Chapter 52 Salary cuts
Back in the league, Fiorentina vented all their grievances on their next opponent Regina, and on the road, Fiorentina finally swept the weak Reggina with a score of 7:0.
During the game, Digan scored a hat-trick, and Cavinagh, Pazzini, Hamsik and Modric also made contributions, and when the game was over, not only did the Reggina players leave the field in an instant, but even the Reggina fans in the stands played a flash mob.
Speaking in an interview after the game, Deegan said: "We didn't mean to hit and insult our opponents, but after the last game, my teammates and I started to wonder if the rules of football had changed, because we played the way we used to play and we couldn't win at all, so we need a game to prove what is right, but the good thing is that the game is the same as before, but it makes me even more confused about why we play the same football." , at Camp Nou were not allowed to get the victory they deserved! ”
UEFA expressed its silence on Digan's complaints, after all, his methods were indeed very inferior, and Regina, who was innocently stabbed seven times, was very aggrieved.
You have to do experiments to prove it, why did you find us!
Recruit whoever messes with whom!
Fiorentina enjoyed a thrilling victory, but his brother Kaka had to settle for a two-front rout, losing at home to Sampdoria in the league after being knocked out of the UEFA Cup by Werder Bremen.
After the game, Berlusconi and Galliani left the San Siro with black faces, and perhaps another big plan was brewing in their hearts.
After the end of this game, news soon came that the team's vice-captain Ambrosini and AC Milan's contract renewal negotiations had problems, but the problem is not only that he is alone, many veterans' contract renewal issues have been put on hold indefinitely, for AC Milan's youth, this is a good thing, of course, regardless of the indiscriminate "one-size-fits-all" approach, there are also pros and cons.
Due to the opposition of the fans, it was mentioned that Seedorf's renewal on the agenda was shelved, the Dutchman renewed his contract with AC Milan in 2007 until the summer of 2011, and in 2011, Seedorf will also reach the age of 35, according to the past practice, AC Milan will renew the contract with these veterans year by year, but this season is different from every season, the season has played so far, in addition to the summer renewal of Gattuso, it is goalkeeper Abbiati and veteran Inzaghi, The reason is that their contracts expire in the summer of 2010 and 2009 respectively, and they have only been offered two and one years respectively, which is very different from what AC Milan have done in the past.
In the past, AC Milan's practice was always to renew the contract first, even if it was terminated by agreement with the player in the end, such as Pancaro, Stam and others, who left the team for free before the contract expired.
Seedorf is a troublesome man, although he is still starting and still scoring goals, and the opposition from the fans is growing towards him, it is certain that if Carlo Ancelotti is sacked at the end of the season, Seedorf's position will be greatly shaken, and in such a situation, the club will not want to renew Seedorf's contract under pressure from the fans.
Another person whose contract renewal has been shelved is Kaladze, which is somewhat controversial, because the 31-year-old Kaladze is still a relatively good player on AC Milan's aging defensive line, and his poor performance this season is also affected by injuries, but AC Milan Club also has their considerations, Kaladze's success in the business world has made his annual salary of more than 3 million as a player no longer able to bring him stimulation, and compared with previous years, Kaladze lacks motivation.
Relatively speaking, it is Ambrosini who is not very fair, unlike Seedorf and Kaladze, Ambrosini's contract will expire in 2010 when he will take over the captain's armband next season, but so far, the renewal negotiations are still in a stalemate, Ambrosini's loyalty and contribution to the team is obvious to all, and if all the veterans are beaten to death in part because of his youth, it is not what fans want to see.
It's just that they were out of the League Cup, and the league lost to Sampdoria, which is full of youthful passion, and is currently only ranked fourth in the Serie A rankings, and may even be squeezed out of the top four if you are not careful, and you don't even have a place in the Champions Cup qualifiers.
Galliani, who had previously expressed support for Ancelotti, also stretched his face: "The premise for Ancelotti to stay next season is to be in the top three in the league." ”
In other words, even if he finishes fourth and participates in the Champions Cup qualifiers, Ancelotti will not be able to keep his position.
