AC Milan

The AC Milan story (or: the Aftermath of selling your best player)

6 months ago Manchester City offered £100 million for Kaká. Instead, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite swore up and down that he didn’t want to leave Milan until last week when they sold him for just less than £60 million. Deep loyalties cost Milan £40M, which they probably could have used.
Oh well.
Now that that saga is over, AC Milan must find a way to improve, since arch-rival Inter isn’t going to diminish this off-season. Maybe next year, but Mourinho is still in charge there, and he only quits (or gets fired) when the team has no shot to win the domestic title.
Milan is old. They’ve been old for a while, and it won them a Champions League two years ago. They haven’t won anything domestically in a long time, and that points to fatigue over the course of a long season with extended cup runs. The defense has a new central defender (allowed to play this year now that they have non-European Union signing room) in Thiago Silva. That’s one. They’re trying to buy Aly Cissokho from Porto for €15M, but he has teeth problems that apparently somehow effect the rest of his game.
How are Milan so cheap? They bought Ronaldo when he was old. They brought in Ronaldinho on the cheap and he proved to be… old, slow & uncreative, but still good at partying & dancing. They hold onto a very refined midfield of Gattuso, Pirlo, Seedorf, Ambrosini, and (probably) Beckham. They signed Flamini last year probably because he came in on a free. Senderos came and went on a loan. Time has passed Milan by, and they cannot improve with players like this. They will remain really, really, good, but is that enough for a fabled team?
Start by partnering Silva with Mexes from Roma. Make sure you get Cissokho. Then go get an offensive and younger replacement for Gattuso, who is likely to spiral into repeat injuries at this stage of his career and his aggressive style of play: Wesley Sneijder – you may have heard of him because he dominated Euro 2008 for Holland. And the Dutch have a history in Milan. Could repeating it be so damaging? In fact, replace Seedorf with Van der Vaart and they may improve more (but they won’t have that sort of spending power left). Then, put Flamini in the lineup more, and pair Pato with Dzeko or Adebayor. Either one is going to cost €30M (or close to it) so just do it. You got 68m euros for your star, and now you’ve bought 4 players with the money. Sell Seedorf to a German club and use the money to help buy Van der Vaart and you’ve got half a new team that is over 5 years younger across the board and experience left to make a difference.

4-3-1-2
Pato --- Edin Dzeko
Seedorf
Sneijder --- Pirlo --- Flamini
Cissokho --- Silva --- Mexes--- Bonera
Abbiati

Buy: Dzeko (€25m), Sneijder (€20m), Mexes (€8m), Cissokho (€15m) = voila! €68m

Sold: Kaka (€68m)

Total: €0.00 net

Then next year they have to replace Seedorf for sure, and probably buy a new ‘keeper. The thought of replacing Pirlo somehow should begin, as well. I don't know if this team overtakes Inter, but it gives it a run for its money.