Football fans anxiously await after national team match day as the upcoming Milan derby fills the entire Italian football scene with tension. Both Milan teams performed well early in the season, prompting football experts at home and abroad to express their opinions. Some experts such as Capello and Bergomi focus on football itself, and their views are in the spotlight. However, there are also some Chinese and foreign print media bigwigs and professional keyboard warriors, whose views are influenced by their positions, and once Inter Milan loses the game, they will scold the team; And if Inter wins, they will turn to talking about finances.
In the past few years, Inter Milan's team building costs are indeed higher than AC Milan's, but in the past two years, Inter Milan's team building costs have dropped significantly, while AC Milan's team building costs have increased, resulting in a significant reduction in the cost gap between the two teams, only 42 million euros. This "quantitative change" is gradually leading to "qualitative change".
The cost of team building mainly includes player costs and salary costs. Player cost refers to the player's transfer fee and joining fee during the financial cycle, while salary cost refers to the player's pre-tax salary expenses. In Serie A, clubs bear the taxes of players, so pre-tax salaries are crucial for clubs. For example, Bastoni's annual salary after tax is 5.5 million euros, while Thuram's annual salary after tax is 6 million euros, it seems that Thuram Jr. is more expensive, but since French players can enjoy tax benefits, Bastoni's pre-tax salary cost is actually higher than Thuram Jr.
After a series of operations in the summer transfer window, Inter Milan's team building cost fell to 178.7 million euros this season, while AC Milan's team building cost increased to 151 million euros, and the cost gap between the two teams narrowed to about 28 million, and the relative gap was reduced by a full 42 million. Specifically, the amortization of transfer fees for Inter's current squad is €65.29 million, the cost of pre-tax salaries for players reaches €113 million, and the total cost is €178.7 million, representing a cost reduction of 14% compared to last season. This cost-reducing measure includes replacing Dzeko, which cost up to 10.28 million euros last year, with Thuram Jr., which cost 7.86 million euros this season.