Kessie & Co. weren’t cheap
AC Milan upset the odds on Sunday evening when they cruised to a 3-0 victory over Sassuolo to win their 19th league title and a first Serie A in 11 years. Heralded as nothing short of a fairytale ending to a remarkable league campaign in Italy, Stefano Pioli’s side dumbfounded fans and critics alike by beating city rivals Inter Milan in a close-run race, while other domestic rivals such as Juventus and Napoli fell off the pace some time ago.
AC Milan are the Serie A champions for the 19th timepic.twitter.com/b7nUhGixGG
— Transfermarkt.co.uk (@TMuk_news) May 22, 2022
Indeed, the manner of Milan’s success in the league this season has been characterised as something of a giant killing, following Juve’s continued failure to win a league that they once dominated with relatively little competition from Italy’s other big clubs. However, while Milan may not boast a wage bill quite as large as their Turin rivals, they certainly haven’t been minnows in the transfer window either.
Club Comparison
£432.09m
Market Value
£476.01m
First Tier
League Level
First Tier
£70.83m
Expenditures 21/22
£36.45m
Stefano Pioli
Managers
Simone Inzaghi
Full Club Comparison
This will perhaps come as no great surprise to Milan fans, who have seen their club go through multiple owners over the past five years and while the club that once dominated Italian and European football hasn’t quite returned to its former glory just yet, it has got back on its feet and put its money where it’s mouth is.
Fairytale title win or just a case of spending cold, hard cash?
New Serie A champions AC Milan have spent more than any other Italian club over the past five seasonspic.twitter.com/8sSTItmtZ1
— Transfermarkt.co.uk (@TMuk_news) May 24, 2022
€380 million spent – How Milan built a title-winning squad
For example, in the 2017/18 season Milan’s net spend in the transfer window was no less than €152 million, as the club signed Leonardo Bonucci for €42m, André Silva for €38m, Andrea Conti for €24m, Hakan Calhanoglu for €23m and Lucas Biglia for €19.7m. All while only making around €35m from sales in the same season.
Following a change in ownership in 2018, Milan’s spending took a considerable nosedive in the 18/19 season, where the Italian giants’s net spend fell to just €11m. Which was in no small part down to a number of big-name players – many mentioned in the previous paragraph – being sold to cover costs at the club to the tune of around €194m.
Player Comparison
£45.00m
Market Value
£31.50m
Left Winger
Position
Central Midfield
Jun 30, 2024
Contract until
Jun 30, 2024
Full Player Comparison
However, any sense of an austere approach to the future was quickly extinguished the following season, when Milan spent €123m on new players, including impressive talents like Franck Kessié, Rafael Leão, Theo Hernández and Ismaël Bennacer. Young, talented players with huge potential and resale value. But, for now, undoubtedly huge costs for the Italian club to take on.
AC Milan’s most often used starting XI that won this season’s Serie A only cost €143.6m pic.twitter.com/8ECXCd9Tw0
— Transfermarkt.co.uk (@TMuk_news) May 22, 2022
Since then, Milan’s net spend has stood at around €60m over the past two seasons, which brings the previous five years total to around €381m. Not only is that a remarkable figure for any European club, but it’s also more than any other club in Italian football. Juventus, for comparison, have a net spend of €321m in that period while city rivals Inter currently sit on just €74m spent in excess.
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