And We're Off... With a Hitch [Newsletter]

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Jan 23, 2025

It took a while, but AC Milan are finally just an official announcement away from completing their first signing of the January mercato, namely Kyle Walker. Furthermore, the Rossoneri secured their fifth consecutive win in the Champions League against Girona last night and now have a top-8 finish firmly in their sights. It’s not all positive, though, as a result of a certain injury…

Based on that intro, you can tell that a lot has happened in the last 24 hours. The famous ‘here we go’ arrived for Walker-Milan yesterday afternoon, just hours before the clash against Girona, and the Galatasary-linked Emerson Royal then managed to get himself hurt after less than two minutes on the pitch. Adding a crucial win to the equation, it’s understandable that Rossoneri fans are feeling mixed emotions.

Starting with the Englishman, he landed in Milan this afternoon and will soon sign his contract with the club, provided all goes well with the medical tests. Especially in light of Emerson Royal’s injury, which we will come on to, it’s an important addition to Sergio Conceicao’s team and the terms of the deal are also quite favourable: a dry loan with an option to buy worth around €5m.

We can only hope that more signings are on the cards, but there is no doubt that the aforementioned injury has complicated matters. Milan, by all accounts, expected to offload the Brazilian this month and had even scheduled a meeting with his agent and Galatasaray for today, which says a lot. The decision to play him from start yesterday can thus be questioned, even if we don’t have all the information at hand.

Initial reports suggest that he could be sidelined for around three months, so he will definitely be left out of the Champions League squad for the knockout phase, if we make it there. He will also - at least temporarily - open up a slot for the Serie A squad list, and perhaps in these desperate times he could even be left out until the end of the season (if there ends up being a surplus due to January signings).

Shifting our focus to something a bit more fun, Rafael Leao led Milan to a crucial win against Girona in their pursuit of finishing top 8 in the UCL league phase. With Dinamo Zagreb remaining away from home, data suggests the Rossoneri have a 73.6% likelihood of succeeding, and the translation is that three points are needed. Due to the tight standings and a poor goal difference, a draw likely wouldn’t be enough.

It’s a win or nothing, or rather two extra games to play… You only need to skim through Milan’s schedule to understand the importance of fewer games, not to mention that finishing in the top 8 would result in additional revenue. More of the latter is always better, especially amid the failed departures and the Rossoneri’s supposed interest in Santiago Gimenez…

In case you are interested, we did a full breakdown of how the new Champions League format distributes prize money at the start of the season.

News Bulletin

➤ Milan Futuro were denied three crucial points in a 2-2 draw with Ascoli by a late equaliser, one scored following an unnecessary red card. Two new signings arrived a couple of days before that, while a report looked into how much the Futuro squad is actually helping the first team.

➤ Milan Primavera had their unbeaten run broken in a 1-0 loss to Fiorentina over the weekend, but then on Wednesday Filippo Scotti inspired a late comeback victory over Lecce, scoring twice in the final 15 minutes to secure a 2-1 win.

➤ Milan Women failed to clinch three important points against rock-bottom Sampdoria on Sunday afternoon, eventually drawing 2-2 and wasting a good opportunity to put pressure on the teams above. A place in the Scudetto play-offs remains in danger.

➤ A round-up of the latest transfer news: Milan are trying to sign Santiago Gimenez late in the window, Strahinja Pavlovic has rejected a €20m+ move to Fenerbahce, Emerson Royal’s serious injury has ruled out a move to Galatasaray, Kyle Walker is having a medical on Thursday and Fikayo Tomori has turned down Juventus.

➤ Despite the Champions League win, there remains an uneasy climate surrounding Milan. The fans are furious about ticket prices and there have been further anti-ownership protests, while Sergio Conceicao has been vocal about the lack of character in the team. There could be big changes in the management in the summer without a UCL spot, with Andrea Berta linked.

➤ Our features over the past week include tactical analyses of both the win against Como and the defeat against Juventus, plus a look at how and why Conceicao is planning to evolve Milan into playing a Porto-esque 4-4-2 system.