Milan in 2015: Bonaventura, Donnarumma only bright spots in dark year
Before they can even rinse, they repeat, hiring another reformer only to quickly give him both barrels, too. The only difference, this time, is that the new guy (Sinisa Mihajlovic) hasn't been fired yet.
This...political language is very useful in summing up the Rossoneri's managerial merry-go-round, which has seen a number of faces come and go, including the Giuseppe Meazza's very own home-made Pep Guardiola, Pippo Inzaghi.
It feels like Milan have decided to take a leaf out of one of Silvio Berlusconi's political rivals, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who became a major candidate in left-wing* politics a number of years ago by calling for the entire political caste to be rottamata (scrapped - with the implication that a new system would be built in its place).
Trouble is, the Rossoneri have goneway beyond what Renzi proposed, affording Inzaghi the Rottamatore very little time before sacking him and bringing in Sinisa Mihajlovic, only to immediately turn on him as soon as signs of weakness appeared in September. From being the disciplinarian the Rossoneri needed to bring the dressing room to heel to a filthy Nerazzurro spy (Remember, Miha both played and coached at Inter under Roberto Mancini) when things got tough. Instead of learning from their mistakes, Milan spent 2015 repeating them with gusto.
The MO is always the same: players acquired with little logic or reason, and even less planning, with scarce consideration to their fit in the team's tactical picture. Coaches forced to pick up the pieces only a few months in, victims of a club that is incapable of assembling the building blocks needed to guarantee a glorious future.
Remember Adriano Galliani's blitz for Mattia Destro in January, when the Milan CEO went as far as to knock on Destro's door in Rome, as if he was the new Marco Van Basten? The former Roma reject was canned mere weeks into his new adventure, Milan never honouring the buyout clause in the deal.
In fact, Il Condor's transfer policy includes enough howlers to warrant comparisons to another bird: in Italy, he'd be a pollo; in America, a prize turkey. I think you get the idea. Fernando Torres was barely noticeable. Following an embarassing tenth place and a second season without European football, Galliani reacted by spending over €80 million.
Though I'd challenge anyone to grab a player of Bacca's calibre (and with over 40 goals in the previous two seasons) and European success for less than his €30 million release clause, paying Luiz Adriano €8 million with only six months left on his contract and bringing in Alessio Romagnoli and Andrea Bertolacci for a combined €50 million was pure folly.
Things had somehow started even worse, with the club failing to land Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Jackson Martinez and Geoffrey Kondgobia, before the operations were ignominiously rebranded as mere flights of fancy. The inability to complete the sale of the club to Bee Taechaubol played a major role, something for which Silvio Berlusconi deserves a major share of the blame.
The same man has already quit on this season's team, not to mention its new coach. Despite the spending spree, Milan have yet to narrow the gap with her rivals for the title (or Europe, for that matter), though they've found some success with the 4-4-2.
Mihajlovic's task in the near future is thankless: with his president not spending in winter, the former Fiorentina and Bologna coach will do his best to qualify at the very least for European football, only to likely have to pass the baton onto someone else anyway.
Miha will have to deal with his president's delusions of coaching grandeur - with Boateng being brought back into a team that, in Berlusconi's mind, should also include Menez, Balotelli and Bacca. Working under Il Cavaliere this year essentially comes with the risk of being embarassed in front of half the media if a couple of games go wrong.
In a team with more questions marks than guarantees, at least Milan fans can count on a young goalkeeper with a very bright future (Gianluigi Donnarumma) and the classy play and the spirited approach of Giacomo Bonaventura. Their emergence could bring the club a distinctly Italian hue, if Andrea Bertolacci and Alessio Romagnoli also emerge as mainstays.
Among the other positives, Rossoneri fans can look back with fondness at Diego Lopez's saves - before he was dumped for financial reasons, that is. Ultimately, Jeremy Menez's inspired play last season - before he went do with injury- is typical of Milan's nightmareish 2015: lots of promise and good intentions, plenty of unfulfilled potential.
*open to interpretation, as he is rumoured to have reached an agreement with Berlusconi before campaigning. ed.
