A.C. Milan's Transfer Campaign Predicament

When last season came to an end, amidst another disappointing campaign from the Rossoneri, it seemed the Milan board finally realized that come the transfer season, changes had to be made. Milan fans were promised at least one world class signing along with a number of "lesser" signings who would be brought in as replacements for many of the old guard who were expected to leave.

So far, however, Milan have not signed a world class player. Only one "lesser" signing has been made in the shape of Mario Yepes from Chievo and only Dida from Milan's old guard has left the club. Clearly, the board is struggling to keep their promises as Milan's transfer campaign looks set to falter for yet another year.

One factor that is greatly affecting the club's transfer campaign this year is the club's inability to offload the old guard. Milan's old guard is numerous, and includes the likes of Marek Jankulovski, Massimo Oddo, Kakha Kaladze, Gennaro Gattuso, and Gianluca Zambrotta.

With this group of players all receiving exorbitant wages, Milan needs to offload these players in order to free up funds and space for new arrivals. Until this occurs, new arrivals will not be forthcoming.

It is becoming quite apparent that removing such players from the Milan payroll is becoming a problem for club. Only Dida has moved on from the club, while there is little interest from other clubs in the services of Kaladze and the like.

There is one reason why Milan is struggling to dispense with these players.

The reason being is that these players are simply unwilling to move on to another club where they will certainly receive significantly reduced wages.

As has been the case for a number of seasons, this group of players continue to happily receive their hefty wages despite their ever decreasing importance to the club. Today, these players are nothing more than a burden on the club, yet still they are unwilling to leave.

One possible solution to this problem would be for Milan to simply release these players by cancelling their contracts. Though this would free up funds for wages for new arrivals, on the downside the club would not receive a transfer fee.

Because of Milan’s financial troubles, the club is only in a position to acquire new players if old players are sold. Therefore, releasing these players is not an ideal solution if the club intends to make new purchases, which it does.

Clearly, the club is mired in an undesirable predicament. There is a real need to buy new players, yet the board needs to sell players in order to finance new signings. The club is failing to sell players because many of Milan’s current players, those that make up the club’s old guard, are well past their prime and are also unwilling to leave because of their unwillingness to sacrifice their lucrative wages.

For this predicament, the club has only itself to blame and it is largely because of bad management.

For a club like Milan, the board should have had the foresight in recent years to sell some of their players while they were still in their prime in order to invest in younger new arrivals for the future. If they had done so, the club would not be in the predicament it now finds itself in.

Now and rather unfortunately the club finds itself in a predicament that is threatening the current attempts of rebuilding the squad. Unable to rid itself of the unwanted old guard, the club simply cannot bring in any new signings.

For Milan, this is a real problem. Revitalizing the squad is a project that should have started two or three seasons ago. Now more than ever, it is absolutely crucial that at least some changes are made of the current Milan squad in order to make the club competitive for next season.

With the club clearly struggling to sell players, it seems the rebuilding of Milan may still not happen any time soon.