Sport

Newcastle tempts Sandro Tonali, and AC Milan responds with a “shame on me

Published

7 months ago

March 4, 2024

AC Milan owner Gerry Cardinale has admitted that the Rossoneri have to ‘spend better’ than clubs like Newcastle United because they can’t ‘outspend’ sovereign wealth funds.

Although Newcastle have not been able to to make the absolute most of the PIF’s backing, because of financial regulations, the Magpies have still splashed out close to £400m since the 2021 takeover. Milan, in contrast, have coughed up little more than a third of that amount on transfers in the same period.

Newcastle even managed to sign Milan’s standard bearer and future captain, Sandro Tonali, last summer after the Italy international cited a ‘great opportunity’ at St James’ Park. Tonali’s first season at the club, of course, was swiftly ended by a 10-month ban for betting breaches although Milan have always maintained the club ‘first learnt’ about the midfielder’s private gambling addiction in the media.

Tonali did get the chance to return to the San Siro before the ban, when the teams met in the Champions League for the first time ever, and Cardinale was among those who attended a delegates lunch with Newcastle’s hierarchy and Jacobo Solis, the PIF’s head of Europe direct investments, before the game. Milan ended up finishing above Newcastle in the group of death, following a dramatic win in the reverse fixture at St James’ Park, and Cardinale has been asked how the seven-time champions of Europe can compete with clubs backed by sovereign wealth.

“You’re not going to outspend sovereign states, but shame on me if I can’t be the guy that spends an incremental dollar of capital better than anybody else,” he told the Financial Times’ business of football summit. “That’s the goal. That’s how you compete.

“We don’t lock in cash flow because we’re going to take the money and put it in our pockets. We invest it back into these players and into the team.

“The whole point of the [new] stadium – it’s not got nothing to do with San Siro – is that it gives us more cash flow and, with that cash flow, we can be more competitive with the Premier League. That’s the only way you’re going to do it and my hope is that everybody gets religion around this – even the sovereign states – where we have got to evolve from outspending everybody to spending better.”