Why AC Milan are the big winners from the Bonucci-Higuain-Caldara deal?
It is the exchange of the summer and involves three fundamental players for both Juventus and AC Milan. But who really gains from the exchange between Bonucci (back in Turin), Higuain and Caldara (towards Milan)?
The question is simple, almost perfidious. And the most diplomatic answer possible is: both, otherwise the operation would have not been made. This is the dogma of the transfer market, also because Juventus starts from a simple assumption: I want to win the Champions League and I need players able to help me win. Should I sacrifice Higuain? Should I sacrifice Caldara? All right… I do it. Higuain sold (loan with right to buy) I need to amortize the big expenses that I had to bear for CR7. Bonucci is the defender who knows best of my environment, wants to come back and I’m more “safe” with him than with Caldara, despite the future being on the side of the former Atalanta.
Juve takes the biggest risk, no doubt. Linking, in fact, everything to victories. There is no long-term planning when your most important players are two over 30s. They are two tops, one is even “the top”. But the design is clear: win immediately, win everything, win now. AC Milan, on the other hand, has two missions: reducing the squad’s average age and salaries, and remaining competitive. And Leonardo is taking advantage of the opportunity.
For 25 million spent (the loan of Higuain and the gross salary of Caldara) brings home one of the most promising Italian defenders (who will form a beautiful defensive duo with Romagnoli, young and Italian, maybe even Azzurro in the future); and one of the most decisive strikers of the last years in Serie A, the one that broke the record of goals scored in a single season (36), the one that scored most of anyone else in the last 5 seasons, the one that even in his “worst” season managed to decide the Scudetto in the most important games. One that – to put it in the “Bonucci Style” of the past transfer market – can really move the balance.
So, to return to the question: who gains between Milan and Juventus? In the meantime Milan, in the future (as an investment) still AC Milan. But if Juve were finally to win the Champions, who will remember the “sacrifices” necessary to get the result? That’s why it’s a good deal for both. But the Bianconeri would come out as winners only if they managed to achieve European success. Juve, as mentioned, bets on itself, Milan took advantage of a great opportunity. In the end, even without diplomacy, the market is always right: if you make a deal, it’s because it’s convenient for both of you. In fact, it is also good for Higuain, Caldara and Bonucci.