Rating Milan’s Summer Transfer Window 2020/2021 Part 2

In part 2 we will rate who left the club in the summer transfer window and look at my thoughts about the window as a whole.

Departures

Loanees: Frank Tsadjout (ST), Alessandro Pilzzari (GK), Gabriele Belodi (CB) and Tommaso Poegba(CDM/CM) all left on loan this summer. All of the players above are included in deals that could see Milan snatch them back whenever needed whether that is at the end of the loan or a buy back option. All of these players are young talents for Milan who need more time to develop and right now Milan doesn’t have the minutes necessary for that. All of these deals are good deals because they also allow Milan to take the players back if needed which is important. 7.5/10

Lucas Biglia (CDM): Finally Biglia is gone and that is music to Milan’s ears. Biglia’s good moments were few and far between in the red and black jersey. Taking his wages off the books is big for Milan and saves them a lot of dead money. 10/10

Jack Bonaventura (CAM): This was one of the more emotional departures Milan have had in recent years. Jack is someone who has saved and carried this Milan team on numerous occasions. However, with injuries and a policy to bring in younger players it seemed like his days were numbered in Milan. As a sub late in the year Jack put in some good performances but an unwillingness to lower his salary saw Milan turn to other options. This departure hurts but it is understandable. 6.5/10

Pepe Reina (GK): For a backup to earn the wage that Reina did was completely outrageous. Plus Reina didn’t even play many games and when he did he was far from impressive. Getting that wage off the books was a great move by management. 6.5/10

Suso (RW): As Suso continued to play his game had gotten figured out. In Serie A at least all the defenders knew that all he wanted to do was to cut back on his right foot and knowing that they eventually stopped him with ease. Being so predictable hurt Suso so much that he was becoming a non factor for this Milan side. Combine that with a low work rate and lack of pace and that is a player that doesn’t fit this Milan team. Suso was shipped to Sevilla where he didn’t fair much better but as a team they won Europa League with Suso in the starting eleven. 7/10

Gustavo Gomez (CB): To be frank I completely lost track of Gustavo Gomez and didn’t realize he was just sold this year until I read our article by Muqaddam Malik. Gomez made no impact for the team and it is good that they got rid of him so other players could get minutes at the position. 7.5/10

Ricardo Rodriguez (LB): Ricardo Rodriguez was never a bad player for Milan but he isn’t the prototypical modern day fullback. Milan no doubt needed to sell him because like many others he was getting paid for little productivity. However selling him for such a low fee was not good. Teams should be paying more for a player with so many international caps. 5/10

Andre Silva (ST): Silva was key to the Rebic deal as both players were struggling to find their foot at their respective clubs. Milan even sold Silva for 9 million Euros. To get Rebic plus a little bit of money for a player that had no spot at the club is a fantastic move. 8/10

Lucas Paqueta (CAM): For me this might have been the best business move by the club. When Paqueta was bought he came with a high price tag and high expectations. To be blunt he didn’t meet those lofty expectations. Since coming to Milan Paqueta has lost value and for the Rossoneri management to break even on the transfer was fantastic. Even better is that they included a resale clause so if Paqueta does become the player that many expected and Lyon sell then Milan will get a percentage of the sale. 9/10

Diego Laxalt (LB): This was a bit of a head scratching move. Everyone knew that Laxalt had to go but they loaned him out and didn’t sell him outright. Also Milan failed to bring a player to replace him unless they see Diogo Dalot fitting that role. Kinda of a strange piece of business. 5/10

Allen Halilovic (CAM): Haliliolvic did nothing for AC Milan and was earring absurd wages. Good move to let him go. 10/10

Overall thoughts: To being the window Milan had a lot of holes to fill in the squad and had a lot of dead wood that they needed to ship out. Overall I think that Milan did a pretty decent job of accomplishing their goals but it wasn’t perfect. These loan deals do make me hesitant because as of right now there is no option to buy. We can look at these deals in two ways, we either negotiate a purchase price at a later date or we take these players on loan and take what we can get to make Champions League. Everyone that Milan bought outright or plan to buy next year (Sandro Tonali) seem to fit the new Milan as they are young, versatile and have room to grow minus the backup keeper. Many of these purchases filled holes within a very thin squad however, not every hole was filled. Milan still needed to sign a centre back, right wing and backup striker unless they believe Leao can fill that role. Not to mention that they wanted to upgrade for Rade Krunic but failed to do so. On the departures side, everyone that left had to leave as they weren’t performing and Milan were paying them too much for what they were doing on the field. Getting money for players that you have no use for is always great business. Overall I believe this was a good mercato, no it wasn’t perfect but Milan had so many spots to fill on such a small budget. Gazidis and company warned Milan fans to not expect crazy signings. This is a good building block for the squad but the team could have signed players in a few more key areas but what can we expect with the limited budget the team has.

Overall Transfer Window Rating: 6.5/10