Globalization has changed football. What only used to be only enjoyed and savoured in and around a few countries has been spread far and wide to all parts of the world with fanbases thronging to see their favourite superstars play week in week out or midweek in case of Champions League football it has no doubt shaped what people now call it as “modern football”.

Sporting-wide a change from “boring” defensive football to fast paced attacking football is being implemented. Owners want their teams not only to win but to play attractive football that “wow” crowds and bring in more supporters and keep them entertained. That is how football is being propositioned and marketed.

The advancements and changes have not only affected on the field but it has caused huge off the field changes as well. Clubs are now seen as whole-scale business who pay unheard figures to their players thanks to huge commercial revenue the club earns

In this article we will take a 3- step approach in the form of

1. How clubs make money
2. Milan’s latest financials
3. How Milan can improve in these segments

Please note that the data presented here is based on the season 2018-19 as the club is yet to release data based on this season as it is not over yet. So Here we go …

1. MATCHDAY INCOME

The most basic revenue stream of all clubs is the matchday revenue or the ticket sales that is generated through fans attending the match in the stadium. The San Siro has been home to both to A.C.Milan since 1925 and for Inter since 1947. The stadium belongs to Milan muncipal corporation since 1935 and both clubs have been it’s tenants ever since. San Siro has a seating capacity of 80,018 making it one of the largest stadiums in world football and the largest in Italy. In the prosperous days Milan fans used to pack San siro and matchday income was very high. Season ticket subscription was high and fans use to throng in queues to see the best players win trophies

Current Situation

Even though Milan has the second highest average attendance (52~54,000) Milan only made €34 Million  while Inter made €47M and Juventus made €71 million even though the Allianz Stadium has a maximum capacity of 40,000 only. Milan made €5 Million less from 17/18 due to dynamic ticket pricing strategy to bring in more fans to the stadium.

Not to mention how Milan do not own the stadium and have to pay rent to the corporation reducing the income further and putting a burden on the finances of Milan.

How Milan Can Improve

Ever since the Chinese came in, serious talks with the municipality and mayor of Milan have been underway for a new stadium which would once again be shared between the 2 Milan clubs. While San Siro is a monument for many great players and moments for European football if not Italian football recent studies have suggested how it is also unsafe due to wear and tear of the structure since the last 90 years and is not suited to modern requirements. With Roma constructing it’s own stadium and many clubs building stadiums (Tottenham) clubs have realised the need for a structure to not only host games but also become a commercial spectacle.

2 new designs have been present by a joint council of experts consisting experts from Milan and Inter and the muncipal corporation and mayor Sala is edging towards an agreement towards the spring which was slowed down by the corona pandemic in Italy.

2. COMMERCIAL

Expanding their brand, clubs now have their logo on everything people use everyday. From bags, watches, cellphone back covers, headphones, clothing, accessories and what nots. All available on the official Milan store at a price and purchased by people all over the world online thanks to globalisation and its multiple features. With mulit-national corporations expanding their brands to multiple corners the revenue and size of the contract with clubs increase.

Various commercial partnerships include naming rights for stadium like how Allianz  paid Juve to name it’s stadium after the company.

Another commercial partnership is with kit sponsors. Milan currently work with Puma who offer Milan €15 Million + 20-30% bonus dependent on how much jerseys get sold to the public.

We also have other sponsors like Bioscalin, Fly Emirates, RO Investing, Skrill etc involved in various sponsorships with the club.

Current situation

Milan earned €76 Million in the year 2018-19 from commercial sponsorships which is a €2M loss from 2017-18. This can be attributed to the fall in sponsorships of the club due to fall from grace. This is in contrast to Juve’s 187 Million and Inter’s 166 Million.

Milan earn €15 Million from Puma which is the second shirt sponsor in Serie A but it still nowhere close to Juve’s €51 Million.

How to Improve

A lot of improvements are dependent upon Milan’s on-field performances. Brands will always look to side with teams that have more pull with the fans to make the brand’s more famous. Once Milan return back to the top it will be easier to attract investors for the club.

Some of the improvement lie on the negotiations and social networking skills of current C.E.O Gazidis. He should be able to convince multi-national corporations and big investors that Milan is still a attractive avenue to invest.

3.PRIZE MONEY

Winning trophies is the dream of everyone associated with the club. The prestige, the bragging rights and the rise to fame all accompany winning a trophy. Perhaps the most prized aspect of Milan is it’s exploits in the European scence where it has won 7 UEFA Champions League which to date remains as the highest number of trophies won only behind Real Madrid.

Every year we can see how club not fighting for the title always end up in a war to qualify for the champions league. Although for some clubs winning a champions league would be a miracle they still participate year in year out because the qualification towards the highest club competition brings in an enormous amount of money that makes a lot of difference.

The Europa league althought not as lucrative as the champions league brings in a fair amount of money into the club. Still it presents an opportunity for clubs to come away with extra money along with the money won in the league.

Milan’s Current Situation

Ever since Milan got kncoked out by Atletico Madrid from the champions league in 2013, Milan have qualified for Europa League only twice. Hence Milan’s prize money from both campaigns is a meager €29 Million due to non participation. Meanwhile Juventus have earned €481 Million, Roma €285M and Napoli €188 Million. Even Inter earned €54 million from their Uefa Champions League group stage exit which in itself shows how much Milan are missing out.

How To Improve the Situation

Well it’s not rocket science to understand that the only way to win more prize money is through efforts on the field. Milan needs to be competent on the pitch so that Milan can win more prize money and bankroll high budget transfers.

