Selling Reindez at a high price, what did Milan get and what did they lose?

Sports Weekly Special Correspondent in Italy Shen Tianhao

This is not a "good Milan" or a successful Milan, but at least the Dutch Milan. The past season, AC Milan encountered a historical trough, but at least many years later, another Dutch stood in the center of the red and black stage. He used goals, assists, pick passes and straight passes to strive to maintain the dignity of the giants and pass the iconic smile on his face to the fans as much as possible. The smile was carefree and a little shy, and it belonged to Tijani Reindez.

Red and Black MVP

Before the end of Milan's home game against Monza, Reindez received the trophy of the best midfielder of the Serie A in 2024-25 season, but what awaited the team was surreal protests. This is a metaphor for Reindez's future: he is great, but after a disaster, he has to leave. Seidorf's Milan career lasted for 10 seasons. Rijkaard, the three musketeers who joined the latest and first left the team, also played for five years in a red and black shirt. Reindes hurriedly left after two seasons, the players themselves gained a greater future, while the club made a lot of money - this became crucial after a season that missed the Champions League. Milan official said on social media: "Thank you, Tijani!" This is indeed the truth.

AC Milan selected the best player in the 2024-25 season, Reindez should be the most powerful candidate: Pulisic is also excellent, but his performance is larger than that of the Dutch, and he was not adapted after Concesan became a three-back. Fofana was a good partner of Reindez in the first half of the season. The two of them repeatedly helped the Ross and Blacks turn the crisis into safety, but the French made too many low-level mistakes and could not provide reliable protection for the defense line; Leon completed 8 goals and 10 assists in the league, but his condition was unpredictable, and his performance in the strong dialogue was disappointing overall, and he failed to break the ball drought at home.

Reindez's output is much more stable. In the league, he scored 10 goals and 5 assists. Milan lost 10 Serie A games throughout the year, but they only lost once in the games where the Dutch directly participated in the goal. In the Champions League, Reindez scored twice in 10 minutes against Bruges, helping the team that lost two consecutive games to win the first victory. Then, in the focus match between away games against Bernabeu, he not only scored with his left foot to secure the victory, but also succeeded in 52 passes 51 times in the game. In the Italian Cup, he also gained something in his "away" victory over Inter Milan in the semi-finals. Although his position had retreated to the midfielder at that time, he still maintained a strong aggressiveness towards the goal.

The entire season, Reindez directly participated in 20 goals in AC Milan - considering his performance in the first season, such a report card is almost incredible. In fact, the Ross and Blacks went to Saudi Arabia to play the Super Cup in the winter and met Pioli on the training ground. The Milan coach and former disciples agreed. When it was Reindez's turn, he couldn't help but tease: "When I coached, your shots were always biased!" This is true: In the previous 2023-24 season, Reindez only scored 4 goals and 4 assists in the whole year, but he actually got much more opportunities. Even when you score a goal, you feel that his shot was too straight, but it just happened that the opponent's goalkeeper "cooperated" enough. Reindez has made great progress over the past year.

Press the profit key

In the year when Milan fell below the lower limit, Reindez's technical level, actual contribution and competition attitude were always online. This also made the Italian media label "Reindez, Red and Black Heart", and even regarded the Dutch as the spokesperson of "Milanism", and said that if there were 11 Reindez in the team, Milan would not have fallen into such a situation. Until the end of the season, Milan Sports was still planning for the club how to retain Dutch stars. He never thought that the Red Bird had never had the idea of ​​"retaining people". Reindes' transfer to Manchester City came naturally. The existence of the Club World Cup has changed the pace of signings by the wealthy families at the top of the food chain and has also accelerated the completion of this transaction.

Milan needs to cash out on Reindez: the Dutch's transfer fee reaches 57 million euros, plus a bonus of 14 million (of which 8 million conditions are more prone to trigger). Even if the basic expenses are only included, it is the third highest price sold in Milan in history, second only to Kaka (67 million) in the summer of 2009 and Tonali (58.9 million) two years ago. The amortized balance of Reindez's value when he transferred to Milan was about 12.3 million euros left, but the Red and Black Club still needs to pay Alkmaar 10% of the player's sales revenue, so it ended up on the accounts, bringing about 40.2 million euros.

