Milan’s new model raises doubts about Italian football, linked to old patterns. Ballo Tourè and Faivre will not move. Now follow the improvements of Pobega and Caldara

I feel strangely suspicious of Milan’s primacy. I’m not talking about insiders. This comes in particular from the parties of Inter supporters, who have been convinced since the start of the season that the Scudetto will be a direct duel between Inter and Juventus. They were disappointed with Juventus but did not change their minds about Milan nor even about Napoli, another surprising presence. In fact, after the derby, they upgraded with the following theses: 1) Inter played better than Milan except for the last five minutes and made a huge number of goals. 2) As last year, at a certain point, Milan’s leadership will shrink. On the first point we can open the discussion, and on the second we wait and see. It is documented that Inter had greater chances to score, which Milan suffered in the first half of the second half, which is equally certain, but all this cannot cancel out the previous 11 league matches. And here I get to the main topic of discussion. Who could have gone ahead with AC Milan’s current average (10 wins and 2 draws) having faced at least 5 head-to-heads (Lazio, Juventus, Atalanta, Roma and Inter), counting on the second best attack (26 goals scored) and second best defense (11 A goal conceded), unbeaten for more than six months, and a previous goal on April 26 in Rome with Lazio?

An essential consideration should be added to the question above. It is as follows: The turnover in the ranking was achieved despite a series of unparalleled unavailability. This explains why Calabria, Selimachers, Leo and Kronic arrived exhausted at the station as they did not have the necessary replacement due to the injuries of Castilego, Messias, Florenzi, Ibrahimovic, Giroud, Covid, Theo Hernandez and Diaz. Let’s give it a try: let’s take the center forward away from some of the top seven or eight teams in Serie A and see what happens. So far Ibra has played two full matches (Roma and Derby) to leave Giroud. How do you explain Milan’s primacy despite these unexpected events? Here is the crux of the matter.

Because few who are aware of the novelty of the Milan model that has been planted on some unprecedented pedestals: 1) Not chasing the crazy demands of players and agents, so as not to make a pledge with the departure of Donnarumma and Calhanoglu, is in fact almost taking advantage of it dramatically; 2) Seeking budget sustainability by reducing the amount of salaries and trying to increase income from sponsors in the post-Covid period. 3) Supporting the three souls of the club with a full agreement between Gazidis, the technical region and the technical staff, in addition to the team.

On the other hand, the competition, and in particular Inter, is still tied to the old pre-Covid model: as a contributor, I just have to lose a mountain of money to ensure players buy with crazy numbers and agent salaries and then take on a free transfer. Collect big commissions.

In short, Milanello has an atmosphere reminiscent of the blessed years of Ancelotti without having the same champions because the sharing of programmes, football ideas as well as youth, the skill of the staff and the personality of the technical field are backed by solidity. Contributor, much more important than any other hero. To conclude the argument: no one can predict the future, it is clear that the requirement to resist to the end runs through the health of his group.

Latest from the market: Company sources confirm that there is no interference in the Ballo Tourè and Faivre indicates the upcoming football transfer market in January. Instead, it seems worthwhile to continue to carefully follow the improvements made by Pobega (in Turin with Juric) and Caldara (in Venice with Zanetti) as they could prove very useful in the next cycle.