Explaining Milan's budget for the 2026 summer mercato [Bonus Article]

We have arrived at the third and final instalment of my mini-series on the financials. After going through the prize money of 2025-26, as well as the Europa League revenue we should expect for 2026-27, it’s time to take a look at the mercato budget. How much can Milan spend? And perhaps more importantly, which players do they need to sell?

It would probably be fair to say that most Milan fans base their expectations for each season on the summer business. Considering just how big an impact a good mercato can have, that certainly makes sense, but it also means that a lot of eyeballs are on it. Rather than an opportunity, it almost becomes a burden, something that the clubs simply cannot afford to mess up.

In light of the above, optimism has been lacking since Milan’s top-four fiasco was confirmed. Without the Champions League, the revenue decreases drastically (as I covered in the last bonus) and that subsequently has a massive effect on the mercato. In the Rossoneri’s case, such a fiasco instantly reveals that someone will be sold, and we are not talking about deputy players either.

We can all remember how it was after the 2024-25 season, i.e. last summer, when Milan made it their mission to register capital gains. They did so successfully in the end, and while you can have complaints about the replacements signed, it wasn’t strictly due to the lack of funds. More so the mismanagement of funds, as most of you have already highlighted in recent months.

Anyway, before I ramble on too much, what is the situation looking like this summer? While it would be easy to point to last summer and just say “we need to do that again”, that wouldn’t be entirely correct as Milan actually have some revenue coming in from European competitions this upcoming season. It does actually help a lot, so let’s take a look at what we need to know for the summer.