AC Milan 2016-17 season review: Results, roster changes, and summer transfer targets

It’s been a long and frustrating few years for AC Milan, but after spending a lot of time in a long, dark tunnel, there’s finally some light shining on the San Siro again. They finally had a decent season again, finishing sixth in Serie A and putting themselves into position to make the UEFA Europa League group stage next season.

That’s obviously not where Milan want to be in the long run, but after too many seasons where their progress was going in the wrong direction, that’s a sure sight better than it was. And with new owners promising a quick return to glory, Milan’s fans are more excited than they’ve been in a long time — and that could be trouble for the teams above them in Serie A.

Milan finally decided to lean on some of the talented younger players they’ve accumulated over the last few seasons, with Suso, Alessio Romagnoli, Manuel Locatelli, and Mattia De Sciglio all playing significant roles for the rossonero this season and all finding success. By far their biggest success story, though, was that of Gianluigi Donnarumma, the 18-year-old goalkeeping sensation who, despite his young age, was in his second season as Milan’s main man in goal, and was tremendously successful doing it.

And with that faith in youth and the quality performances that came with it on the pitch came a lot more success for Milan in the standings. They were one of the few teams to manage a win over Juventus this season, and were almost constantly in the top three from late October until a swoon in form in mid-January into February saw them fall to seventh. They ultimately managed to finish in a European place, though — and for icing on the cake, finished above arch-rivals Inter Milan.

For all their inclusion of youth, a lack of depth meant that Milan still had to lean a little bit too much on average players who just weren’t good enough to help push the team forward. Ignazio Abate, Jose Sosa, Leo Vangioni, Gianluca Lapadula, and Cristian Zapata all played much bigger roles for the team than their talents would typically deserve for a team at the level Milan is trying to be at, and they need to vastly improve their overall squad quality to avoid that in the future.

Of course, some of those players played as much as they did because of injuries. Giacomo Bonaventura, Davide Calabria, Juraj Kucka, and Carlos Bacca all struggled with fitness at different times this season, and the constant forced shuffling of the lineup from injuries kept Milan from achieving much tactical consistency to build on.

Milan’s new owners have promised big things for the future of the club, including trying to get a new stadium deal done. They’ve also been aggressive in the transfer market, already signing Mateo Musacchio from Villarreal and chasing after several other notable players already, including Alvaro Morata and James Rodriguez.

More than that, though, they’re finally getting some consistency from the managerial post, with Vincenzo Montella signing a new long-term deal with the club to continue guiding the team forward. With a consistent vision on top of the club and the petty interference of Silvio Berlusconi a thing of the past — not to mention what could be a more consistent financial backing — there’s a lot of reason to expect that Milan will be back fighting in the Champions League places of the Serie A table much sooner than later.

Milan have already signed a good central defender in Musacchio to partner with Romagnoli, and are reportedly on the verge of signing an excellent young midfielder in Franck Kessie. Those two will add much-needed quality to the team’s spine, allowing them to concentrate on needs in other areas.

Those needs include another high-quality attacker, though re-signing Gerard Deulofeu on a permanent basis would help with that after he spent half the season on loan from Everton and generally impressed during his time with the team. Many of the current rumors involving Milan are based around various strikers and creative attackers, and with Carlos Bacca aging and the team lacking much depth in the final third, such rumors make a lot of sense — they need that quality if they’re going to push their way up the table.

Of course, some players will have to leave to make room for Milan’s new additions, though that list isn’t hard to make. Keisuke Honda is set to leave with his contract expiring, and players like Andrea Poli, Jose Sosa, Ignazio Abate, and Cristian Zapata can all easily be sold off to clear some space. They won’t make much money from such sales, but getting their wages off the books will be helpful.

The other thing that Milan need to do this summer is make sure to keep Gianluigi Donnarumma happy. Contract negotiations between the young goalkeeper and his club have reportedly not been going well, with rumors swirling that he could leave the club this summer if those talks don’t improve. Milan have apparently threatened to bench Donnarumma if he doesn’t sign a new deal, and that would be a dark outcome indeed for Milan to lose what looks like a generational talent in goal so soon.