LUCA BRUNO/Associated Press

Leave it to AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani to make a positive out of a negative.

In just a week, the Rossoneri have lost out on two of their early targets: midfielder Geoffrey Kondogbia and forward Jackson Martinez.

Galliani didn’t call it a loss. He made it seem like another opportunity was born.

"If we save €40 million on Kondogbia and €35 million on Jackson Martinez," the 70-year-old told La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Football Italia), "we’ll have another €75 million to spend wisely over the rest of the transfer window."

That’s some serious spin. It remains to be seen whether the club ever had that money to spend in the first place. Bee Taechaubol, the supposed saviour of this team, has not officially bought any shares yet. There is only an agreement in principle, as stated on the club's official website. That means Fininvest, the company in control of Milan's finances, is still funding the team as it has for years.

In fact, if you believe Kondogbia’s agent, Milan had offered his client more money than Inter, yet it was the Nerazzurri who captured him.

"After all, he would’ve earned more under the Milan contract," Paolo Schiavone told fcinter1908.it (h/t Football Italia). "It was never an issue of money. Geoffrey wanted a project to wed himself to and he found that in the Nerazzurri."

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

Not only does that paint Galliani as a poor negotiator, but it also highlights the lack of any real vision under the current Milan setup. This is the result of years of mismanagement, preferring other teams' sloppy seconds like Sulley Muntari ahead of their own, starving young talent.

Galliani, too, has developed a reputation of breaking promises, with the players and with fans.

Before selling Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Paris Saint-Germain in 2012, Galliani had promised he wouldn’t do exactly that.

Maybe that’s why Ibrahimovic seemed to play Milan this summer, for some payback. The Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio reported a couple of weeks ago that Ibrahimovic and Galliani had spoken on the phone to facilitate a return to Milan. But Galliani was left in the cold, as Ibrahimovic went to Qatar not to terminate his contract with PSG but to use Milan’s interest to leverage a better deal, according to Le Parisien.

Per Bleacher Report's Jonathan Johnson:

L'Equipe & Le Parisien report Zlatan Ibrahimovic now expected to fulfil final 12 months of his contract after successful meeting in Doha. — Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip) June 17, 2015

Le Parisien also suggest that today's meeting in Doha could be agent Mino Raiola's attempt to secure a wage rise for Ibrahimovic. — Jonathan Johnson (@Jon_LeGossip) June 16, 2015

Galliani’s behaviour over the past few years is finally catching up with him. And the fans no longer trust him to deliver the team from turmoil.

Milan’s ultras wrote an open letter in which they heavily criticised Galliani, who they charge as the person primarily responsible for all these failings at Milan.

“The architect of the team’s construction is the general manager, who despite being forced to work within tight economic limitations, acts in the total absence of a project,” the ultras wrote on their website (h/t Football Italia).

Galliani also appears to act alone. There is no real sporting director any more or network of scouts. Leonardo, who helped bring Kaka to Milan for a nominal fee, is gone. Ariedo Braida, who was Galliani’s right-hand man for more than a decade, left the club in 2013. According to Goal.com’s Kris Voakes, Galliani has also singlehandedly blocked Paolo Maldini from taking up any executive role, despite previous attempts from others within the club to bring the one-club man back to Milan.

MANU FERNANDEZ/Associated Press

Now he just relies on the same agents and friends to get deals done, Mino Raiola and Ernesto Bronzetti being the biggest ones, according to the Guardian’s Paolo Bandini.

And Galliani has not hesitated to remind people of his supposed power in European football.

"I went to Madrid this summer to sign Kaka without any appointment and they threw open the doors to the offices of Real for me," Galliani told La Gazzetta dello Sport in November 2013 (h/t ESPN FC).

"When I went to Barcelona in August 2010 to sign Ibrahimovic, president [Sandro] Rosell cut short his family holidays on purpose to greet me."

But by himself, isolated at the top, Galliani has not achieved anything. Over the past month, he has travelled to Madrid once, Monaco a couple of times and Porto even more. He even missed Ignazio Abate’s wedding during one of those botched negotiations, per Sky Italia (via Rossoneri Blog).

Galliani has come back empty-handed each time.

This is a man out of touch with Milan’s realities. Players do not see Milan as it once was: a place of ambition and class, if not money. They are out of the Champions League for a second straight year, and still they are not making immediate moves.

Of course, Galliani has a little bit of time to make amends. But he just keeps on talking a big game.

“A great midfielder and a great striker will arrive,” Galliani reportedly said, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport (h/t Football Italia).

So he says.