Allegri: Milan are at a total restart

Posted Sunday, July 22, 2012 by ESPN

AC Milan manager Massimiliano Allegri feels that the Rossoneri are at a point of a new start after the departure of '12 champions' from their squad since the end of the season.

The Rossoneri oversaw the departures of a group of veterans in their team when Gianluca Zambrotta, Mark van Bommel, Clarence Seedorf, Alessandro Nesta, Filippo Inzhaghi and Gennaro Gattuso all left the club after the season ended which left them a tough task ahead of filling the gap they left behind.

Two of Milan's highest-paid stars, Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, both left for Ligue 1 side Paris Saint-Germain for a combined fee of €62 million last week.

While it freed up their wage bill by €100 million a year on top of providing extra funds for transfers, it made Milan's rebuilding process all the more daunting.

Allegri admitted that while he was not the one who decided the sale of Silva and Ibrahimovic, the economic factors behind their departures were too practical to ignore.

"Ibra and Thiago Silva? I'm not the one who hires and fires, but we could not say no to PSG," Allegri told Sky Sport Italia.

He also acknowledged that Milan will have to start from scratch with a new batch of players.

"But we are at year zero. Twelve champions have left, most due to their age but two because of choices made by the club," he added, "Even if there are many others who have remained, we must now work from scratch."

However, Allegri is at least buoyed by the fact that Milan still have time to replace those who have moved on.

"There is a month left until the close of the transfer market," he added. "I remember the arrival of Robinho two days before the end of a previous window that changed the face of the team."

Milan have signed Francesco Acerbi, Kevin Constant, Bakaye Traore, Riccardo Montolivo and Sulley Muntari so far and are linked with former Rossoneri Kaka as well as three strikers from Manchester - Carlos Tevez, Edin Dzeko and Dimitar Berbatov.