4. SALE OF PLAYERS

The most easiest and a quick way of making money for any club is to sell their players. Clubs have seen windfall gains (high profit) through player sales which helps to balance their books as well fund their transfer market. For example Juventus who bought Pogba for a free transfer sold him back to Manchester for €105 Million and made an enormous €105 Million profit.

Milan’s Performance

Milan last season only made a profit of €12M from the sale of players through Locatelli’s sale to Sassuolo. Locatelli was a academy player and hence gave Milan a pure gain of €12M.

In the last 5 years, Milan have only collected €55M profits from the sale of players. This is compared to Juventus making €417 Millions and Roma €391 Million.

How to Improve

Selling players is an important part of infusing capital into the clubs coffers and replenishing a depleted budget to buy players. You can see how in the last few years all top teams have sold their best players to finance other transfers and balance the books

1. Real Madrid = €100 Million for Ronaldo
2. Liverpool= €150 Million for Coutinho
3. Barcelona= €222 Million for Neymar
4. Juventus= €100 Million for pogba, €40 Million for Moise Kean
5. Inter = €50 Million for Icardi
6. PSG= Guedes €40 Million, Pastore €25 million
7. Atletico Madrid= Griezmann €120 Million

For a club like Milan it is important that they sell low and buy high. Recent reports of Bennacer having a release clause of €50M surfaced via respected journalist Mohammed Bouhfasi. If activated it could result in Milan making a whopping €34M profit on the player. However it would result in a dip for Milan on the field for which Milan would need able scouting and a strong sporting area. With Rangnick rumours growing stronger Milan can make sure that no matter who leaves a cheaper replacement is on the way.  As shown by the clubs above selling your best player and replacing them with equally good players would be a balancing move for Milan on and off the field

Milan also need to strengthen its youth academy. As shown by Ajax, Dortmund, Porto, Benifica youth players come to the club at no cost and selling these players comes as a windfall gains for the club. So far the 2019 summer window was financed by selling cutrone for €22 Million to wolves. More quality would make the bids higher like how Juve got €40 Million for Kean.

5. TV DEAL

Keeping the most obvious for the last, TV dealings is the what matters the most and has helped in forging a wedge between the Premier League and other league in tv revenue. With almost every houshold owning a television and match day telecast viewing increasing day by day clubs make a huge chunk of their revenue today from television revenue.

Current Situation in Milan

Italian Serie A like English Premier Legaue have sold their rights collectively to Sky Sports Italia and DAZN.

According to Forbes the current valuation of the deal is around €937 Million. This has made Serie A to be 5th in terms of tv deals with English Premier League earning around €3 Billion.

Serie A TV money is distributed as follows: 50% equal share; 30% performance (15% last season, 10% last 5 years, 5% historical); and 20% profile (number of supporters). The new 2018/19 deal increased the equal share from 40% to 50% and placed more emphasis on recent performance.

Milan with this split recieved €77M which Juventus recieved €85 Million.

How to make more money

Being a collective tv rights deal, it is not in the hands of Milan regaridng the sale of the rights. Gazetta Dello Sport reported that Spanish company Medipro is keen on taking over Tv Rights deal and offered €1.4 Billion for the rights. Negotiations between the group and the FIGC is going on as we speak.

The gap between the premier league and other leagues are phenomenal. You can see how even clubs like Atletico Madrid make less money than a relegated Fulham. It would be quite a task to reach upto the standards of the premier League who under the guidance of Richard Scudamore went through a whole rebranding excperience in 1992 and to this day.

CONCLUSION

In a report by Auditing firm KPMG Milan is the only top club that saw its value fall in the last 5 years by 3.5%. A lot of the avenues could see a rise in money making if Milan play better and start qualifying for the champions league once again.

Milan have worked a lot on shedding unwanted salaries. At the end of this seaosn Milan will have offloaded salried of Biglia and Bonaventura. Milan also look to raise budget for the upcoming coach with sales from Kessie, Paqueta and Calabria. If option is excercise by Sevilla, Milan will also be making a pure capital profit of €23M. Milan are once again trying to climb up the ladder of the money league parallely to the league standings.

It was not any surprise for Serie A fans when the coach of Manchester United came to personally scout Nikola Milenkovic in 2018 for a league match.

Drawing comparisons to compatriot and defensive legend Nemanja Vidic, Milenkovic was a potential target, althought later they would choose to sign Harry Mguire, a world record fee for a defender.

However Milan have been linked to the defender with the player reportedly close to a move last summer, Milan under Rangnick has also been touted for a move this summer albeit in a player swap with Lucas Paqueta.

Continuing the trend of scouting our defensive targets this summer we look at Nikola Milenkovic

Player Profile

Age: 22

Nationality: Serbia

Current Club: Fiorentina

Foot: Right

Height: 6 ft 5 inches

Transfermarkt valuation: €25 Million

Position

While Nikola Milenkovic prefers playing Centre back he is also versatile playing as a Right back and has been deployed whith varying degree of success. Under Montella he was deployed on the right of  three at the back formation. His unnaturaal pace has made him flexible to slot into full back position during a crisis.

Defensive Ability

What makes Milenkovic special as a defender is his unique combination of intelligence, reading of the game and physical ability. It is no surprise by now to say that being 6ft 5 inches tall makes him aerially dominant and wins headers.

Milenkovic main strength is his ability to come out with the ball in 1v1 situations. With his height and long legs milenkovic is able to reach out quite a distance to tackle and dispossess his oppinent. Even with fancy dribbling techniques or skills it would take quite an effort to beat Milenkovic.

An example of his technique can be seen in the image below. Shaqiri is approaching milenkovic at pace with the ball. Milenkovic positionings himself in a distance not too far not too close that he can be beaten by a quick jink.

