Milan have had one of their cleaner starts to a transfer window in years, but the squad Igli Tare and Massimiliano Allegri actually want depends on outgoings that haven't happened yet.
The window is built on a sell-to-buy model, and until that side of the equation moves, the incoming business stalls. It's the reason a promising first month can still leave the squad short come the season opener.
The numbers explain the tension. Milan are working with a budget in the region of €250m, but roughly €150m of that is expected to come from player sales rather than fresh spending. That gap is the whole story. Big money out is what funds big money in, and right now the departures are the missing piece.
That puts the focus on the higher earners and higher-value assets. Rafael Leao sits at the top of that list, given his valuation, but Santiago Gimenez and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are names that could raise funds too. Even a couple of sales in the €20m bracket would give Tare something to work with. Nothing significant arrives until something significant leaves.
On the incoming side, timing is everything, and it splits by profile. A player like Goncalo Inacio, who already knows a back-three system, could be integrated later without much cost. Someone like Konstantinos Karetsas is the opposite case. Talented, right profile, but a young player who needs weeks to learn his role. The same logic applies to a new midfielder or wing-back with no experience of how Allegri wants to set up. Those positions need filling early enough to bed in during pre-season, not in the final days of August.
Then there are the returns. Players who went deep into summer international duty, or Luka Modric settling into a new club, benefit from getting back into the building sooner rather than later. Every extra week of adjustment to the system counts, and the earlier the group is complete, the smoother pre-season looks.
None of this is realistic to resolve inside a fortnight, and it shouldn't be. A window that closed this month would be a worry, not a triumph. The dream scenario is a No.10 and another centre-back arriving, or close to it, alongside a departure or two to balance the books.
Milan are in a good spot. The concern isn't the players they've signed, it's whether the sales arrive in time to sign the rest, and that part sits with the buyers, not the club.