Our tactics on the transfer market is starting to feel a bit like Milans before they fell into their current slump: sign old legends in the twilight of their careers like Beckham and Ronaldinho, let the key core of the team age without necessarily having long-term replacements in place and slowly turning away Italian players in favour of high-paid foreign mercenaries. Meanwhile during that 2011-12 season we built a young squad centered on a fully Italian spine of BBC, Buffon, Marchisio and Pirlo which let us flourish and completely dominate the competition for years to come.
Now the dealings are actually reversed, and Milan are actually doing well again with their young team centralized on an Italian spine. We still hold a massive lead to all the other teams due to the fact that we have the financial upper hand, but if we keep trying to buy players like Marcelo to join our recent dealings like Ronaldo, Matuidi and Bonucci while shipping the likes of Caldara the other way, the investment won't last for more than a couple of seasons like we saw with Higuain.
Now the dealings are actually reversed, and Milan are actually doing well again with their young team centralized on an Italian spine. We still hold a massive lead to all the other teams due to the fact that we have the financial upper hand, but if we keep trying to buy players like Marcelo to join our recent dealings like Ronaldo, Matuidi and Bonucci while shipping the likes of Caldara the other way, the investment won't last for more than a couple of seasons like we saw with Higuain.
Last summer: Ronaldo (33), Cancelo (24), Bonucci (31), Can (24), Perin (25), Spinazzola (25)
The summer before: Matuidi (30), Costa (26), Bernardeschi (23), De Sciglio (24), Bentancur (20), Szczesny (27)
7/12 aged 25 or younger
5/12 Italians
The only experienced players we have bought in the last two summers are Ronaldo, Bonucci and Matuidi. To me that seems a pretty decent ratio between young players and experienced players.
I know facts rarely matter in todays world but come on at least try a bit.
