Are AC Milan Finally Too Old?
This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.
Written by Kenny Yeo.
As a Milanista, I’m appalled by Milan’s performances in the league this season. After a bright start against new boys Genoa, they have struggled to win games and have recently drawn against Catania, a club whose majority of history was spent in Serie B. To summarize their Serie A exploits so far, Milan are winless in 5 Serie A games and already 7 points adrift of leaders Inter after only 6 games.
Undoubtedly, a large part of this has to do with the fact that none of the Milan players, not even Kaka, are particularly on form, but there are many other factors that needs to be considered. The one that I would like to highlight here is Milan’s terrible transfer strategy.
Alarm bells were ringing as soon as I heard rumors of a £70 million bid for Ronaldino. My first thought was that money of that kind would be better spent elsewhere; after all, we have Kaka.
Fortunately, a deal for Ronaldinho did not materialize and on August 2nd, Milan suddenly announced that they have signed Pato, highly regarded in Brazil and widely tipped to be the next big Brazilian export.
Things started downhill from then on as I discovered Milan have signed Ibrahim Ba on a year long contract. For what specific purpose you might ask? Well, your guess is as good as mine.
More bad news came in the form of Emerson. Emerson is a true enigma; how he got his nickname “The Puma” baffles me even today. Here is a man who is afraid to play in front of his home crowd. The question on my mind at this point is: How low will Milan stoop?
Somehow, the management seems to think that the squad needs no strengthening. Neighbors Inter, who ransacked Juventus the year before by signing Ibrahimovic and Vieira, saw fit this season to further boost their squad by recruiting Suazo and Chivu. With this in mind, how can Milan possibly cope with only Pato and Emerson? Both Suazo and Chivu are players playing at their prime. Surely, Pato is a hot talent but he is incredibly young and inexperienced, worst still, he can’t participate in official matches till January the 3rd. By then, Serie A will be halfway through and if Milan continues at this rate, god knows how much more they would have fallen behind the leaders. On the other hand, there is Emerson, who despite being mightily experienced, is already 31, and with each passing day is surely becoming more of a domesticated “Tabby Cat”.
The grim reality is that the squad needs fresh blood, especially in offense and defense. If anything, Milan boast one of the greatest midfields ever. Kaka, along with Gattuso, Seedorf and Pirlo is possibly one of the most complete midfield ever assembled in the history of the football – equally adept at defense and attack. They are also backed up by Ambrosini, who is, in my opinion, an extremely underrated player; Brocchi, an excellent stand-in for Gattuso; and new addition Emerson. Unfortunately, this stellar midfield is sadly let down by an offense that is undependable at getting goals, and a defense that is aging and can no longer keep up with the pace of the modern game.
Recently, I came across a piece of news which really intrigued me. According to FIFA agent and former Milan striker Oscar Damiani, Milan passed on the chance to sign either Luca Toni, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and David Trezeguet, in order to hold on to Gilardino. Now Gilardino is not a bad striker, in fact, I do agree that Gilardino is the future, but the fact remains as it is, he is not scoring and that is a problem.
Yes, Milan have “Super Pippo” Inzaghi, but no matter how prolific he is, we cannot escape from the fact that he just turned 34. He might still have the knack of turning up at the right place at the right time, but he seems to have lost his usual sharpness, evident by the fact that he hasn’t scored yet in Serie A this season.
And then there is Ronaldo, who gets injured so frequently that it is almost impossible for Milan to rely solely on him to get the goals. Which is a real pity because Ronaldo’s strike rate is just staggering – 227 goals in 306 professional appearances. Milan seem to regard him as their Messiah, but in truth, his injuries make him too unreliable to be depended on.
So why, given the circumstances, did Milan pass up on the chance to sign one of three great strikers? They might be a tad old yes, but they are available on the cheap - Toni went to Bayern for a mere £9 million. In fact, I think Toni would have been the ideal signing for Milan given Ancelotti’s penchant for the Christmas-Tree formation.
Defense is another problematic department for Milan. Jankulovski, Nesta, Kaladze and Oddo might form a formidable backline, but other than Bonera, Milan has no other backup. Let’s face it, Maldini, Cafu and Favalli, with a combined age of 111, are simply too old to last a full match, and despite their immense experience, cannot be count on to handle pacy opposition. So once again, we must ask Milan why they chose not to sign another defender. Furthermore, now that Simic has requested a move, Milan are, realistically speaking, only 1 serious injury away from a defensive crisis.
Fortunately, all is not lost. Ronaldo is due to return soon and Milanistas worldwide will no doubt pray that he can stay injury free and reproduce the electric form that once made him the world’s most feared striker. Also, if Berlusconi really has £70 million set aside for Ronaldinho, then it would be best that he spends it wisely come January. An unreliable offense and a backline 1 injury away from a defensive crisis is a sure recipe for disaster.
