money talk

[Nona]

there was the news today that the 5 italian topclubs together have a financial lost of 230 million Euro over the last year.
Inter alone takes a 100 million for their account.
For Milan it is about half of that.
Juve is doing best, Lazio is in very big trouble.
The 5th one is AS Roma

[Henrik]

For Milan to "loose" 50 million is not a catastrophy, but should not be taken lightly either. Clubs without rich patrons, such as Moratti and Berlusconi, and especially those listed on the stock market need to run with profit.

Milan has some very highly paid players who will retire within a couple of years. Rui Costa, Inzaghi top that list, but Serginho is also very well paid. Those three alone would cut the deficit in half. Newer stars such as Kaka are not costing the club as much in saleries as those signed in the late 90s.

Sooner or later most italian clubs (Inter and Milan possibly excluded) will have to come to terms with a more modest cost structure in order to survive. This means less extravagant purchases, generally not paying as much for local talants as is done now (much higher in Italy than in other countries), smaller club organizations etc etc.
Raising more revenue may be an option for successful and skillful clubs, but will not solve the general problem.

[Nona]

Do you think that this has any effect on the tranfermarket ?

[Henrik]

Moratti has allready shown signs of being fed up with loosing 100 million a year without getting anything in return. His funds will run out before Berlusconis. Roma and Lazio have allready both run out of steam and gotten themselves into serious financial problems.

To answer you question more directly; it has allready affected the transfer market. 2-3 years ago it would have been impossible to imagine a club like Roma selling Samuel and Emerson and hinting sales of players like Cassano. 5 years ago Lazio had the strongest squad in all of football (IMO) and look at where they are now. With fewer strong players on the transfer market prices for average to good players will come down. The prices for stars in controlled on the international market and there there are still enough clubs with money to keep prices high.

[Reza]

Milan too have shown it not only in paying less to Kaka like Henrik mentioned but in picking JDT for example (free Bosman). Players like Cafu may have joined anyhow but their contract situation made it 'easier' to get them even for a rich team like Milan. Not forgetting the Pancaro and Albertini deals.