Following the goalless draw in the Milan derby on Wednesday night, AC Milan now look at real risk of missing out on the Champions League.
The Rossoneri sit eight points adrift of the top four in Serie A with just eight games remaining this season, and so it looks unlikely that they will catch their rivals.
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That won’t mean Gennaro Gattuso and his players will give up though, as fourth-placed Inter still have to play Juventus and Lazio before the end of the campaign.
Nevertheless, in the event that they don’t secure a return to Europe’s top table, it could have implications off the pitch in terms of their finances having spent big last summer on 11 new players following Yonghong Li’s takeover.
That in turn has led to this report from Calciomercato, suggesting that up to five more players could be at risk of being sold this summer besides the threat of losing key individuals such as Gianluigi Donnarumma and Suso.
Those five names are Mateo Musacchio, Gustavo Gomez, Luca Antonelli, Manuel Locatelli and Nikola Kalinic, while Andrea Bertolacci and Carlos Bacca will also be on the list of potential exits having spent this season out on loan.
Gomez and Antonelli make sense as neither have been able to earn regular playing time this season, while Kalinic has struggled this year with just four goals in 32 appearances.
Locatelli leaving would arguably spark frustration given the youth product made such a positive impact when he broke into the side last season, but he has fallen down the pecking order this year.
Meanwhile, Musacchio could also raise eyebrows as he perhaps stands out as the best alternative to first-choice pairing Leonardo Bonucci and Alessio Romagnoli.
As a result, such exits could spark some debate amongst Milan supporters over which are the sensible moves, but the point remains that the club could be facing some difficult questions this summer if they fail to make it back to the Champions League in order to balance the books.