Impending Milan Takeover Doesn’t Need Revolution, Just Evolution

The latest Derby della Madonnina isn’t one that Milan fans will want to keep in the memory bank for long.

Milan and Inter met in the second leg of the Coppa Italia this week, and the reigning Italian champions promptly blew their city rivals away, winning 3-0 and proving that despite the Rossoneri being at the summit of the Italian table at present, Inter are still top dogs in the city.

Milan had won the previous derby in Serie A back in early February, but the manner of their victory wasn’t as authoritative, as domineering, as Inter’s victory in the Coppa. Both sides had their strongest XI’s selected – barring injuries – so Milan really can have little excuse.

But despite the defeat, news of a pending takeover could spell bright times ahead for the red-and-black half of Milan, very bright.

InvestCorp, a Bahrain-based investment company, which oversees $42billion in assets across a wide range of sectors, from private equity and real estate to infrastructure and credit management, has made an offer to buy the club. The company has brands such as Gucci and Tiffany and Co. under its umbrella.

Their offer of $1.08bn to buy around 90% of Milan seems enough to entice current owners Elliott Management into a sale. Elliott took over Milan less than four years ago after previous Milan owner, Yonghong Li, defaulted on his $300m loan with Elliott and therefore had to relinquish control of the club.

According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, talks are moving at a very fast pace, so much so that the closing for the deal could be completed by the end of April, or at the very latest at the beginning of May, with the obligatory due diligence still on going.

The deal, should it happen, would be the Middle East’s first foray into Serie A, with the majority of foreign owners in the league hailing from North America. InvestCorp wants to expand its portfolio in Italy, and recognises that Milan is one of the country’s biggest brands with a global reach, even outside of sport.

This has inevitably sent rumours into overdrive about who the club could sign this summer should the deal be ratified as quickly as been reported. Elliott, alongside directors Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara, have managed to bring Milan’s debt down from over $215m just two years ago to around $103m, but this figure is expected to decrease further by the end of the 2021/22 financial year, with Milan able to count on Champions League money this season.

It’s thought that the club’s debt by the end of this season should stand around $60m, a remarkable achievement while still able to keep the club competitive and a potential Scudetto a major possibility.

La Gazzetta states it’s likely that InvestCorp will want to keep Maldini and Massara in place, with only the role of current CEO Ivan Gazidis in some doubt. This would be a smart move, as Maldini has proved that he’s just as good off the pitch as he was on it, with the Milan legend able to convince the likes of Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez to join the club after having talked with him.

Moreover, the pair have been working on signings ahead of next season for months, with it believed that Divock Origi will sign as a free agent once his contract at Liverpool expires and Sven Botman will follow Mike Maignan in swapping Lille for Milan.

Rumours of InvestCorp willing to spend $324m on the summer market weren’t long in materialising, with the likes of Sebastian Haller, Christopher Nkunku, Gianluca Scamacca, Paulo Dybala, Nicolo Zaniolo, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Real Madrid pair Marco Asensio and Isco all mentioned. There’s even been talk in England of Milan making an attempt to bring Romelu Lukaku back to Italy and ending his Chelsea nightmare.

Of course, most of these won’t happen, even if the takeover does go through. Moreover, while it’s doubtful that that the kind of money will be spent, the truth is likely somewhere in the middle. Milan are at a point now where Stefano Pioli’s side only needs to be fine-tuned. Another striker is essential regardless of Origi’s impending arrival, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud can’t be relied upon for an entire season. Milan’s difficulty as of late has been scoring goals and creating chances, and it’s fairly obvious that Junior Messias, Alexis Saelemaekers and Brahim Diaz, while good players, can only get you so far.

Replacements for Franck Kessie and Alessio Romagnoli, both expected to leave on free transfers at the end of the season, will also be needed.

Four or five key signings is enough to turn Milan from challengers into a major force once again. But all of this is speculation at this stage. Maldini and Massara will only know of their potential budget once InvestCorp formally take over.

“The sovereign wealth funds, or at least those connected to sovereign wealth funds like Investcorp, also want a return on their money, but their objectives are not purely financial. In football, that means victories,” wrote Italian journalist Marco Bellinazzo for Italian financial newspaper Il Sole 24 Ore.

Should InvestCorp take over, as expected, and with Serie A’s other power brokers Juventus and Inter mired in debt, Milan could be set to be the dominant team in Italy once more, just like the early 1990s at the height of the Silvio Berlusconi era.