Another aspect that Milenkovic has imbibed with himself is his agressive pressing. In the below example, he press gomez very high that gomez is forced to retreat into Atalanta’s defensive third

In the image below, gomez tried to turn and loses posession to milenkovic which is turned to a counter attack by Fiorentina and eventually scores.

Attacking Play

Milenkovic possess good ball playing ability. Not only does he not panic when pressed, he has the ability to play or pass his way out of tight situations which makes him a very desirable player when you build up play from the back. Milenkovic also knows how to spot players making runs and picks out passed to advance play to the forward.

In this image below, you can see how player 1 which is milenkovic has the safe option of passing to player no.2 or player no.3 but chooses to advance play to player no.4 and split the lines with his pass.

Weakness

Milenkovic despite 3 seasons in Italy still is an unpolished diamond. His pass success rate is quite low at 76.8% despite a lot of his passes being towards the keeper. The player needs to expand his range by distributing the play better.

And like any other young player, he is still inconsistent and lacks exposure which can only grow with time and experience.

How He Would Slot Into Rangncik’s System

Milenkovic, could slot into the system as a Right centre back who advances forward pressing very high and to pick passes. And with Italian teams prefering to sit back milenkvic’s on the ball ability could come in use especially with Rangnick’s 10 second rule (best opportunity to score a goal is within 10 seconds of winning the ball back)

Defensive-wise his pace along with his intelligent positioning could be tailor made for Rangnick to win the ball quickly from the opponent or even to prevent counter attacks

Stats for the 19/20 season

Milan have been on the look for a new centre back since a long time. With Milan no more able to bankroll transfers like how Milan paid €32 million for Alessandro Nesta in 2001, Milan have entrusted scouting chief Geoffrey Moncada with finding a Centre back pairing for Alessio Romagnoli.

A name constanty linked to Milan is Tanguy Kouassi. The most amazing part of Kouassi is that he is only 17 years old and has  started for PSG for 6 games. Brought in as a replacement for the injured marquinhos and Thiago silva, Thomas Tuchel was so impressed with the boy he kept him as a squad  rotation option so that the boy can gain experience

To play in Thomas Tuchel’s system defenders are expected to be multi-facrted along with possessing normal defensive qualities. They need to be good passers and read the game well.  Blessed with versatility, Kouassi has played at centre back as well as Defensive midfield

Let us take a look at the player and his qualities scouted aptly by Geoffrey Moncada.

Player Profile

Club: Paris St Germain

Nationality: France

Height: 188 centimetres

Age: 17

Transfermarkt Value: €11 Million

Playing Style, Physicality and Positioning

One of the major feature of Tanguy Kouassi is his tall but lean frame at 17 years of age. With his height and along with a good jump, Kouassi is able to reach good vertical heights. He got 2 goals through headers in his senior PSG career. But Kouassi is not all just brawn but he has exemplary skill of timing his jump as per the position of the ball.  While he is adept aerially, he is strong in physical duals and is able to hold out against tall strikers although he sometimes struggles  against players who are bulkier. 

When in posession Kouassi shows perfect body balance and opponents find it hard to push him off the ball. He can be a bit over agressive when he contests for the ball aerially and gives away fouls. This however cannot be said for his defensive qualities where he has excellent positioning ability. He uses his positioning ability and anticipation against quicker opponents. He has a good top speed and is able to negate pacy customers.

Kouassi tends to push high up the pitch when PSG are not in possession and if the opposition uses thr wings to attack, he combines with the fullback to create overloads. While pressing higher up the pitch and in case there is a turnover in possession it helps to create a window for a counter attack for the player.

Kouassi always prefers to play safe and short passes instead of long passes and this limits his creativity. When playing as a defensive midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-4-2 formation he passes it to veratti or paredes who occupies the same role alongside him.

Defending- Ability, Style Of Defending

The main core of speciality arises from his defending. Kouassi like many modern defenders out-thinks his opponents to beat them. His decision making in threatening situations for the team is what makes him stand out. He prefer to hold his ground and not slide recklessly.

This makes him very good on 1v1 duels.Another aspect which is very important for defenders and a clear strentgh for Kouassi is his marking. He prefers to keep an optimal distance from the player so as to not get beaten by explosive players

In the image below Amiens forward who was recieving the ball was closed down by Kouassi but he didn’t lunge into a challenge otherwise the striker would have put the winger through and found space.

Attacking Play

For a 17 year on the ball he has a tidy ball control and knows how to spread the play well. He exhibits excellent ball control and does not give up posession easily  when pressed. Kouassi prefers to drive forward with the ball  and pass it to a more creative opponent.

A below picture can be seen as an example of his ball playing ability. While he drives forward with the ball, the opposition is forced to close him down which creates space between the lines which is occupied by a creative psg player.

Kouassi prefers to play short safe passes instead of attempting longer, riskier balls. He prefers to keep the ball close to his feet and move forward with the ball whenever he is pressed and passing lanes are cut off. What works for koaussi is that PSG build up their play with short passes rather than long passes. Against narrow defensive teams, Kouassi is inclined to play more towards flanks and supply the wingers

Weakness

Although Kouassi is pacy his acceleration i.e time taken to reach top speed is very high. This makes him vulnerable against explosive players. He also lacks the stamina which makes him to play at a less efficient rate in the latter stages of the game.

Kouassi also tends to have spatial and positional awareness of his opponents. It makes him to get closed down very fast when he is on the ball.

How Would He Fit In Milan

Kouassi is only 17 and has played for PSG in the Uefa Champions League making his debut against Galatasaray. Despite his obvious shortcomings it is evident the player does not have enough games under his belt but has high potential to hit heights that Milan have not seen since the days of Nesta and Maldini.

