What has happened to Italian giants AC Milan?

A look at the decline of one of European football’s greatest clubs.

Every football fan will remember the amazing AC Milan sides of the nineties and noughties. Players like Paolo Maldini, Marcel Desailly, Kaká, Cafu, Alessandro Nesta, Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf, Gennaro Gattuso – the list is endless! In slightly more than two decades – 1990 until 2011 – the Rossoneri, who were always fancied in the Sports Betting – scooped an incredible number of trophies – including eight Serie A titles, six Supercoppa Italiana’s, and three Champions League’s.

However, since their domestic double nine years ago, Milan have won little more than the Italian domestic cup – and even that was four years ago now! This season, the Rossoneri finished a dire sixth – almost 20 points adrift from champions Juventus! So, what has gone wrong at the San Siro over the last decade? Read on to find out!

The loss of club legends

In the next few years following Milan’s double triumph in 2010-11, several club legends left the San Siro. In the summer of 2011, classy Italian international Pirlo, who had been at Milan for 10 years, departed the club for fellow Serie A giants Juventus. However, the following summer was arguably the toughest for the Rossoneri. Seedorf, who had also been at Milan for a decade, left, alongside goal machine, and another long-term servant of the club, Filippo Inzaghi.

But, Milan’s agony didn’t stop there. Gattuso, who had been at the San Siro for 13 years, and Nesta, who also spent 10 years at the club, both parted ways, whilst the experienced Marc van Bommel also moved on after just one year. The final dagger through the Rossoneri’s heart was when Massimo Ambrosini left in 2013, after almost 20 years at the San Siro. Furthermore, first team players like Thiago Silva, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, were also sold without suitable replacements brought in.

Money problems

Silvio Berlusconi’s extremely successful 30-year reign as the owner of Milan came to an end in 2017 as he sold the club to a Chinese-led consortium for €740m. However, Li YongHong, who was in charge of the consortium, very quickly ran out of money – leaving the door wide open for Elliott Management, an American hedge fund company, to swoop in and take control of the Rossoneri. Milan are still having money issues and could be sold yet again! This time to French entrepreneur, and owner of high-end fashion brand Louis Vuitton, Bernard Arnault, who is worth around $113bn! It’s believed the money mogul has put an offer of €975m on the table. Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian consortium, who wanted to buy Newcastle United, have now turned their attention to Milan – according to reports.

Chopping and changing managers

Since Massimiliano Allegri left Milan for Juve in 2014, the Rossoneri have gone through a whopping seven managers – including club legends Seedorf, Inzaghi, and Gattuso! The former were given just six months, and a year, in charge, respectively, whilst Gattuso was at the helm for just a year-and-a-half. Vincenzo Montella, who managed Milan between August 2016 and November 2017, was the only person who was able to bring silverware back to the San Siro, as he won the Suppercoppa Italiana.

Lack of quality players

In recent times, Milan have shown little sign of once again becoming a force to be reckoned with. The quality of players that left all those years ago were never replaced, and their current squad is a far cry from one of the best in Italy, let alone the best in Europe. Aside from a handful of players – including Italy international Gianluigi Donnarumma – the majority of the squad just aren’t good enough, and it arguably shows on the pitch. Last season they were dumped from the Europa League in the group stages, and we’ve already touched on how dire they have been this term!

Can AC Milan ever go back to being one of the best teams in Europe? We sure hope so!

Posted by Natter Football

  1. It hard long road and at the moment NO!

    They need to sign the Hungarian midfielder from Salzberg
    and the Portuguese Florentino Luis, Kessie did have a good 3 months but that’s not ACM future.

    Reply

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