What If… AC Milan and Inter merged?

During the summer, super agent Mino Raiola, who oversees players like ex-Serie A star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, claimed that it would be best if the Milanese giants AC Milan and Inter merged together as one club.

Truly a bizarre suggestion, but Raiola’s logic? “The situation Italian football finds itself in is difficult.

“Milan and Inter should join forces instead of competing against each other. Lazio and Roma could have one strong club rather than only two weak ones.”

Of course, what Raiola says often has to be taken with more than a pinch of salt given some of the outlandish, bordering on nonsensical claims he has made.

This past week, he made the bold statement that Juventus youngster Paul Pogba was worth double the value of Gareth Bale, who has now signed a massive money deal with Real Madrid in case you live under a rock.

Bale may not be worth that, but to suggest Pogba, a promising youngster and star in the making, that he is worth more than an established Premier League talent is ludicrous.

It is something that no fan of either Milan or Inter would want or even consider in any way, nor would the clubs. His reasoning behind such a deal is that they are weaker as singular clubs who should cash in on decades of glory and success to build one all-conquering Milanese giant, which is a remarkable thing to suggest.

How of course could those sides ever hope to challenge for top honours with such limited resources? They only have 36 Scudetti, 12 Coppa Italias and 10 European Cups/Champions Leagues to their name between them. Not to mention a whole host of other cups and titles on show in their bordering trophy rooms inside the confines of the Giuseppe Meazza.

Unfathomable in every way is such a suggestion that Raiola has clearly not given a second of thought to, but rather just opened his mouth and let his imagination run free. Merging of clubs can often be a good idea in countries such as the Republic of Ireland or Russia where such scenarios are currently being considered.

Where long away trips to clubs located in close proximity to each other can be difficult for other clubs and whom, because of the small scale on which they operate, would benefit much more by pooling their respective resources to make one club capable of challenging for more success.

This is not something that is needed for two of the biggest clubs in the world. Raiola is not suggesting only a desecration of years of history, but also hurting the future. At the start of every season, fans of the Milan giants eagerly scroll down the fixture list until their eye catches the two dates of the biggest games in the calendar to them: The battle for bragging rights.

Imagine a Serie A without that fixture. Not only that, but Raiola also insisted he would want the Rome clubs to follow suit.

Italy is a country rich in footballing culture and this includes some of the most fervent and heated derbies that can be found anywhere in world football. To take two of them out of the calendar would be extremely detrimental to the world of calcio.

It also begs an interesting question of who would be in charge of such a club: AC Internazionale Milano as Raiola would no doubt suggest as the name to be and also clad in a curious red, blue and black jersey to try and appease everyone.

A power struggle between Massimo Moratti and Silvio Berlusconi would no doubt be interesting to watch as the club would likely self-destruct from the inside before pre-season had even started with such a duo of egos doing battle.

Not to mention the battles at boardroom level between Adriano Galliani and Marco Branca as the current Rossoneri CEO would no doubt try to cut a deal to offload Samir Handanovic (in a scenario in which both clubs pool their players together) with Branca overjoyed at the prospect of having the likes of Daniele Bonera at his club, saving him from having to open the chequebook to bring him across the city.

Raiola perhaps does have a point that one Milan superpower could provide a stronger challenge domestically and in Europe to the top clubs with a very strong squad of players. But if he thinks the tifosi on the Curvas Nord and Sud at San Siro would take to following a new club with the same support, then he would be in for quite a shock. It would be more likely that such a side would end up with less fans, rather than both sets turning up to cheer on this new side.

In fact, the only apparent positive from such an absurd situation would be that at least no relocation would be necessary and that San Siro could still be host to such a club.

However, the positives end there. Ah Mino, keep them coming because you can always keep us amused.