Thomas Tuchel uses a variation of the Gegenpress professed by Rangnick. Playing as a defensive midfielder or as a centre back. Through careful development Kouassi can be developed into a behemoth in the centre of defence. With him coming to the end of his contract at the end of this season Milan will be able to get him on a free transfer. Moncada has met with the player and his entourage to personally convince the player to join Milan for his personal development.

STATS

As twitterarti say, Thiago Silva and A.C.milan is a bettee love story than twilight. Sold in 2012 by Silvio to balance the books to then  recent moneybags PSG for €42M a return for Thiago to Milan is always rumoured every summer.

With Thiago approaching the fag end of his career, and his contract expiring this season with PSG it presents an opportunity for many clubs including Milan to sign him on a free.

With huge changes expected with Rangnick expected to meet Elliot group in London to formalise his agreement (nothing is official yet)  a huge change is expected to be ushered in and the team to be drilled as per the tactical styles professed by Der professor it looks very unlikely that 36 year old Silva would be a good signing. Let us  examine 4 reasons why.

1. Tactically Unfit For Gegenpress

In this example below we can see how high Upamecano is up the pitch with the ball against Mainsz 05 (This move led to a goal). The basic idea of Gegenpress is to press high as possible and win the ball deep in the opponents’ third. This requires the last line of defenders to press very high up the pitch as even almost higher beyond the half way of the field. This makes the team susceptible to quick counter attacks and hence defenders are forced to track back.

While Thiago Silva is positionally adept, playing a high line against quick pacy forwards and maintaining shape would be an extremely difficult task for him at 36 years old. Not only has he lost his pace but he is far from mobile like how he used to be during his days at milan. Opposite teams would identify him as a weak link and exploit his lack of pace.

2. Recovery between games and Rangnick’s youth philosophy

Rangnick when interviewed by coaches’ voice said this about youth  “Nowadays at the age of 15 or 16 the young players are trained at a high level of performance, both physically and mentally. As a result they have three advantages over older players. Firstly they recover a lot faster from their exertions between games. Secondly their capacity to learn is higher, one of the privileges of youth”

Approaching 36 years of age Thiago Silva would find it extemely difficult to keep up with the high intensity football professed by Rangnick and it could lead to a lot of injuries. Not to mention the room for learning is also very less given he will be at Milan only for 1-2 years.

3. Financially challenging

At PSG Silva takes a wage of €12M per season (gross). With Milans finances a complete mess and a salary cap rumoured to be on the way, it would not make sense for Milan to employ someone who takes a huge salary only for 1-2 years. If Milan pay huge wages and do not qualify for the champions league the investment like umpteen others would turn our to be a bad one and Thiago Silva would leave Milan for free with nobody ready to buy him and redeem the investment we made on his wages.

Even if Thiago Silva takes a 50% pay cut it would mean he still takes €6M salary (€3M gross) only to be integrated into a tactical set up that could be Ill suited to his style of play as well as physical demands. And with a cash crunch it would be better to channel the salary to a younger player who could make a positive difference and redeem the investment.

4. Long term thinking

How many times have Milan paid the price for short term thinking or “quick fixes” and traversed this continuing banter era ? Milan are yet to replace their departing legends like Kaka, Shevchenko, Maldini, Zlatan and even Thiago Silva himself. Thiago Silva represents 1-2 seasons more at best and beyond that he would retire or continue in his homeland. If Milan are to create a cycle for everlasting success then Milan should create a core that will be able to contribute towards the club for a long time.

With Rangnick at the helm, he would help Milan bring in youth who are technically gifted and help them to shape their future creating the aforementioned core for everlasting success.

Concluding Remarks

Milan have been recently linked to PSG prodigy Tanguy Kouassi for a free transfer and it looks like Milan are looking on to build a cycle with young talented players. Time will tell if it is a successful approach

Defence has never been an area of concern for Milan since ages. From Paolo Maldini to Baresi to Alessandro Nesta to Costacurta Milan had the best defence in Europe often to the envy of other clubs. Recent history however suggests Milan are nowhere near the level of their legends. With romagnoli leading the revolution and Milan signing an able deputy in Theo Hernandez the Right back position has been a cause for concern.

In the last few Abate has proved himself a faithful servant to the club and was the last memeber of the title winning team in A.C.Milan. Milan brought in Andrea Conti for €24M but 2 cruciate ligament injuries in the space of a year damaged a promising career.  Milan found respite in Academy graduate Calabria who under Gattuso prospered but inconsistencies caught up and now Milan are once again in the market for a new Right back.

Recent rumours have suggested Milan are planning to use Ricardo Rodriguez as a negotiation pawn in a deal for PSV Right Denzel Dumfries. However a few Milan are familiar with Dumfries, so here is a 360° analysis on Dumfries.

Player Profile

Club: PSV Eindhowen

Age: 24

Nationality:Dutch

Foot: Right

Early Playing Days

Dumfries was first spotted by Heerenveen when he was a vital cog in his boyhood club in the Eerste Division title campaign. 2 seasons after he was signed up by PSV and was named in the Eredivisie Team of the season along with more notable named like De Ligt and Frenkie De Jong.

Positioning

Dumfries is a product of the modern attacking philosophy where he functions as an attack- minded Right back. He functions in the wide areas of the pitch. This helps to draw out the opposing teams left back out of position there create a temporary space between left back and left centre back for PSV’s attackers to exploit

He always like stay in the channel and does not cut inside from the wide areas unless he is demanded by an emergency situation in defence such as the Right centre back getting pulled out of position and is beaten.

