important to the actual results on the pitch are the finances, and they could not be in worse shape.

If Milan were simply struggling in the league, with a low-grade roster, then an overhaul would not be so difficult. But the club started the season with the third-highest payroll in all of Serie A—just under €100 million—leaving a lot of cleaning to do in the off-season.

If nothing changes—not the owner, not the coach, not the players—Milan could very well limp through another season. Talk of a new stadium is not enough. It's nice to see all the computer renderings, but it's almost like Gatsby's green light across the water, within view but still unattainable. It's a promise of things to come, even if it's not real yet.

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Here are the first pics of the “New AC Milan Stadium” in the Portello-Fiera Milano City area, Pavilions 1 and 2 ©ARUP pic.twitter.com/MmTheEYbx4

— AC Milan (@acmilan) February 4, 2015"

Milan cannot afford to rest on these promises. They need action now. There is a fear among the shareholders that the club is repeating history. Remember former president Giuseppe Farina? He ran Milan into bankruptcy after years of mismanagement.

"In the last few years we’ve been getting the results of Giuseppe Farina’s Milan. But that Milan had champions like Franco Baresi, Mauro Tassotti, Paolo Maldini and Filippo Galli, while in attack there was Pietro Paolo Virdis," shareholder Giuseppe Gatti reportedly told the board last month, per the club's website (via Rossoneri Blog). "On which champions are you going to rebuild this squad?”

It's an important question. Milan cannot remain a mid-table club. Not with this kind of financial burden.