Milan, what happens if Berlusconi stays? Here are the three possible scenarios...

17 mar 2017

It seems like a deal has been taking forever to be completed between Fininvest and SES for the sale of AC Milan. The Chinese group where supposed to pay the 3rd deposit of 100 million euros today (as a penalty since they already postponed the deal numerous other times) but this has been yet again delayed till next week. It seems like SES have encountered other bureaucratical issues and that is why they need a few more days. Fininvest and the Chinese group continue to say that they are optimistic that a deal will be concluded but as the days go by, a deal seems less and less likely to happen. If a deal does fail to occur, here are the 3 likeliest scenarios that could then happen.

1. NEW BUYERS - Yonghong Li seems to be working by himself. We still don't really know who is backing him financially speaking and this is why Milan fans are now very worried. Berlusconi seems ready to wait a few more days but if things don't change quickly, he will then be ready to try and find other investors. Since he has already received 200 million euros from SES, he might reduce his asking price for 99.9% of Milan. This would likely attract more new potential investors....

2.- A YOUNG AND ITALIAN MILAN - The second option would be to keep things as they are. Adriano Galliani would remain as general manager and Rocco Maiorino would stay on as sporting director. Berlusconi has already said that he wanted to build a young Italian Milan team if a deal failed to happen and this might be the case. Andrea Conti of Atalanta, Antonio Barreca of Torino would be options for this young and Italian Milan. Having said this, Milan would also try to sign and keep other young players of all nationality like Gerard Deulofeu for example. Milan would not have a lot of money to invest in this situation so they would first have to sell before they can then buy , a bit like they have been doing for a year now with success. They have been able to develop young players like Donnarumma, De Sciglio, Calabria, Locatelli, Suso and so on and they were then able to do add good young players like Lapadula, Gomez, Pasalic, Deulofeu and Ocampos to their roster on cheap deals.

3. BERLUSCONI'S RELAUNCH - The third option is more difficult since Berlusconi is older now and might not have the will to invest like he once did. In this case, Milan would still target young Italian players, but more expensive ones like Andrea Belotti or Federico Bernardeschi for example. Considering the club's debt and Fininvest's strong will to stop investing big sums in Milan, it will be hard for this third option to happen. As Berlusconi once said, it is hard for a single owner to compete with all the Arabic and Chinese dollars...

By Daniele Longo, adapted and translated by Jean-Luca Mascaro (@CalcioNews89)