AC Milan were once the defensive kings of Europe, with stalwarts like Paolo Maldini, Alessandro Nesta and Gianluca Zambrotta watching over the goalposts like the Praetorian Guard. Alas, their back line in recent years has been less imperious and more porous. Executive Adriano Galliani has signed a succession of inadequate players, with the likes of Philippe Mexès and Cristian Zaccardo good for comedy value, but woefully lacking in ability.
Alessio Romagnoli is an expensive, but worthwhile gamble for AC Milan
Signing top young prospects is something the Rossoneri should be doing a lot more of.
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But Milan may finally have reason to be optimistic about the future of their back line as they appear to be on the brink of completing the big-money signing of Italy youth international Alessio Romagnoli from AS Roma, reportedly paying €25 million for the privilege.
It's a signing that's receiving a lot of coverage, and not just because of the hefty transfer fee. It's partly because Romagnoli is leaving the club which he grew up with, with Milan throwing their weight around in a way they haven't for quite some time. This time, they're not plundering Chievo or Parma's best young talent, but one of the biggest clubs in the league's. Squint, and it's almost like the olden days.
Of course, that doesn't mean their problems have gone away, nor that they've been able to bully Roma into selling. Instead, the Giallorossi are probably happy to receive such a big transfer fee for a player that has never been featured regularly in their first team (and apparently of whom a photo has been leaked wearing a Lazio shirt), and one imagines Romagnoli was lured by an enhanced pay packet and the promise of first team football rather than Milan's stature.
But regardless, Romagnoli is a gamble very much worth taking. It’s a transfer that breaks with the recent trend of selling off their biggest young talents and replacing them with average, overpaid veterans. It’s a signing made with the future in mind. At worst, Romagnoli will become a capable squad player; at best, he will become a stalwart of the Italian national team for a decade. He certainly doesn’t lack the confidence to do so, having reportedly opted to take Nesta’s famous No. 13 shirt at the San Siro.
Ultimately, it's likely that paying €25 million for Romagnoli will prove to be a better move in the long run than skimping on transfer fees and hoping the likes of Gabriel Paletta will miraculously wake up being good enough to play in the Champions League. If Milan want to return to the top table any time soon, there's no avoiding the need to spend on the best talent.
The loan-to-probably-sale of Stephan El Shaarawy to Monaco earlier in the summer was a bitter pill for Milan supporters to swallow: It seemed they'd learned nothing after another difficult season, and were selling off their crown jewels to replace them with aging veterans like Luiz Adriano and Carlos Bacca. It still looks like a terrible deal. Fortunately, their other business has looked rather more promising. 21-year-old centre-back Rodrigo Ely has joined from Serie B, while midfielders Andrea Bertolacci, 24; Simone Verdi, 22; and José Mauri, 19, have all featured in Serie A.
Whereas previously Milan have struggled to strike the balance between youth and experience, this summer has given coach Siniša Mihajlović the tools to move towards redressing it. Their business has been far from perfect, but signing Romagnoli would further suggest that they are slowly but surely moving in the right direction.
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