Ex-Milan captain urges club to reflect after spending €100m for ninth place

Ex Milan midfielder and captain Riccardo Montolivo didn’t hold back when analysing his former club’s current situation, stating that this season’s struggles couldn’t be compared to those of 10 years ago, when the Rossoneri finished 10th in Serie A but didn’t possess ‘that much quality’.

Despite a promising start under coach Sergio Conceiçao, who led the team to an unexpected Supercoppa Italiana victory just days after taking over from the sacked Paulo Fonseca in late 2024, the Diavolo ultimately failed to revive their season, as four defeats in their last six Serie A games saw them drop to ninth in the standings.

With Coppa Campioni qualification, initially seen as a minimum target for the season, now looking increasingly unrealistic, Montolivo believes ‘there are many reflections to be made’ at the club after the heavy investments in both the summer and winter transfer windows led to such a disappointing outcome.

Montolivo: my Milan team finished 10th, but the club had not spent €100m

“Milan were never in control of the game and allowed themselves to be influenced by the events,” Montolivo said in a Sky Sport Italia post-match segment, where he was invited as a pundit to comment on Milan’s 2-1 defeat at the hands of Napoli.

“They don’t have an identity and didn’t approach the match as protagonists; they were at the mercy of the episodes.

“It seems like the team has individual interpretations, not a shared understanding of the game situations; there’s no cohesion in their defensive unit.”

When asked if he saw any similarities between this campaign and the 2014-2015 season, which ended with a 10th-place finish, Montolivo suggested there was a significant gap in quality between these two Rossoneri sides.

“It was a Milan in difficulty, still under construction, and didn’t have that much quality,” the former midfielder explained.

“They hadn’t spent €100m and weren’t coming off a second-place finish. There are many reflections to be made.”