Milan desperately needs new soldiers. What do you think?
This article is a submission for the Soccerlens Football Writing Competition; to participate, please read the details here.
Related Items from Soccerlens
- Arsenal End Milan’s Fairy Tale
- Is Andriy Shevchenko’s time at Chelsea finally over?
- The Past, Present, and Future of Brazilian Football (Videos)
- Milan target Adebayor, Berbatov, Drogba, Eto’o and Gomez
- Alexandre Pato Makes Dream Debut for Milan
[…] Are AC Milan finally too old? […]
Milan desperately needs new players. Their squad is filled with archaic talent, in fact I am pretty sure that if you calculate their starting line up average age, it would be higher than any other Champions League team. If you ask me they have been “too old” for a couple of years now…
This is great. Very pensive and analytical. Good luck!
Nice analysis and insights!
How was the match against Celtic eh?
A bit boring and I was suprised to see 2-1 as a score-line, It was an okay match to watch but fucking hell, they were all diving too much!
Ha how was the ‘holigan’ running onto the pitch and giving dDida a little tap, the commentators here in Australia said it was “Piss-weak” in those exact words..
Did they catch that guy who ran onto the pitch?
Way to go Scott McDonald, Great game for Celtic, he is one of our (Australia’s) best talents at the moment.
The loss to celtic doesn’t help matters…………..
I think they are overjoyed for their win against Liverpool in the UEFA finals..
GREAT ARTICLE THERE!
I was telling a die hard AC Milan fan, that his squad might be good enough to win the champions league, if the squad makes it beyond the group stage, then the remaining games are just a hand full until they reach the final. Yet this squad is far too old to count on its luck for the Italian League, the Italian Cup, and the champions league. Yes it is very possible to keep a very old player fit and hand him a couple of games and a final in a Champions League competition, but what about all the rest of the games. You just cannot make so much money from winning the Champs League last year and put them aside to buy one of the best stars in the world (Ronaldinho) while your squad needs renovation and support to compete in two competitions domestically. Maybe Milan were boasting about how good they are in the Champions League, but forgot that if they make a mess in the Italian league this year they wont even make the UEFA cup later on.
Giving Ibrahim Ba a year contract is just being cheap so that they dont touch the huge sum of money that is reserved for Ronaldinho.
As the Author noted: why focus so much on Ronaldinho is you have got kaka?
If it is just about buying the greatest star each season, then AC Milan havent learned much from what happened to Real Madrid.
I think that AC Milan needs new managers that have a more realistic approach to football…and when you have a revamped managerial system taking care of the team and the coach, then you will have new players rising from AC Milan’s young players to the first team, and young players transferred in to learn from the aging experienced stars and be ready to replace them more or less.
GREAT ARTICLE there Mr. KENNY YEO
keep up the good work
Yes, Milan is in need of fresh blood and it is better to start the rebuilding process sooner than later.
Ronaldinho is not the answer for Milan even though his talent is undisputed. They can look to Brazil for new talents like how they brought Kaka over and transform him into a mainstay for the team.
Ronaldo is a great player and can give milan what they need to score goals, and so can inzahgi and gilardino, thats not the real issue the real issue is the lack of preperation for the future,for 5 or 6 yrs milan have been dominant in champions league and serie a, management seme to be thinking , why change wats working, and then finally they got to old and started getting injuries. You should look to strenghtn ur side each season for every old player 30+ you should have a younger player 17 - 20, training playing less important matches or even on loan, that are moulded and ready to step up at the rite time, NO DEPTH, TOO OLD
milan really need new signings in their striking and defense department, especially a new keeper!!! dida is a joke!!!
Great article, I almost completely agree, although I have to disagree about Gilardino. He sucks, it’s as simple as that. He’ll be at Milan for a few more seasons, and then sold on to a weaker Serie A club or a team like Bolton or something. They’re only holding on to him because they paid 30000000 for him. Remember Di Vaio at Juve? I don’t like Milan, but a friend of mine is their huge fan, so we often talk about them, and it mainly goes along the lines of the article: they are all great players, but they’re ancient(they’re the only team in the CL that has an average age over 30), and their strikers are a joke. A midfield alone, even if it is as great as Milan’s, is not enough to win titles. I heard that this summer they arranged everything with Toni, but then Berlusconi stopped the deal, apparently because he doesn’t like Toni as a person. If that is even half true, then Berlusconi is a complete blockhead. With a goal machine like Toni there would be no end to Milan. Sometimes I have grave doubts about the mere competence and plain reason of people who run big clubs with big money. Florentino Perez anyone?
You said the squad was to old yet said they should have bought one of the thirty plus, strikers doesn’t make sense.