Carlo Ancelotti also recognized that the future was bleak, but in this way, he was also relieved, and it was obvious that he could not solve the cancer that Berlusconi emanated from his roots: "I know very well that if Milan does not achieve their goal, that is, less than third place, a lot of things will change, including me, but it is good, at least let me know what my fate will be, which is much better than before, with a knife hanging over my head all the time!" ”
Carlo Ancelotti's position is not guaranteed, but on the one hand, AC Milan's poor results in the last two seasons have also reminded the management of AC Milan that the team's youth can no longer be delayed.
The main reason for the operation of the players in the team is that once the team cannot enter the Champions League next season, it will lead to the club's inability to maintain huge expenses, which means that AC Milan's purge is not for the replacement of the old and the new, but only to break away from the ranks of the giants and reduce expenses.
At the same time, Rossoneri fans also noticed that Berlusconi never said that he wanted to pay for blood this time.
The team's meritorious player Costa Kuta previously said in an interview with reporters: "This time is the same, but when?" ”
At present, AC Milan's investment direction in the transfer market has always been "world-renowned stars on the downhill road of their careers", the most representative of which are of course Ronaldinho and Shevchenko, although they believe that such a choice can create a temporary viewing effect, but soon they can only become extravagant redundant members, rarely provide real value to the team.
The defeat of the UEFA Cup and Serie A on both fronts saw by Costa Curta as a good opportunity: "A great opportunity to face reality and regroup seriously. ”
What Costa Kuta means is that AC Milan should have changed their blood for a long time, but in the past two years, winning the Champions League in 2006/2007 and the Club World Cup in 2007/2008, the results have delayed the change, and now it will drag on and AC Milan can only sink deeper and deeper into the bottom.
But it is true that the pressure within the family and the political situation have left Berlusconi with no energy to continue to manage AC Milan's affairs.
Now there are media reports that Berlusconi is likely to be preparing to sell AC Milan in preparation for defeating his opponent in the general election and becoming Italy's prime minister. The media believes that Berlusconi must give up his care for AC Milan and concentrate on politics in order to be able to hold his current position in the life-and-death battle with his opponent.
In addition, the current financial crisis is deep, and the Berlusconi family also wants to get rid of some unprofitable enterprises, AC Milan is a good image project, but Berlusconi's children, although they are all red and black fans, are not overly obsessed.
Of course, Berlusconi is still a football fan in the truest sense of the word, and as long as he feels he has a long life, AC Milan will not immediately sell it to others.
However, the 500 million euros proposed by Manchester City owner and the UAE chief to buy a 40% stake in AC Milan did interest Berlusconi, so that Berlusconi still serves as the majority shareholder with a 59.9% stake, and the Arabs' money can be used to cover the deficit and invest in the restructuring of the team.
It's just that now the oil of the Arabs has not flowed to San Siro, and Berlusconi can only choose to open up sources and reduce expenditure, and his solution is to cut wages one by one!
According to statistics, among the 20 clubs in Serie A, Inter Milan and AC Milan have a total salary expenditure of 120 million euros, ranking first among the 20 teams, Juventus ranks third with 115 million euros in commission expenses, and Reggina has the least commission expenses of 11.4 million euros for the whole year, which is less than a fraction of these clubs.
However, AC Milan club owner Silvio Berlusconi has recently spoken out and asked the club to cut wage spending, reducing the current spending to 80 million to 85 million euros, a reduction of more than 30%.
Silvio Berlusconi's announcement can be seen as one of the consequences of the impact of the financial crisis on AC Milan, as the owner of the club has made it clear to Galliani that he will stop, telling him: "Save a little, it's too much to spend now." ”
Of course, no one in AC Milan will admit this, and in this turbulent stage, the club's general manager Galliani is focusing on stabilizing the internal environment to ensure that the team can successfully qualify for the Champions League.
However, the news of next season's spending cuts has been passed on verbally within Milanello, and the club's players and their finances have been notified, and there has been a lot of volatility about it.
This is the first time in the Berlusconi era that AC Milan has faced financial problems. And they will inevitably face the choice of fate.