His operation in the wide areas helps him to run into space as seen in the example below where attackers Malen and Doan move inside to create a narrow defensive line which gives space for Dumfries to run inside the box.

An close inspection of his pass radar suggests he passes more backwards but this is because of his advanced role and hence he is in more danger of getting blocked or tackled than other defenders. When he is on the ball he would try to cross the ball to midfielders or attackers who are more in a central position.

Defensive Ability

Dumfries is has a very imposing frame. He is 6ft2 inches and 176lbs which helps him win a lot of duels in the right channel. With his physique he is able to expand his frame and thus limit the opposing players passing lanes and time and therefore with his quick  press Dumfries is able to win the ball back.

However with a advanced position and agressive pressing he leaves a lot of space behind him which makes PSV susceptible to quick counter attacks. The solutions for these are of 2 types which involves Dumfries tracking back and covering the space or the Right centre back adjusting his position to prevent quick counter by closing down the space.

Attacking Play

If Dumfries is given the license to play such an advanced position leaving behind the gap behind it is because Dumfries yields more in attack than in defence. He averages 1.2 key passes per 90 minutes and a median if 41% success in his crosses so far.

An illustration of his attack- minded can be demonstrated in a particular scenario in this match where PSV winger Bergwijn pulls opposing left back out of position creating a gap between LCB and LB and Dumfries puts PSV’s inside forward through on goal.

When inside the box, Dumfries however likes to cut inside before taking his shot. He also has a very high shot %. He has made a total 8 shots on target so far inside the D-box. With his tall frame Dumfries also has the uncanny knack of scoring headers which is rare for full backs

Weakness

Being an attack minded defender with advanced position on the field, Dumfries often has poor spatial awarenesd that he leaves behind which makes his team vulnerable to counters.

He also attempts too much dribbles instead of passing to opponents and losses posession quite easily.

Concluding remarks

Rangnick in Leipizg has used Klosterman, a right back very similar to Dumfries as his make shift Right back. With a tall physical frame and pace, and agressive pressing traits he seems to be tailor made for Rangnick. With Milan attempting to sign him since December it remains to be seen whether the deal will unlock and Milan will have the solution to their right back problems

Stats For The Season

YouTube Link: Denzel Dumfries Skills

In the 2 previous editions we looked at various factors such as Milan’s financials, UEFA FFP and Rangnick’s credentials. Continuing the series we look at a very important factor along with the changes Rangnick (if appointed) can bring.

THE YOUTH SECTOR

A very important part in the modern game today as a football club is the nurturing of young talents. They provide a cost effective method of raising world champions with values of the club embedded in the player from his early playing days. Top clubs have made the academy their priority and have invested millions into the academy. As recently Bayern invested €70 Million into re-structuring their academy and state of the art facilities.

The Milan primavera is one of the most famous academies in Europe if not Italy. Tasked with producing some of the greatest players of all time, Milan academy has carved it’s niche in the youth area of football as well. Some of the famous Milan academy graduates are: Maldini, Baresi, Albertini, Costacurta, Filippo Galli, G. Donnarumma.

But since the turn of the 21st century, the production line has thinned and the current situation is described bleak at best. Quality of the players produced have not scaled up (it is difficult to find a player like Maldini and Baresi, I agree !!!) to the previous generations. The few notable graduates are Donnarumma, Cutrone, Locatelli, De Sciglio, Abate, Astori, Calabria and Antonelli. While Donnarumma has been Milan primavera’s flag high, the other few players albeit a bright start haven’t showed enough consistency.

Milan under previous ownerships never emphasized on youth or invested enough. Youth sector has always been overlooked and a revolving door for managers has led to different philosophies and different managers. Finally it led to relegation of the club from the primavera in 2018-19 which was the nadir of a pretty poor run of games and not replacing the performers after being called upto the main squad. Here are the possible reasons:

– Until recently Milan never laid emphasis on the youth academy, it was completely overlooked and therefore all the promising talents made their way to other academies.

– UEFA, in 2013, introduced the UEFA youth league. It is a youth level champions league for the primavera members. Playing in these competition helps the younger players to gain experience and settle nerves of playing on the big stage.

-There is  no Common philosophy for the main team and the primavera. In short the playing style employed in the main team is different from the primavera. This leads to a discord when an academy graduate comes from primavera to the main team

Ralf Rangnick when interviewed by the  Bundesliga  website spoke this about the youth “Nowadays at the age of 15 or 16 the young players are trained at a high level of performance, both physically and mentally. As a result they have three advantages over older players. Firstly they recover a lot faster from their exertions between games. Secondly their capacity to learn is higher, one of the privileges of youth. Several of today’s on-the-pitch styles of play are learned through mental exercises. Older players can also take steps forward in their development as part of a youthful side, the progress is simply more extreme in the case of younger talents. The third point is an unwavering team ethic. The ability to counterattack, the aggression in trying to win the ball and moving as a unit only works when done collectively. The performance both with and against the ball effects the entire team and requires an absolute altruism. Younger players often have a greater predisposition to invest in the team spirit because they’re aware that they need it for their personal style of play. Those are the three main advantages of utilising young players, always under the assumption that alongside their talent and education, they are surrounded by a healthy environment”.

Salzburg sends all their new recruits to their sister club FC Liefering which plays in 2.Bundesliga in Austria to get familiar with the the high intensity of European football. Liefering also play with the same style that is used by Leipizg and Salzburg which helps the players to settle into the club quickly.

HOW RANGNICK CAN HELP MILAN

Financials and FFP

Althrough Rangnick is not involved in the financials of the club directly, he and his team can use their scouting prowess to get in top-class players at low costs and wages which will ease the burden of the wage bill of the club and does not affect the style or quality of play.

