Pietro Mazzara, a reporter covering Milan for MilanNews.it, published an editorial stating that Milan's significant player departures during this summer's transfer window have severely hampered their rebuilding efforts, and owner Gerry Cardinale must find additional solutions.
Below is the content of Pietro Mazzara's editorial article.
A series of interconnected events unfolded this past week. Milan concluded their tour of the Southern Hemisphere, returning with more doubts and concerns than certainties. The club's need for both player acquisitions and departures in the transfer market is now urgent and cannot be delayed further. Setting aside Amorim's cryptic "PR rhetoric" following his observations in Perth and Jakarta, the objective technical reality is clear to everyone. The team must abandon the plans made at the end of May; the top priority is to spend money immediately to acquire key players and do everything possible to sell players, even if it means accepting losses or loaning them out.
Gerry Cardinale was booed by fans during Franco Baresi's funeral—an incident that sparked public debate, not about the booing itself, but about the occasion on which it occurred. Nevertheless, that walk to the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio marked the first real direct encounter between the Milan owner and the club's supporters.
The boos displeased Gerry, and the RedBird Capital founder was not amused. He had attempted to appease some fans by bringing in Gonçalo Ramos and Mario Gila, investing over 100 million euros in transfer fees. However, the club subsequently stalled completely on both acquisitions and departures. The Almstadt-Gardner duo has yet to facilitate any sales that would generate the cash flow Cardinale expects to offset spending.
Selling players is a rare and complex art—as was the case with Sandro Tonali's departure, which greatly angered fans. But if you're not proficient at it, you find yourself in serious deadlock; and when the club needs to reduce squad size, your players depreciate further. Moreover, what's the point of spending a hundred million euros if you can't even assemble a complete squad? Time may still be on his side, but it's ticking away quickly. As everyone knows, a team needs time to develop cohesion.
Gerry is betting on Ruben Amorim—this is his choice, Amorim is his man. It is utterly unrealistic to think the Portuguese coach can be satisfied with the current squad. Spoiler alert: he is not satisfied at all, and Tomori and Fofana being benched are telling signs. The team still needs at least three key players: specifically two central attacking midfielders and one attacking midfielder, and possibly a defender with playmaking abilities.
What will Cardinale do? The current squad has shown it does not align with Amorim's tactical philosophy. It is filled with many players who, judging by results, are failures left by the previous management—failures that should have been addressed beforehand. Okafor, Aparecido, Kjær, and others are prime examples; they should have been systematically sold to raise funds for reinvestment.
Cardinale cannot disappoint Amorim; he absolutely cannot allow his chosen manager to one day accuse him of failing to purchase tactically suitable players, leaving him with a mess that doesn't meet expectations. Therefore, it's time to spend money again. Even if the accounts aren't perfect this time, the club will certainly not go bankrupt. It is clear that now, the focus on departures must take a backseat, and acquisitions must proceed directly.
Everything hinges on this: whether Cardinale is willing to deliver on his promise to Amorim—to hand him a prepared team before the transfer window closes. There is still much to do, but only a change of mind from the owner can break the deadlock. As for other transfer operations, although difficult, they might also be resolved accordingly.
Gerry, my friend, what are you going to do next?
News broke last night that Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot will not return to Milanello the day after tomorrow, but will rejoin the team only on the 16th. This decision is truly perplexing, considering that Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram—the latter being these two Milan players' French national team teammate—already began training with Inter Milan yesterday. Will a mere few days' difference matter? Perhaps not, but this news certainly cannot be welcomed by anyone.
However, I would like to commend my friend Daniele Mascolo for capturing a stunning photograph at Baresi's funeral. The image freezes the moment Paolo Maldini and Mauro Tassotti placed the number 6 jersey on the main altar of the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio. Heartbreak was evident in their eyes, yet at the same time, a pure sense of Milanism radiated from them.
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