Alix Partners, a world-renowned research agency, released a report pointing out that the biggest trend in Serie A in the past five years is: salary cuts.
The analysis points out that not so long ago, the main Serie A teams were controlled by the richest Italy entrepreneurs (or politicians), who invested a lot of money to achieve their competitive goals based on their love of football and concern for local prestige.
But now times have changed, a large number of foreign companies have taken over Inter, especially after the two major turmoil (masks, Eastern Europe), a large number of fund-based consortia have entered the idea of A, and these capitals, which value economic figures rather than trophy achievements, have completely changed Serie A.
As a direct result of this, compared to the 2018-19 and 2022-23 seasons, almost all Serie A teams are taking pay cuts, with an overall salary cut of 15%. I say "almost" because there are still two exceptions, Inter Milan and Atalanta.
Specifically, Juventus' wage costs have dropped by 15% from €301 million to €255 million over the past five years, and of course, the Bianconeri remain the highest-paid team in Serie A and well above the second-place team.
AC Milan fell 12% from 169 million euros to 149 million euros. Rome cut from 165 million euros to 154 million euros, a cut of 7%. Napoli cut 20% from 132 million euros to 106 million euros.
In this situation, Inter Milan increased from 163 million euros to 197 million euros, an increase of 21%, and was one of the few teams to achieve a salary increase in this cycle. The same was true for Atalanta, whose salary was raised from €54 million to €77 million, a 42% increase.
This had two consequences, firstly, the two Nerazzurri teams had impressive results on the pitch, with Inter winning the Serie A title twice in the span of five years, as well as a series of cup trophies and reaching the Champions League final. Atalanta won their only European trophy in their history (the Europa League).
At the same time, both teams have not been able to afford to invest too much money in the transfer market during these five years due to the surge in salary costs. In the past five years, Juventus has invested 326.2 million euros in net transfers, AC Milan has also reached 312.4 million euros, and even teams such as Roma and Napoli have invested more than 100 million euros. However, Inter only has a net transfer investment of 57.59 million euros, and Atalanta's net transfer investment is even minus 44.8 million euros.
In the past five years, both teams have earned more than the top three in Serie A in the same period, with Inter receiving 471 million euros and Atalanta 399.8 million.
The survey is current for 2023. In fact, Inter's salary costs will increase this summer, and in the past few months, Lautaro (Marotta said that Lautaro will officially announce his contract renewal when he returns), Bastoni, Barella, Dimarco and others have achieved significant salary increases. It is expected that after the integration this summer, Inter's wages may also increase by a considerable proportion.
This will also have two consequences, firstly, it will be difficult for Inter to invest too much cash in this summer, even if the team has a need for positions such as forward and defence. In addition, under the premise that the salaries of the main and backbone players remain high, Inter will be particularly sensitive to salaries when introducing rotation and substitute players, which is why it is not easy for players such as Hermoso to be able to play the main team and not easy to get the green light from the Inter board of directors.
In short, in the past few years, Inter Milan has been raising salary costs under Zhang Kangyang.
So in the next cycle of Oak Capital, will Inter make a strategic shift, like AC Milan controlled by United States capital, to reduce salaries (so caused Donnarumma, Kessie, Calhanoglu and others to leave the team for free), pay to the ball market to scratch the lottery (the introduction of 10-20M lottery players) as the main business strategy?
Italian media pointed out with the title of "Oaktree Capital's number one target": not for the time being.
According to the report, Oaktree Capital will not run Inter for long, hoping for a "smooth transition" and will not try to implement major strategic changes, and their biggest goal this season is not to win trophies, but to make Inter break even by June 30, 2025. It is expected that this summer, Oaktree Capital will not take the initiative to sell Inter's big-name main players, but it will not invest in the introduction of heavyweight reinforcements; It will not force players to take a pay cut or stop the renewal of the main contract, but it will not support Marotta and others to sign super-high-paid new signings.
In the medium term, Oaktree Capital will seek profits by "lending", for example, in the 2023-24 season, Inter has a single-season operating deficit of 40 million to 50 million, and at the board meeting in November, major shareholders need to inject capital to close the account to fill the shortfall. It is possible that Oaktree Capital will lend money to Inter, but this money will have to be repaid, and there will be high interest. Inter have also had precedents in recent years, and that's how Tohir played back then.
Of course, all this "patching" is to find new buyers for Inter.
Personally, I think that during this transition period, the best solution for Inter Milan is: first, the team can rely on the help of Marotta, Inzaghi Jr. and others to continue to create good results, and have a greater chance of finding a better new owner. In addition, Oaktree Capital will promote the construction of Inter's new stadium and U23 echelon, because these gimmicks will help to promote ownership, even if Oaktree will only be a guest in Inter's history, Inter still hopes that they can leave a "legacy" to the team.