The AC Milan team was not that strong in the previous season, which is why they ended the last season with a relatively poor performance. When starting the new season from the last season, it was expected that they would bring some good players to the club and maybe increase the strength of their club, but the situation remains the same. AC Milan is going to start a new season with a team that is almost the same as before. Since there are no significant good players in the club, they may not be able to make much of an advantage in the next season. I think AC Milan has been in financial trouble for the past few seasons, if they were not in financial trouble, they would have definitely strengthened their team to compete with other teams in the Italian league, but we have not seen any such move from their side so far.
In recent seasons, AC Milan has even more frequently released their key players, most recently they sold Tijjani Reijnders to Manchester City. This has caused AC Milan to decline, they have struggled to be a Scudetto contender and even had to finish in eighth place last season. It's true that AC Milan is experiencing financial difficulties, which has made them unable to recruit expensive, talented players.
So far, Ardon Jashari is AC Milan most expensive recruit, and luckily they managed to get experienced players like Modric on a free transfer. However, the appointment of Massimiliano Allegri as manager this season might enable AC Milan to bounce back, at least to be able to finish in the Champions League zone when the season ends. Meanwhile, AC Milan are reportedly working on signing Rasmus Hojlund, which seems like good news.