1 Player AC Milan Will Regret Not Signing in 2015 Summer Transfer Window

The summer transfer window is over, and for AC Milan, the wheeling and dealing is finally done.

The Rossoneri made a lot of acquisitions this summer, but they also had several high-profile misses. Milanisti aren't used to not getting a player when their club sets its eyes on him. Those failures are yet another sign the club still has a long way to go.

But for all the misses of players such as Jackson Martinez, Axel Witsel and Roberto Soriano, one player will eventually be thought of as the biggest of the ones who got away: Geoffrey Kondogbia.

Kondogbia was identified as a target before the transfer window even opened. In the flurry of negotiations that characterize the month between the end of the real season and the start of silly season, co-vice president and transfer chief Adriano Galliani negotiated with Monaco for the midfielder, as well as with Porto for Jackson Martinez.

It looked as though Milan had secured both of them. As Galliani later told La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t ESPN FC) the club considered the deal with Kondogbia to be sealed. Then, days later, both moves fell through. Martinez joined Atletico Madrid. What happened with Kondogbia was even worse.

Not only did the young France international spurn the Rossoneri, he went to the one club Milan fans despise more than any other: Inter.

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Kondogbia's representative, Paolo Schiavone, eventually piled on, telling fcinter1908.it (h/t Football Italia) that not only did Kondgobia choose Inter's project over Milan's but actually would have made more money had he opted for red stripes rather than blue.

Galliani recovered quickly from the dual disappointments, signing Sevilla's Carlos Bacca in place of Martinez and Andrea Bertolacci from Roma as an alternative to Kondogbia.

Still, when things are all said and done, Milan is going to regret losing out on the Frenchman.

Kondogbia is a near-complete package in midfield. He's a fantastic dribbler, an excellent passer and a superlative defender in the middle. His impressive performance in last year's Champions League, particularly in the quarterfinal tie against Juventus, drew eyes to him.

The only part of Kondogbia's game that isn't already top-notch is goalscoring. He's never scored more than one in a season, but he's young and talented enough that that aspect will develop in time. In his first two games for Inter he has already averaged two shots per game, according to WhoScored.com.

If he manages to develop as a scorer, he could move himself into the top category of complete midfielders that currently includes the likes of Arturo Vidal, Yaya Toure and Paul Pogba.

That's exactly the kind of player Milan needs right now. Their midfield is badly unbalanced. Nigel de Jong has been forced into a regista role to which he isn't suited. Three players—Keisuke Honda, Giacomo Bonaventura and Suso—are fighting for the trequartista role. Andrea Poli has yet to establish himself as a true starter, new signing Juraj Kucka's role isn't yet clear and Riccardo Montolivo isn't even playing.

Even worse, though, is what's going on with Bertolacci. Galliani's midfield prize didn't look good in preseason, but through the first two rounds of the season, he has looked even worse.

Bertolacci was always overpriced at €20 million. In a league where young Italian players often struggle to break into starting lineups, he was always going to be overpriced. The season is young, and he has plenty of room to improve, but the early indications say Bertolacci could be a high-profile—and high-priced—bust.

A player such as Kondogbia would have given Milan a spark in midfield, much the way Vidal did when he arrived at Juventus in 2011. Instead, they've settled for an unbalanced mix of players who may end up being the team's biggest weakness this year. Missing out on the man who could have changed that from the get-go is going to haunt Galliani for a long time.