5 Signs That AC Milan Are on the Path Back to the Top of Serie A
AC Milan have certainly been in the wilderness the last few years.
A gradual but clear decline in the club's fortunes finally—or hopefully—reached its nadir this past season. Filippo Inzaghi's team looked like they had a chance to qualify for Europe going into the winter break, but the second half turned into a dumpster fire.
They lost four of their first six games in 2015 and four of their last seven. In between those stretches, they also drew against teams like Chievo, Empoli and Verona that, on paper, they should have defeated, and they threw away leads in two of those games.
Since the end of the season, though, Milan have taken some positive steps. They aren't back in contention for the Scudetto just yet, but the glimmers of a real plan—what fans have been praying for for years—and a top-five finish could be in the cards if everything goes right.
What's happening that's got Milan on the upward slope? Here are five signs that they're back on track.
Mr. Bee
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After weeks of rumors and two more months of intense negotiations, Silvio Berlusconi and Thai businessman Bee Taechaubol agreed to a deal on August 2 that would see the latter buy 48 percent of the Rossoneri.
It's a monumental deal, costing Taechaubol—often called Mr. Bee—€480 million. The cash injection is badly needed. Five years ago, Berlusconi's daughter, Marina, chairperson of the family holding company Fininvest, cut off her father's plans for a spending spree in response to crosstown rivals Inter winning the treble. From a financial standpoint, the team have been a shell of what they have been since the Berlusconi era started in the 1980s.
With the cash Taechaubol's investment provides, Milan can start buying the kind of players they're used to getting. They've already splashed the cash this summer for Luiz Adriano (€9 million), Andrea Bertolacci (€20 million), Alessio Romagnoli (€25 million plus €5 million in bonuses) and Carlos Bacca (€30 million). That's €20 million more than the combined value of the disclosed sums they've paid in the last three summer windows combined.
Being able to spend on players like Bacca and Bertolacci again is a massive boon. Fans hope it's a harbinger of a climb back up the table.
The New Coach
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Since Massimiliano Allegri was fired in January 2014, Milan have been in the hands of novice coaches.
Clarence Seedorf and Pippo Inzaghi had never coached a senior side. Inzaghi was plucked from the Primavera ranks for the job last summer, while Seedorf literally retired as a player at Botafogo in Brazil in order to take the job.
After last season's disaster, it was clear these experiments with rookie coaches were going nowhere. It's one thing to make your first mistakes as a manager at a place like Ascoli or SPAL. It's entirely different to do that at AC Milan.
Now the team is in much more experienced hands. Sinisa Mihajlovic may not have been the team's first choice—that was Carlo Ancelotti—but he is a good choice. When he took over at Sampdoria in November 2013, the team was facing a relegation battle. In the end, they were comfortably mid-table, and last season, the team made the Europa League.
Miha's detractors say that last season was his first real success as a manager, and some are less than thrilled about his stint as an Inter player at the end of his career and an assistant to Roberto Mancini in his first stint in charge of the team. But in reality, he has all the tools he needs to succeed.
What he did with Samp was special, and he's shown great ability to coax the best out of young players. Luis Muriel had regressed at Udinese before arriving at the Marassi in the winter window, where he became a huge part of the team's stretch run. His greatest success story is Manolo Gabbiadini, who went from a talented kid with oodles of potential to one of the best young forwards in Italy under his tutelage.
Always intense, Mihajlovic will also instill the kind of attitude in his team that we saw from him when he was a player, and after this team all but gave up last year, it definitely needs a mental overhaul.
With an up-and-coming manager in the fold, Milan fans have reason to hope that the results coming out of the office will be more positive this season and beyond.
Alessio Romagnoli
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After a long-drawn-out saga, Alessio Romagnoli is finally a Milan player.
The team has needed an upgrade at centre-back since the summer of 2012, when the club sold Thiago Silva to Paris Saint-Germain and Alessandro Nesta moved on to MLS. Since then, the Rossoneri back line has made a mockery of Milan's great tradition of defenders that include Silva, Nesta, Paolo Maldini, Billy Costacurta and Franco Baresi.
Now, Romagnoli has finally arrived and will reportedly be given Nesta's old No. 13 shirt. That's a lot to live up to, but Romagnoli has the talent to do it.
According to WhoScored.com, Romagnoli averaged 1.7 tackles and 2.1 interceptions per match last season. He's also a good ball-player, completing 82.9 percent of his passes last year and registering two assists to go along with two goals.
He spent last year on loan with Sampdoria from Roma, and his familiarity with Mihajlovic's system is going to be a major plus this year. He's going to have to develop chemistry with the team's other defenders—in particular Rodrigo Ely, with whom he could make a young and talented pairing in the center. But after years of enduring the likes of Philippe Mexes and Daniele Bonera in the back, Milan fans finally have a defender they can build around for the future.
Carlos Bacca
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Another huge hole in this team has been at forward. Since Zlatan Ibrahimovic moved to PSG in tandem with Thiago Silva, Milan have looked for goals from Giampaolo Pazzini, Antonio Cassano, Stephan El Shaarawy, Mario Balotelli, Alessandro Matri, Fernando Torres and Mattia Destro—and none of them showed the ability to step up and lead the line consistently.
The purchase of Carlos Bacca from Sevilla has rectified much of that problem. The Colombian is a top-notch striker with high-level experience on both the international and club levels. His seven goals—including two in the final—led Sevilla to their second straight Europa League title, and he made the top five of the La Liga scoring chart with 20 strikes.
A predatory forward who has a knack for goal and good passing ability—he had 11 assists in the last two La Liga seasons—Bacca will be the consistent source of goals that Milan have been missing since Zlatan left. With consistent production up front, the team will better be able to put away games that they gave away a season ago and turn losing situations into points.
While Bacca's age (28) means that he's not a building block for the next 10 years, he will be able to set a foundation for other players to follow.
Stadium Plans
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The San Siro is a legendary place. It's the home to two of the three most successful teams in Italian history and is always the place the national team goes to for its biggest qualifying games.
It's also 89 years old. It underwent renovations in the 1950s and before the World Cup in 1990, but the venerable ground is getting outdated. Another problem is its massive capacity. It's difficult for either Milan or Inter to fill all 80,000-plus seats 19 times a year.
The good news is that Milan has taken steps to improve their situation. Last month, the team received the rights to a piece of land in the Portello district of Milan to build a new stadium.
The proposed 48,000-seat arena will be a major upgrade. In the first place, it will be team-owned, opening up revenue streams that only Juventus and Sassuolo currently enjoy. They will also be able to provide advances in fan comfort and safety that the nearly century-old San Siro makes difficult.
There have been some road blocks since the announcement; those will be discussed in this column in greater detail later in the week. But for now, the mere fact that the team's front office, which has so often been accused of being stuck in the past, is making a forward-looking move to bring Milan into the modern age in terms of infrastructure is one of the most encouraging signs for Milan's future.
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