While the club buys these players for a low cost, profit can be easily gained when these players move on to bigger clubs for tidy sums of money. RB Salzbug has reportedly made a profit of over €200M from player sales.

With capital gains from player sales and less wages of exsisting players Milan it will mean that less expenses and more income which will  lead to a healthy finances for Milan. This in turn  will automatically ease the shackles that UEFA has imposed on Milan via Financial Fair Play as the club is able to show it is in the green for finances.

Sporting Side

Ever since Allegri left Milan in 2013, Milan have tried out a total of 8 coaches until today with Stefano Pioli being the 8th one. None of these coaches have been able to impose a tactical identity or a clear style of play on the team due to poor recruitment and insufficient versatility in the team.

With Rangnick acting in the dual role of Director and Coach he is able to  direct his scouts to get players that suit his high intensity Gegenpress. Rangnick known as the “father of Gegenpress” has no lack of tactical identity and will be eager to transcend his style to the players.

And as we saw in the earlier edition, Rangnick is famous for identifying players early and integrating them into his team. His scouting team is one of the best in the world and it would be a major upturn if they will join Milan.

Rangnick also carries a message of a youth project. Often players always consider the project a team pursues and whether it matches with their goals. Leipizg has been an attractive site for young talents around the world with Leipizg providing a majoor career boost to players. Milan too could be a centre of attraction if the club presents a working plan of its rise to the top to the players.

Youth Academy

With Rangnick bringing an unified philosophy to the whole club it would apply to every sporting side of the club including youth academy. A manager who uses the same tactics as Rangnick would be identified and the primavera would be drilled and conditioned with the same playing style the senior team plays. This would help players to easily make the jump from primavera to the senior side.

With scout Geoofrey moncada already working in the club along with Rangnick and his scouting team they will work towards bringing major talents in and around Europe to the Primavera and play for Milan Primavera. Not only does this save Milan from spending money on finding replacmeents, it also gives major competition to exsisting players.

Players bought for the primavera and money spent on the Primavera is exempt from UEFA Financial Fair Play laws. This helps inorder for clubs to invest in the youth.

CONCLUDING REMARKS

While there are always risks that come along with a long term project and with Rangnick’s view of Football, the Good seems to outweigh the bad unless a catastrophe takes place. Unlike the previous few managers, if appointed, Rangnick will be given complete control of the club and this would help him to make decision easier with bottlenecks faced by earlier managers where a difference of opinion always occured between the directors and the coach. With Rangnick seemingly Elliot’s choice it seems they are planning to stick with him in the long run and bring much needed stabily

With the kind of peril Milan seems to be in and with its past glories seemingly too long ago, Milan needs a “factory resets” of sorts and start making changes to the modern vision of football that has ceased to exsist only on the field with different factors now pulled into the equation. Only time will tell what happens and whether it was a successful one.

PHYSIOLOGICAL FEATURES

Height: 1.86 Metres

Position:Left Midfield, Attacking Midfield

Foot: Right Footer

RB Salzburg is a Cornucopia of talents ever since it was reborn and re-christened. Many of the modern greats like Mané, Naby Keita, and future greats like Haaland and Minamino have been part of this wonderful club. Their latest product is Hungarian-born Dominik Szoboszlai. Known for their 1954 World cup team and legends like Ferenc Puskas, Dominik Szoboszlai comes from a country who had a rich history of top talents and sporting infrastructure but now face a crisis. With Szoboszlai, it is expected to change as his name rings in the top echelons of football’s hierarchy

Szoboszlai had a breakout season with Salzburg in the 2018/19 season where he helped them to win the Austrian Bundesliga. This season under their new American coach Marsch Szoboszlai has only started 7 league games of a possible 21. But however there is no doubt he is brimming with potential

POSITIONING AND MOVEMENTS

At Salzburg, coach Marsch uses a 3-4-1-2, 4-4-2 or a 3-1-4-2 formation depending on the opposition. In case of a back 3, Szoboszlai is slotted in behind the 2 strikers. When they play with a 4 at the back Szoboszlai plays as a left wide midfielder or a winger.

Being quick and technically competent, Szoboszlai attacks the half spaces of the left wing. Whenever he plays as a wide player he is tasked to cut in and play through the centre of the pitch and support the striker. Whenever the opposite team employs a low block or parks the bus and suffocates Salzburg for space, Szoboszlai drops outside his team’s attacking shape and revives passes hence creating space to recieve passes as shown below

What makes him special is his intelligent off the ball movement. He has a very uncanny ability to time his runs perfectly and therefore preserve energy as well as stay in the game.

In this particular goal Dominik scored in the UEFA group stage, at a particular Szoboszlai is smart enough to not sprint at top speed and waste his energy. However he makes sure that he is fast enough to match the player with the ball in the wide position. As Minamino is positioned to recieve a cross from the wide player it distracts the Genk defenders and draws them away. Taking advantage of this Szoboszlai sprints at top speed into the box and meets the cross with a volley to score a goal. This is a very special ability the boy posessess.

VISION AND UNDERSTANDING

Vision and understanding are 2 core featured of any naturally gifted midfielders’ game and Szoboszlai is overflowing with these qualities.

He has the ability to pick a pass that is very difficult to anticipate for opponents (even for his teammates as well sometimes). He can easily open up passing lanes and tracks the runs of his players even from a distance. This is a very useful skill to have during a counter attack.