As mentioned before, AC Milan's commission expenditure is the same as that of Inter Milan, tied for the top spot, followed by Juventus in third place, Roma and Fiorentina with annual commission expenses of 65 million euros, which means that if AC Milan reduces its expenses to 80 million to 85 million euros according to the instructions of President Berlusconi, AC Milan's commission expenditure will fall to third, becoming the lowest spending among the three traditional giants, and retreating to the second place on the stage. It is almost foreseeable that this reversal of AC Milan's spending will have a ripple effect on all fronts, and it is difficult to predict what the outcome of these changes will be.
First of all, the highest annual salary among the current Serie A champions is AC Milan FC's Kaka, and the annual salary of 9 million euros is proof of AC Milan's high hopes for Kaka, and it is also the price to prevent him from being pried away by other teams.
It's no secret that Real Madrid are willing to spend a lot of money to buy Kaka as soon as possible, and just in January this year, the Brazilian reached an important agreement with the club: there will be no increase in the annual salary agreement between the two parties.
This proves that AC Milan really want to keep Kaka, at least if the club doesn't get a hard deal to refuse.
There are currently 29 players in the AC Milan first team and the club now have to cut at least three from that squad or replace them with cheaper youngsters.
Naturally, in order not to be pushed to the forefront, many heavyweight players have to make some sacrifices and give up some salaries.
The most striking example of this is Dida, whose current contract with the club runs until 2010 and earns 4 million euros a year after tax, which means that the club pays him 8 million euros a year including tax.
Dida should be the most expensive backup goalkeeper in the world, Milan wanted to sell Dida last year, but the Brazilian goalkeeper refused to terminate the contract and stayed, AC Milan's attitude is clear, if you want to complete the contract until 2010, you must accept a salary cut. The whole team is taking a pay cut, and Dida can't refuse, otherwise he will find a new owner who is willing to pay a high salary to ease the burden on Milan.
The same applies to Emerson, another Brazilian player on the bench with a high salary. However, the issue of salary cuts is the same for Ambrosini and Favali, who want to renew their contracts, and other players will inevitably have to face this situation.
Silvio Berlusconi has made it clear to Galliani: "The team is spending too much, cut back on spending!" ”
This means that as long as AC Milan is still in Berlusconi's hands, the team will still have the same virtue as it has been in the past two years, not to mention spending money on innovation, and even the current scale will have to be reduced.
The direct way to reduce player spending is to kick out a few high-paid ones, Kaka, as the highest salary in the team, is not new to break out transfer rumors when AC Milan is in turmoil, and the premise of his departure "I am not consistent with the club's goals" has been established, since Berlusconi took charge of AC Milan, this is the first time that there has been a financial constraint, how can it be convincing that his goal is still to build a world dynasty?
It may be better to sell people, and to implant new ideas as soon as possible, what I am most afraid of is this vacillation now.
It is said that it is no problem to take the third, and the same was said when they rushed to the top four last year, and they also created the illusion of a few consecutive wins, but they lost to Sampdoria, Atalanta, Juventus, and finally lost to Fiorentina, and the top four officially went bankrupt, and this year is the same, who would have thought that they would lose at the feet of Sampdoria?
Ancelotti will be sacked if he does not finish in the top three of Serie A at the end of the season, and in the most difficult moment of the league, AC Milan issued a military order, in addition to the manager's possible adjustments, the club also knows that if it wants to get back to victory next season, the team must also be new.
In recent years, the most important reason why AC Milan has not been able to carry out large-scale blood changes is money, to put it simply, all the money that can be taken out has been paid and fallen into the pockets of stars, and the funds invested in the transfer market are extremely limited.
For example, last summer to buy a small Luo for 21 million euros, and had to ask the owner Berlusconi to pay out of his own pocket, the club's self-financing plan that was prepared to be implemented a few years ago has become a utopia.
For many years, AC Milan has been holding the first place with Inter Milan, which is the highest salary in Serie A.
Since the league and European results are not guaranteed, AC Milan's income in all aspects cannot be effectively guaranteed, and they play friendly matches everywhere like rushing to the stadium during the winter break, just to earn more euros.
Compared to several other strong teams, AC Milan has lost at least 30 million euros this season due to the lack of Champions League dividends, and next season, even if they return to the Champions League, AC Milan must find a way to improve their competitiveness in the transfer market.
