But the strategy we adopted is partly due to the hand dealt (uefa sanctions, not having a stadium, not having EPL tv deal). It’s not like we have EPL money but we just chose to be thrifty. Mistakes like Paqueta and Piatek cost us a lot more than Vlasic did for Everton.
The strategy we adopted was because the previous one didn't work. The sanctions were overwhelmingly the result of Li's tenure. If Paqueta, Piatek, Samu (25m), Laxalt (14m), Caldara (35m) etc worked out, Leonardo wouldn't have been fired, we wouldn't have changed course. Leonardo did things the "a few extra million" way and it failed, spectacularly.
We make more money than West Ham. We make more money than Leeds. The EPL TV deals mean that their revenues are closer to us than they should be (our position in our league vs theirs) but we make more, can spend more, but we don't have to.
There's no
need to spend extra. Vlasic is not a unicorn. Neither is CDK. Until we developed Leao, people were saying we should sell him for 25m before his value plummets, or am I imagining things? Theo was going to Leverkusen, not Barca, not City. Our competition for Maignan wasn't Arsenal, who wanted a keeper, it was Roma.
All Milan's management is doing... is the most milktoast basic fucking finance bro, "I talk about my expensive water bottle" with my patagonia quarter-zip corporate consultant bullshit. They're taking advantage of irrationality in a market.
They're treating players, and the subsequent acquisition costs, like just numbers on spreadsheets. The human touch of Maldini and Pioli etc maximize those numbers to create value for Milan, by performing. It's the systemized friendly touches that keep the employees feeling good, like calling Abercrombie slaves "models" for legal and emotive purposes, the management talks about the club having greater meaning and foster some sense of "family" by not fucking them over professionally, so that business runs better.