In this particular game shown in the image below, Szoboszlai has the option of passing to his left towards Andreas Ulmer, but he spots the run of Rasmussen on the opposite flank and makes a cross field diagonal cross to reach him

Since Salzburg use the counter press or Gegenpress as it is called in Germany, their main modus operandi is to create overloads in attack and/or defence with fast physical players. In such a system it is the utmost need for a creative intelligent passer to be present so as to catch defenders who are out of position as well as advance a passing wave. In Salzburg this role is fulfilled by Dominik.

A very intriguing quality of Dominik is that he always prefers to pass instead of taking Long shot at goal

ON THE BALL ABILITY

Being 186 centimetres tall, Dominik has an unnatural frame for a attacking midfielder. This helps him to hold off defenders and shield the ball

His dribbling ability is also quite good. With a few tricks and special moves he beats defenders at will which allows him to create space and move forward. He also loves taking on defenders and always looks to best his man when he is on one-on-one with defender.

He plays an average of 46.84 passes of which around 6.02 are to the final third of the field. Great stats for someone who makes a lot of risky passes to unlock defences

WEAKNESS

Due to his lack of experience and maturity, Szoboszlai is always looking for more playing style and with this he becomes more sloppy and gives away possession to the opponents. He is also guilty of not releasing the ball at appropriate time which results in him being covered by 2-3 opposition players and then gives away a good chance or posession.

SZOBOSZLAI AT MILAN

Recent rumours have linked Szoboszlai to Milan. It has even made the player speak about Milan as a destination and how it interests him. The player is valued at €25M by Salzburg although competition to sign the player is high.

Having worked in a setup similar to the one professed by Rangnick (who incidetnally is the Director of RB Salzburg) he is familiar to the workings of the Gegenpress. And being a young player who is pacy, phsycial he fits in Rangnick’s philosophy. If Milan sign him then it would be a very good signing for sure. Dominik Szoboszlai, if he plays his cards right, can join the Hungarian hall of fame along with the greats theirs country has produced.

STATS

YOUTUBE LINK: https://youtu.be/KZyAOOzTDdI

With news fast approaching of a total revolution in the sporting area of Milan led by Rangnick, Milan have been much liked AZ Alkaamar striker Myron Boadu. Boadu, who is only 19 has had a phenomenal season so far until corona put an end to the season. Here is a tactical analysis of Boadu and how he could fit in at Milan

Player Profile

Club: AZ Alkamaar

Age:19

Height: 1.83m

Foot: Right footer

AZ Alkamaar is one of the Holland’s best academies in the present. Having produced some of the best players in the best they are currently having some of the best youth players in the team.Boadu has been marred by Injuries in his career. He has had 3 major injuries and it has come as a stop gap to his growth but it has slowed down his progress

STYLE OF PLAY

Boadu is quite strong and Pacey as a striker. These traits help him to play as a lone striker in a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 formation. Boadu isn’t a complete forward like Lewandowski or an Ibrahimoviç but he is very similar to a No.9 or a “fox in the box”.  Using his physical virtues Boadu can often link up play and dribble with makes him a useful forward to have in a lone striker formation

POSITIONING

Every great striker’s main virtue will be how he positions himself. Alkamaa’s coach Arne Slot predominantly uses the 4-2-3-1 formation. If you see heat map of his recent games, we can understand that Boadu’s shots are exceedingly from inside the box.

In the recent game against Heracles, Alkamaar played a 4-2-3-1 formation. In the image below, Boadu plays between the 2 main centrebacks while other defensive midfielders deal with Alkamaar’s attacking setup. Once the transition is over, Boadu moves in between the centre-backs to wait for crosses from the wide players.

In this game against ADO Den Haag, Boadu can be seen linking up with his midfield. He drops down which pulls the defenders out of position which helps create space for the attacking players to run into

In a 4-3-3 where he is accompanied by 2 flank players, Boadu is the highest point of the trident and they press toghether leaving no space for the opposition defenders to pass and make mistakes

MOVEMENT AND DRIBBLING

Boadu has a partnership with Alkamaar winger and prospect Clavin Stengs. They aid each other to play each other’s games. In this game against PSV (which they won 4-0) Boadu scored the third goal with the partnership of Stengs. Stengs runs with pace with the ball and Boadu matches it and runs behind the defenders, which allows Stengs to release him with a through ball and then boadu scored

Boadu has a nimble feet which makes him comfortable with dribbling inthe box and dribbling in midfield. He also combines movement well with dribbling due to excellent touch of the ball.

STATS FOR THE SEASON

Boadu has scored 20 goals and assisted 13 for this season making goal contribution tally 33 goals for the season.

HOW HE COULD FIT IN WITH RANGNICK’S SYSTEM

Usually Rangncik plays a 2 striker formation with one striker dropping deeper and a no. 9 feeding off the second striker. In Leipizig, Werner fulfills the role of the second striker while Poulsen plays the role of the No.9. Although Boadu is younger and experienced his predatory instincts make him a good fit for the role in the system. With his skillset and his excellent link up he can link up with a Second striker in Leão or Rébic and carry forward Milan’s quick counter attacks as dictated by the Gegenpress.

YouTube highlights: https://youtu.be/fiFiSQHjn90

Role at Villareal

One of the most important things to understand Chukwueze’s style of play is his role in Setien’s setup at Villareal. When Emery was the coach of Villareal he required more defensive discipline and work rate even from his wingers however Setien gave Chukwueze the license to roam and drift infield.

Being an extremely left footed player Chukwueze is used as an inverted winger in Setien’s tactics. Towards the defensive third and the middle third Chuk likes to stay wide right and cuts more inside when approaching the final 3^rd. Playing as the Right Winger in a 4-3-3 his movements depend on the opposite flank as much as the corresponding mezzala of his side (mostly Capoue). He would stay wide right to allow Capoue to make runs through the half spaces. Of course it is not excluded that while Chuk cuts inside, Capoue could overlap him.

