AC Milan show no will to spend in January

Gennaro Gattuso has essentially ruled out any moves in or out this January transfer window. Commenting during his press conference Friday, the Milan manager said , “We don’t need to sign anyone because we have really good players and I want to work with these boys.” He then added all he wanted for January was that, “The best gift would be not to lose players to injuries, I don’t expect anything except to put my players in the best physical and mental condition.”

While this might be good news for some Milan fans, I have a feeling others are not as excited by this. Despite spending around 230 Million Euros this past Summer transfer window the results have not been nearly what we expected when these moves were announced. Problems for the defense and lack of cohesion to the poor performance of Milan strikers including new boys Andre Silva and Nikola Kalinic.

Now, here in January, Milan sit in 11th place with 28 points on 20 games played. Add in the owner problems with majority owner Li Yonghong who allegedly took a loan from US private equity fund Elliott worth more than 300 million euros and you have got this mess with UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

Is the solution spending money in January?

Maybe, maybe not, but what is clear is that Milan need something to change fortunes this season whether that is a shiny new transfer or success in the Europa League something has to change. Reports earlier this week suggested Milan were looking at Mousa Dembele from Tottenham Hotspur in England so, Gattuso showing no will to spend still is a bit disappointing since Milan can use another striker and maybe a winger type player. Historically January transfer moves are not typically game changers, but a nice change of pace could be what Milan need.