There was a time less than a decade ago when AC Milan were lacking any stars in their squad at all, but now they can count on several players who are elite in their positions.
The core that won the Scudetto in 2021-22 was above all solidified by Mike Maignan and Rafael Leao who both signed from Lille plus Theo Hernandez who came from Real Madrid.
Then, there are others who have been added to form a young and talented squad that continues to grow both in terms of experience and value.
Stocks on the rise
As has been highlighted by La Gazzetta dello Sport, there are seven Milan players that are worth more from a financial standpoint now than they were at the start of the season.
French midfielder Yacine Adli has become an important rotational option for Stefano Pioli this season, he is thought to be worth double the €10m that Milan paid Bordeaux for him.
The value of Hernandez has been growing year on year and after spending €20m to get him from Real Madrid, Milan could feasibly demand around €80m for the left-back now.
Leao is the most valuable player in the Milan squad and given he has the new contract and is getting back to his best form, he is worth around €120m despite having a €175m release clause.
Two former Chelsea players, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Christian Pulisic are certainly worth more now than what Milan paid. Loftus-Cheek would fetch around €30m now whilst Pulisic could go for €35m.
A similar price tag could be put on the head of Tijjani Reijnders, despite Milan only paying around €20m for him in the summer. Realistically, the same can be said for Mike Maignan, Pierre Kalulu and Malick Thiaw who are all worth more than what Milan paid at the time.
Analysing odds and placing smart bets
While waiting for the next Milan game to take place you might want to look at playing casino online, something a lot of fans do in their spare time.
A smart bet feels like backing Leao to score or get an assist against Roma on Thursday night in the Europa League quarter-final second leg.
Despite being on the pitch for 78 minutes of the first leg defeat, Leao was a symbol of the performance in a negative way because he was never in the game and provided virtually nothing of note.
Some credit must go to Daniele De Rossi, El Shaarawy, Celik and the tactical plan devised to limit his influence, but now in the second leg the feeling is that it is ‘now or never’ for the Portuguese winger, who is at a crossroads.
When the chips are down he usually delivers, and Milanisti will hope that also applies to the game against the Giallorossi.
Something to build around
AC Milan’s CEO Giorgio Furlani was a guest on ‘Supertele’, the Monday evening DAZN talk show hosted by Pierluigi Pardo, and he addressed a number of key topics.
One of the things that he was asked about was the notion of potentially making a big sale to net a capital gain that could then be reinvested in other areas of the squad.
“We don’t need to make sales to recover from losses. Being a profitable club, we have the opportunity to invest from the start. Leao, Maignan and Theo Hernandez are happy to stay at Milan and have long contracts.”
Despite what Furlani says, the departure of Sandro Tonali last summer for a club-record fee shows that no door is every truly closed and locked.
