What are the former Italy prime minister Silvio Berlusconi and his old AC Milan cohort Adriano Galliani doing at AC Monza?
It’s a good question.
Situated 12 miles north-east of Milan, the city of Monza, best known for being the home of Italian Formula 1 races, now has a football team with a new-found ambition and, courtesy of the millions of euros and contacts Berlusconi brings, links to players such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kaka.
Berlusconi, who oversaw five Champions League titles and eight Serie A championships as Milan owner between 1986 and 2017, and Galliani, his former chief executive at I Rossoneri, have already taken their new club from Serie C to Serie B for the first time in 19 years.
And while Berlusconi’s motivations for buying the club in the summer of 2018, just 18 months after he left Milan, are still not clear, the target is much more obvious: to take Monza to Serie A for the first time in their history.