Setien is a coach that grew up with Cryuffian philosophies which makes him very mindful of possession. Villareal averaged 60% possession for games after the World Cup which is the highest in La Liga. What Setien wanted from his front 3 was to pin the opposition defense back up to the half line by always creating a fear of counters. Chuk meanwhile was seen as the outlet to progress the ball from Villareal’s defensive half to the offensive half.

Also, last season Villareal mostly played with either a ball playing 9 or a false 9 in Jackson and Yeremy Pino. Pino would drop in between the lines to allow Chuk and the Left Winger to make runs ahead of him while he would collect the vertical pass and then turn it towards either of the wingers. Villareal usually liked to implement fast and direct attacks.

Perhaps this meant that they don’t like to cross the ball as much given how Villareal don’t have a physical presence upfront like how Milan Giroud. For this reason, Villareal only average 1.37 crosses per 90 as compared to Milan’s 2.32 crosses per 90. Wingers are instructed to rather take their man on and dribble inside the box before attempting low crosses or if that is not possible, they are asked to pass back and recycle possession to try and pierce the opposition defenders through the inside channels.

Strengths

Close Control and Dribbling: Close Control where the ball sticks to your feet like glue is an art that cannot be taught. It is a very rare skill. Something only the greats have done. Chukwueze has close control and it is extremely difficult to dispossess him. This is a skill that can come to use when Milan look to break down deep blocks

1v1 skills: His close control gives him ability to dribble out of tight spaces and change angles very quickly which helps to put defenders out of balance. It is a skill that helps you always get the better of your man

Pace: To beat your man you need pace not just without the ball but also with the ball. Chukwueze has tremendous pace and with a shot frame he is agile with and without the ball

Deft touches: Quick release of the ball takes out defenders very easily. Like Ruben Loftus Cheek showed in the build up to Romero’s goal, his touch created space and took defenders out of the sequence. Chukwueze can do the space inviting defenders to press him and then releasing quickly the ball to a teammate to take advantage of the space vacated by the defender.

Shooting: Chukwueze’s very underrated ability is his ability to get a shot out. He is able to generate lots of power and placement with his foot which is extremely difficult for keepers to save especially when it is placed very well

WEAKNESS

Physicality: Standing at 171 cm, the Nigerian isn’t the most sizeable player and can be prone to being roughed up a bit. It is difficult for people to catch up to him given his pace and his agility but knowing how Italian league and coaches think a player like Baschirotto would look to challenge him shoulder to shoulder to neutralize his threat.

Crossing: Once again this is very debatable given how Villareal don’t appear to be a team that likes to cross a lot. But Chukwueze barely crosses the ball and always attempts to take his man on rather than cross the ball but this also could be due to the fact that there aren’t very tall players (except defenders) in the Villareal team.

Lapses of concentration- Chuk is prone to passing errors when he takes his eye off the ball sometimes. He generates a few mis-passes which if he can iron out of his game can make him a top class player.

TACTICAL FIT

I don’t think there is a debate as to what position Chukwueze would play but how would Pioli use him is the big question. Given how Chukwueze is used to playing in a 4-3-3 and plays as an inverted winger similar to Messias, one can imagine he will be handed the same role.

Pioli likes to keep the size of the playing area compact vertically and horizontally meaning he employs a high defensive line and has his wingers cut inside to not allow the opposition to play out to the wings easily. While Chukwueze is not a pressing machine, he engages in cover shadows (man-oriented pressing) and cuts off passing options for the opposition.

Given how Chukwueze is used to playing next to a false 9/ ball playing 9 it makes all the sense that the Milan management actually got in Noah Okafor (previously targeting Thuram who is a ball playing striker) who is having the same characteristics as Chukwueze does occupy the vacated spaces. And at Villareal when he had a physical mezzala next to him who liked to advance forward, he now has a player with similar characteristics in Ruben Loftus Cheek at RCM/RM.

It has to be seen how Pioli deals with Chuk given how Setien didn’t give his wingers all the license to show case their individual ability or even cross the ball into the box whereas Pioli had given full freedom to Leao to choose the way he wanted to play to match his skillset.

STATISTICAL NUMBERS AND COMPARISON

So what story do the numbers say? To give a fair comparison I have used

X axis= Time the player took on a defender and beat him per 90 mins

Y axis = Shot creating actions + Goal Creating actions per 90

We can see that Chuk leads the pack with the most amount of defenders dribbled past while Pulisic (19/20) season considered and Leao come close to Chukwueze. Messias and Alexis are far off to the numbers put up by Chuk, Leao and Pulisic. Rebic (20/21 season numbers taken) is the worst of the lot. In terms of Shot and Goal creating actions Chuk comes behind Leao and Pulisic while Alexis, Messias and Rebic once again falls behind as it is common knowledge.

It is also worth noting that Leao and Chukwueze are very similar in terms of their style but what I observed is that style of dribbling seemed different. Leao liked to use his speed and physicality more and knock the ball forward and chase it while Chukwueze liked to keep the ball close to his feet and beat the defender. Graphics credit @DataMB_

CONCLUSION

Chukwueze had his breakthrough season in 2022/23 and approaching 24 years of age he is now on the verge of entering his peak. With Villareal looking for another mid-table season after Emery left them last season Chukwueze grabbed the move at the right time. Milan meanwhile has its fans prayers answered for a right winger since the time Suso left the club. With Pioli earmarking Chukwueze as his primary target and utilizing him for their last Non-EU spot over Taremi or Kamada, he now has his man and seems to have the tools to play better football.

Transfer Rating 9/10