If there was any doubt about Milan’s prospects this year after the Inter derby humiliation a few weeks ago, it is now clear to even the most optimistic rossoneri that the problems are real and that there is no quick solution. 0-0 at home against newly promoted Bari is the latest indication. After struggling with Livorno, Atalanta and Siena, Milan have collected 8 points in the first six matches of the season and, more importantly, have score a mere THREE goals.
How did this happen? From the top. General Manager Galliani, the man in charge who reports only to the emperor himself (Berlusconi), has preserved the character of the squad for a very long time and has evidently miscalculated its physical ability. Ambrosini – team captain but often on the bench, Nesta, Pirlo, Gatusso, Inzaghi, Jankulovski, Seedorf, Oddo, Zambrotta and Kaladze and others are all past 30, some long past 30. Favalli is 37, Inzaghi is 36, Seedorf is listed at 33 but he looks like he is 43. He was playing for Ajax in the early 90s. Galliani believes in longevity. Cafu played into his 40s, and club icon Paolo Maldini retired after 25 years of wearing the rossoneri shirt at the age of 41. Today’s Milan can play, but it is too difficult for most of the players to perform consistently for 90 minutes at a high level. Nevertheless, Galliani just signed Pirlo and Ambrosini to new contracts.
In the past couple of years, Carlo Ancelotti managed to keep some of the team’s weaknesses in check, getting the most out of his players and managing the club’s expectations. Ancelotti was heart and soul Milan. With his departure to Chelsea and Kaka’s to Madrid, questions arose about his successor. Leonardo, the former Brazilian left, stepped into a prestigious position without previous coaching experience, hoping perhaps to replicate Guardiola’s success at Barcelona. Leonardo seems like a perfectly nice person with good intentions, but, aside from looking younger than some his players, he has little to be enthusiastic about. He often looks mystified while trying to manage the club’s amalgamation of egos.
Then there are other issues. Milan paid 10 million euros for Ronaldinho last year, the immensely talented Brazilian, with the mindset that he would regain his conditioning and his 2005-2006 magical form. If last year “Dinho??? looked a yard off the pace, this year he looks at least a yard and a half off the pace. Increasingly his place at the club is surrounded by tension.
There are bright spots. Alexandre Pato, 20, is blooming into a super player as projected. His pace seems blistering compared to his team-mates’ and he has been in consistent, exciting form. Marco Boriello has not recaptured the excellent knack for goals he exhibited while on loan to Genoa one year ago and is now injured, but he is still young and talented. Dutchman Huntelaar was Galliani’s savvy acquisition this summer from Real Madrid, after Sevilla laughed at his absurdly low bid for Luis Fabiano, the most in-form goal-scorer in the world. And the Brazilian Thiago Silva, acquired from Fluminense, makes a solid partnership with Nesta in the middle of the Milan defense.
What inevitably will happen is a changing of the guard, an insertion of new energy, a youth movement. The 66 million euros Kaka’s sale generated should help. Some of the long serving, older players need to graciously transition into new roles with the club and enable the development of the younger ones. Others will move on, predictably one or more will end up in the MLS. Until then, help is on the way from this guy. Mamma mia!
