It's sometimes difficult to tell what Silvio Berlusconi wants with AC Milan.
It seems anytime the Rossoneri gain a foothold, Berlusconi arrives right on time with a tiny rock hammer and chips it away. And thus, that familiar refrain has again been trundled out as Sinisa Mihajlovic found himself on the end of Berlusconi's perpetual restlessness.
Berlusconi with his daughter. Photo: @footballitalia | Twitter
A lack of European football and the risk of a trophyless season were the reasons cited by Berlusconi, as Milan is left spinning its wheels again.
Nobody is surprised. Despite the fact that Mihajlovic managed a .50 win percentage (better than Inzaghi and Leonardo and the same as Seedorf), drove Milan to a Coppa Italia final and has them sitting in sixth place, nobody is surprised. It's become the running standard for the Rossoneri.
But it didn't have to be this way. Mihajlovic managed to tame a chaotic and aimless Milan team, and gave it some discipline. Milan received 13 red cards last year. Under Mihajlovic, that has dropped to just three. Milan conceded 50 goals last year, and 49 the year before.
They have conceded 35 with six games left under Mihajlovic. He's also cut the defensive errors down from 21 two seasons ago, to 11 this season. There may be a lot of room for improvement for Milan yet, but you can't deny that they've progressed from past seasons. Yet, nobody is surprised that Berlusconi pulled the trigger.
Milan have been much better defensively under Mihajlovic. Photo: @YazanSalhi | Twitter
That's probably because Berlusconi seems to be stuck in the past. His vision for Milan reads like some sort of Italian utopia, albeit a utopia with some subtle racism.
"My dream is to have an all-Italian Milan," he told Sky Sport Italia. "We’ve got many young Italians here at the moment. That includes Balotelli, who has taken too much sun but is still Italian."
His transfer policy has been a revolving door of young doe-eyed Italian youths who are inevitably shuttled out the backdoor without so much as cab fare. Seriously, just look through AC Milan's list of departures over the past few years. If Berlusconi keeps this up, the list of departing players is going to rival the "Panama Papers" in scale.
There's nothing wrong with Berlusconi's dream. It would be a lie to say that most fans wouldn't love to have a team built entirely of homegrown players. Yet, he doesn't appear to possess the necessary patience for his dream. Milan's current team is made up of 48 percent foreign players, which is miles better than Juventus (61.5 percent), Napoli (68 percent), Roma(82.1 percent), Inter (82.6 percent), and Fiorentina (79.2 percent).
Milan already have a stable Italian core, they invested heavily this summer in key players that have improved the team, and they had a manager in Mihajlovic who brought nous and discipline. Given the chaos and unrest that has surrounded the team over the past two years, sixth place and a cup final is a definite step in the right direction.
Yet, Berlusconi will never allow Milan its growing pains. He has delusions of grandeur from the days where Milan were the dominant superpower. He is the old man who has watched the world morph into a scary and unfamiliar place, and so he tightens his grip onto the familiar; that which he has control over.
Youth coach Christian Brocchi is set to take over from Mihajlovic. Photo: @footballitalia | Twitter
Now, Milan have to start all over again with yet another untested manager in Christian Brocchi, and for the fans, it feels like deja vu. For many, the firing of Mihajlovic is the last straw for Berlusconi. Maybe Brocchi will do well, maybe he won't. At the end of the day, it won't really matter, because Berlusconi will still be perched on the shoulder of the Rossoneri, with his finger on the trigger. If Milan are ever to change, it will not be under his watch.
Follow me on Twitter @J_Hansen_89
