Right now AC Milan has the feel of a beautiful spaceship stuck on the launch pad or a beautiful Ferrari stuck in the garage.
The Italian giants delayed their plans to strengthen the team and are now seriously behind.
Sassuolo striker Gianluca Scamacca, for example, who appears to be moving to West Ham, could have been a great asset, but the money given to technical director and club legend Paolo Maldini is only enough to buy one top player.
Current owners Elliott Management Corporation and their successors, RedBird Capital, who are expected to take over by September at the latest, have not provided enough transfer budget to suggest they want to sign world-class stars.
On the attack, Belgian striker Divock Origi has signed a free transfer from Liverpool, but all other potential opportunities have been wiped out – meaning Origi, Olivier Giroud, 35, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 40, are the club’s three standout options.
It was a chaotic summer transfer window for AC Milan after winning the Serie A last campaign
Manager Stefano Pioli (pictured) is still waiting for a big money signing to bolster his side
Sassuolo striker Gianluca Scamacca looks set to leave Sassuolo but move to West Ham, not Milan
In recent weeks, Milan’s transfer plans have slowed down, jeopardizing the team’s international appeal for potential signings.
Young midfielders Tommaso Pobega and Yacine Adli are also good options for manager Stefano Pioli, but are second-rate players who do not supply enough energy to the team’s engine room.
The Milan team is basically the same as last season, but has aged a year: not very encouraging, especially considering the attack, where the average age is 35, the highest in the whole division.
Defenders Fikayo Tomori and Pierre Kalulu are certainly the team’s strengths, but the departure of influential centre-half Alessio Romagnoli to Lazio at large has not yet been offset by the arrival of a new defender.
This extraordinary slowness is doing incalculable damage to Milan as they prepare for the new season, as anyone arriving will have lost more than half of the summer’s physical preparation for the new season.
Influential center half Alessio Romagnoli, who left for Lazio for free, has not been replaced
THE KETELAERE IS THEIR FIRST CHOICE
It’s all-in for Milan on the Belgian player. The 6ft 3ins Club Brugge star can also be used as a right winger, a flexibility that Pioli and Maldini appreciate.
A few years ago, De Ketelaere was used more as a central midfielder, but over time he grew into a player worthy of the number 10 shirt.
His numbers are staggering and seem to predict his transformation into a top player. Last season, he scored 14 goals and provided 7 assists in 33 league games: exceptional figures for Kevin De Bruyne’s successor to the national team.
The biggest obstacle, however, is the price that Bruges has set, about 40 million euros.
His salary is low and would not be a problem for the Italian club, which is why Maldini and football director Frederic Massara have been working for months to cut the cost of the transfer.
While the promising 21-year-old prefers a move to San Siro, the Premier League team Leeds – showered with cash after selling Kalvin Phillips to Manchester City and Raphinha to Barcelona – are hopeful to star Milan for his signature.
Club Brugge attacker Charles De Ketelaere is the main goal of the Italian giants this summer
THE CLUB MUST PROVIDE MORE MONEY
The decision to buy last season’s mercenaries Junior Messiah and Alessandro Florenzi is nothing short of gratitude: Milan wanted to reward two of their fighters from last year, who contributed to the victory march to the Serie A title.
Maldini is grateful for the club’s willingness to sign them on a permanent basis, but is believed to have cut the transfer budget by around 15 per cent as a result.
And with just 20 days left before the new season, Milan is certainly the team that has strengthened the least in the summer transfer market, along with Napoli.
The club should have offered Maldini and Massara more money to be more enterprising and ambitious in the market. Maldini, 54, is the man who captured the great Kalulu despite the defender having no senior appearances in France.
He also bought defending pivot Tomori from Chelsea, introduced Sandro Tonali and Davide Calabria to the forefront of the young Milan side, and his punt on Lille goalkeeper Mike Maignan has also paid off.
But Maldini cannot continue to work miracles and the club’s new owners will have to flex their economic muscles to get the transfer market going.
Paolo Maldini cannot continue to work miracles in the transfer market and needs financial support
MISSING RENATO SANCHES
Missing Renato Sanches is probably AC Milan’s biggest disappointment of the summer.
The Portuguese would certainly be willing to move to Milan and Maignan’s words of encouragement to his former Lille team-mate were well received, but the club’s lack of movement has extinguished the player’s interest.
According to French outlet L’Equipe, Sanches will become a Paris Saint-Germain player before the team returns to their Camp des Loges training ground from their pre-season tour in Japan.
PSG’s negotiations with Lille are not progressing quickly at the moment and Milan have long been interested in the midfielder.
Unfortunately, the player has already made personal arrangements with sporting director Luis Campos and it seems very difficult for the club to beat the wealthy sheikhs who lead Lionel Messi’s side.
Missing PSG-bound Lille midfielder Renato Sanches is a huge disappointment for Milan
PIOLI FEARS PLAYERS ARE SATISFIED
When a team wins the title after so many years of disappointment, it is likely that they are mentally satisfied and will now struggle to put in 100 percent effort to win immediately and again.
Terrified of this mental complacency, Pioli hopes his players will be willing to sacrifice everything and build an extraordinary new season despite the many obstacles in their path.
Over the past two years, Milan have lost midfielders Hakan Calhanoglu and Franck Kessie on free transfers to fierce rivals Inter Milan and Barcelona respectively, and have been unable to find solutions on the market suited to Pioli’s style of play.
Tonali’s improvement limited damage in the first year without the Turkish midfielder, but now Kessie’s absence seems very difficult to overcome and Milan looks light in central midfield.
It could be a long and testing summer for Milan if they want to keep the Scudetto.