€40m for Gimenez: Doable or Fantasy? [Bonus Article]

AC Milan are expected to table an improved offer for Santiago Gimenez, but is the signing doable or merely just a fantasy?

As is always the case during the January window, there have been many rumours and perhaps a lack of concrete developments. It has certainly felt a bit like that with Santiago Gimenez in recent days, with every single outlet writing about Milan’s interest in the player. A hefty sum will be needed to secure him but the big question is, can the Rossoneri afford it?

Let me just throw a caveat in here straight away. Football clubs have been known to operate on hefty deficits for a long time, especially the big clubs (Lex Barcelona), and it’s certainly true that bankruptcy is more avoidable than it would have been for a ‘normal’ company. That being said, taking on significant costs now - especially with no guarantees for top four still - could be detrimental for Milan.

As such, I will dissect the figures and evaluate what we could describe as a calculated risk, or perhaps even a desperate risk. With €40m being reported in the media, is that something the Rossoneri can afford? And most importantly, what are the tricks that Giorgio Furlani could use to limit the risk and still invest a significant amount? Let’s take a look.

First of all, we have to start with some background on Milan’s financial situation. It’s a bit boring at this point, I know, but it will certainly help us understand whether a heavy investment is possible. For the 2023-24 financial year, the Rossoneri registered a profit of €4.1m (-€2m compared to 2022-23) and this was largely thanks to the sale of Sandro Tonali, which resulted in a €48.4m capital gain.

The Champions League campaign, meanwhile, wasn’t as lucrative as 2022-23 since Milan got knocked out in the group stage. This meant the Rossoneri banked around €47m less from UEFA and ticket sales. Furthermore, while the overall revenue did increase in 2023-24, the fact that costs increased as well meant it was pretty much a zero-sum game. In short, a lot came down to the failure in Europe.

At the time of writing, it seems likely that the Rossoneri will reach the knockout phase of the Champions League, even if they don’t get the top 8 finish. This additional revenue would be very important for the mercato, not to mention that they have already secured around €11m from the Supercoppa Italiana win in Saudi Arabia. The lack of another Tonali-esque sale has thus been made up for a little.