Destination Calcio feature by Luke Taylor

Milan are in disarray. The project is not bearing the fruit that was expected post-2022 Scudetto. RedBird isn’t delivering, on or off the pitch.

Stefano Pioli was sacked as manager, and club legend Paolo Maldini was axed as sporting director soon after.

Since then, Milan have plummeted, with disastrous performance after disastrous performance, leaving them floating around midtable and unsure if they will secure European football for next season. 

If one moment in this spiral is key to the clear lack of direction, it is the sale of Sandro Tonali. 

Born in nearby Lodi (Sant’Angelo), a tiny town with around 13,000 inhabitants, most of whom support Milan, Tonali was poised to be the poster boy for the next generation of AC Milan. It was a role he looked destined for when he took a pay cut to sign permanently for the team he supported as a child. 

Contrary to popular belief, Tonali’s idol growing up was not Andrea Pirlo. Instead, he modelled his game on Gennaro Gattuso. Yes, Tonali has wonderful technical ability, but it is his grinta and work rate that make his love for Rino evident. Regardless, he was always referred to as the ‘heir to Pirlo’.

His looks and time at Brescia amplified that, too. But his play did not. He wasn’t a Pirlo-esque player then, and still isn’t now.

Pirlo is on the same page. “Tonali doesn’t look like me as a player. He is much more complete, both defensively and offensively.” High praise indeed.

Tonali was destined to be Milan captain. “I know what I did to get to this shirt, and I would never make the mistake of leaving,” he once told Corriere della Sera. He was tactically astute and showed leadership qualities that would be suited to Milan and his story, giving similar essence to Paolo Maldini or Franco Baresi. In his second season at Milan, success came when he played an integral part in the system that won the Scudetto. 

Fast forward a year, and he was gone. And no one could truly understand why or at least come to terms with the club’s reasoning. The theory is that they cashed in on an offer that would make Tonali the most expensive Italian player of all time. A €70million fee was reported and given that Milan had put up one of the worst title defences in history, they must have felt that redistributing that money into the squad was the correct decision.

Yunus Musah, Samuel Chukwueze, Christian Pulisic, Tijani Reijnders, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Noah Okafor all arrived in the same window. A solid reinvestment? Milan fans and calcio neutrals will disagree. 

Milan journalist Martino Puccio told Destination Calcio: “I don’t think any Milan fan will think the signings softened the blow. Tijani Reijnders is the only one that fans will enjoy watching, the rest have been inconsistent or underwhelming.

“Ultimately, they (Milan) wasted a window where they not only lost one of their best players, but did a terrible job of reinvesting.”

Milan sit ninth in Serie A, miles off the pace in the race for the Champions League. The hunt goes on for their new sporting director. Fabio Paratici’s move to the San Siro collapsed after concerns over the ban he is serving for his part in a financial scandal at Juventus. It looks like Igli Tare is the favourite for the position, but the question is, can Milan steady the ship?

In hindsight they would probably not have sold Tonali. The impact of the sale cannot be understated – for their project on the field and for the connection with the fans.

“The initial feeling amongst the fanbase was uproar,” Puccio said. “It was a corresponding move after Maldini and (Frederic) Massara left the club, which signified a turn in direction and a lot of people were unhappy with that.

“Regardless of how high the fee was, they (fans) knew they were losing a real Milan fan, someone who was super talented at a young age and signified the end of era that turned around the club.”

Comparing the journey both parties have been on since only rubs salt in the wounds for Milan. Tonali has bounced back from his long gambling ban and cemented himself as a crucial player in Newcastle’s set-up, emerging as a genuine fans’ favourite. He is the battery charging their push for a return to the Champions League, having helped them end their 70-year wait for a domestic trophy with the League Cup final win. 

Each day, though, news outlets in Italy fuel talk that Tonali wants to return. It has been written many times that he never wanted to leave. Will he go home? Eventually he will, but he’s building something good in Newcastle and has the potential to grow with the club into a Champions League regular. Adding to the medal haul seems more likely in England too.

Milan have to be rueing the day they let him go. The sacking of Maldini was more seismic, a decision that hindered their progress significantly more. But it was the symbolism, as well as the loss of such a talent, that put Tonali’s sale in the limelight. 

What it would take to bring him home right now, Milan can no longer afford. Moving forward, the hopes for Milan have to be that they will turn it around with a new leadership team and a new coach.

Most importantly, they just have to hope that, despite the rumours, Tonali does not sign for Juventus…