But in today's economic crisis, AC Milan must tighten its monetary squeeze, save money to exchange blood, and must open the knife to the stars. AC Milan have made it clear that they will start taking pay cuts next season.
Gattuso put it bluntly: "It was the most difficult moment of my time for Milan. ”
In fact, this is also the first time that AC Milan under Berlusconi has taken a real large-scale pay cut. Poor results and economic crisis are all reasons, and in the name of salary cuts, it is also necessary to purge some high-paid and useless players.
The salary cut at the back is a logical one, with Maldini and Favali both leaving, and the club is also demanding as little value as possible for new players, so that the salary can still be somewhat secured.
What AC Milan are really looking to invest in is a centre-back, with Nesta likely to retire and terminate his contract, so the transfer fee and high wages must be reserved for a much-needed centre-back.
The acquisition of Danish centre-back Ager has been halted because Liverpool still offered a transfer fee of 8 million euros despite his delay in renewing his contract, much to Milan's dissatisfaction. However, if 8 million Agger is too expensive, Milan will have to struggle to find a suitable central defender.
In the midfield, Ambrosini's contract renewal has not yet been negotiated, but the salary increase he asked for may be out of play, and even Gattuso and Pirlo may be asked to rewrite their contracts, and Brazilian midfielder Emerson has a salary of about 3 million, and if he does not accept a salary cut, he is bound to be sold.
It should be Shevchenko who has changed up front, the Ukrainian will inevitably return to Chelsea after his loan expires, and if Borriello recovers from injury, AC Milan will probably not buy any strikers, leaving the salary space mainly to meet Kaka.
It is a trend for the whole team to cut salaries, but Kaka's maximum salary of 9 million is bound to be unable to be reduced, and it may even rise if Real Madrid launches an offensive this summer.
Regarding Berlusconi's salary cut, Kaka doesn't seem to be in a hurry at all, he didn't speak, it was Bosque who spoke on his behalf, the old man's attitude was very clear, he wanted to reduce my son's salary, no way!
In fact, last season, Berlusconi only invested 10 million euros in transfer fees for AC Milan, and another 50 million in salary expenses, which is very cost-effective.
Gilardino is gone, Borriello is here, and the annual salary of the two is the same. And the Gurkuf, Brocki, Cafu, and Serginho are all "low-paid people", and among the people who came, Flamini's annual salary is 4.5 million, Shevchenko is 6 million, Xiao Luo is 6 million, Senderos is 2.5 million, Zambrotta is 4 million, Antonini is 1.5 million, Abate is 2 million, counting taxes, these people's salaries have to be multiplied by two, but what really works is Pato, whose annual salary is only 2 million, although Antonini and Abate do not have the courage of the Florentine period, but they are still usable.
This salary cut will control AC Milan's total salary at 85 million to 80 million euros. For AC Milan, this is not necessarily a bad thing, through salary cuts, about 35 million euros can be freed up, if you enter the Champions League, the income will increase by 33 million, plus Lao Bei's 10 million, there are also 78 million, which is a lot in today's football, which is why as soon as the news of the salary cut came out, the transfer was active.
As veteran Costacuta said: "AC Milan should build a young team around Kaka. ”
As soon as Berlusconi's method of opening up sources and reducing expenses appeared, it immediately set off a huge wave in Italian football, AC Milan players are of course everyone in danger, not every Milan player has such a high consciousness, sacrificing their own interests, and sharing weal and woe with the club.
After all, the players eat youth rice, not only to fill their stomachs today, but also to prepare tomorrow's dry food, otherwise, the evening scene will be very bleak.
AC Milan's players are all at risk, and players from other teams are feeling threatened, so what do they do if the team they play for does the same? Resolutely resist?
Or do you choose to bow your head and accept it?
For example, Fiorentina, although the salary expenditure in the team is not as terrible as Milan's two-man team, but it is also tied for third place in Italian football, plus De La Valle is not richer than Berlusconi, and AC Milan is going to take a salary cut.
For this reason, Pakinwa also found De La Valle, and after some detailed discussions, the two finally made a plan, AC Milan cut his salary, and we also had to reduce it.
But how do you get there?
There is no doubt that Degan, as the highest-paid player in the team, must bear the brunt of it.