Without this deal, Milan is expected to lose about 25 million euros in the fiscal year 2024-25 (the team's poor record and sponsorship fees are also directly affected). After selling Reindez, Milan can achieve profitability for three consecutive seasons: as it is currently in the current situation, it is expected to make a profit of 13-14 million euros this fiscal year.

When renewing his contract with AC Milan in March this year, Reindez once said: "Milan is like my second home." He lives in Milan City with his family and often comes to the city center to shop. He looks very belonging to the city and has publicly expressed his wish for many years in the Red and Black Legion. Even so, when Manchester City's olive branch arrives, there will not be too many people blaming Reindes' decision: in an interview after joining Blue Moon, he expressed his hope to compete with the team for the Premier League and Champions League championships (and of course the Club World Cup). Apart from the difference in salary and benefits, Milan cannot give him such ambition at present.

The disappearing anchor

Even so, Reindez's statement on the eve of the transfer still caused controversy among fans. According to the "Milan Sports Daily", he was interviewed after the friendly match between the Netherlands and Finland, saying that he was excited about joining Manchester City and could not wait to play the Club World Cup on behalf of his new club.. This report was reprinted in large quantities by media from various countries, but was not accompanied by the original video. Is Reindez's original intention? Milan fans care a lot.

Why do you care? In this turbulent summer window, the red and black world needs to find a reliable emotional anchor. Reindes was sold, and there was no problem with himself: he was a very good midfielder, but he never balanced the offense and defense. The amazing offensive data this season is also inseparable from the team system. 60-70 million euros are probably considered the highest value of his. The real problem is: Reindes was originally one of the few reliable players on this team, and some media even described it as the "Soul of Milan" in some exaggeration. He is not Tonali, but his departure still shakes people's confidence to a certain extent.

Reindez's departure, along with various transfer rumors recently reported by Milan, proves that this team no longer has non-sale products. Special O's contract renewal negotiations became almost impossible. The Ross and Blacks wanted to send the French to Riyadh Crescent, but were rejected by the players themselves (similarly, it can be inferred that Milan did open the door to Cuomo's introduction of Special O's in the early winter window of the year), but the Milan left-back is still very likely to leave the team in this summer window. Similarly, Meinian's contract renewal has also become a big problem. The club management initially questioned the injury and condition of the team's No. 1 goalkeeper, but did not offer an ideal price during the negotiations. As the real Milan captain, Meinian actually wanted to join Chelsea as soon as possible to play in the Club World Cup (the two sides did not reach an agreement on the transfer fee in the end).

These incidents hurt the feelings of the fans of the red and black. At the beginning of this year, Reindez once said in an interview: "When I was playing for Alkmaar, I originally planned to join a Eredivisie giant first and then develop abroad. After AC Milan's invitation arrived, we decided to skip this 'middle stage'." It sounds like Milan should be his end, not his stoppage - but the facts are different. Obviously, AC Milan fans definitely don't want the home team to be another Alkmaar, or Eindhoven and Feyenoord.

Does the Red Bird think so? Only time can give the answer. A positive signal: Allegri hopes to stay Menion and still allow him as the leader of the locker room, although the French goalkeeper's contract is due next summer. It sounds a bit strange, but this is an example of Milan taking competitive performance first, willing to risk the expiration of a player's contract, and refusing to sell at a low price. On the other hand, even if Reindez is sold, Milan investors will not "lock" all other players in the team - as long as the price is right, everything can be negotiated. The sale of Reindez turned Milan's financial report into profits this quarter, but what was even more uncomfortable was still to come: in the 2025-26 season, Milan's revenue, which has no European game to play, dropped sharply. At that time, there will be a second and third Reindez to help US funds make up for the shortcomings?