AC Milan’s first ‘new’ addition of the summer window will be Yacine Adli as his loan spell with Bordeaux has now expired, but there are question marks about what to expect from the midfielder.
Calciomercato.com confirms that Adli will be present at Milanello on 4 July, the first day of preseason training, to meet his new team-mates and begin following Stefano Pioli’s orders. Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara signed him for €8m from Bordeaux last summer and left him on loan where he had a difficult campaign, as Les Girondins were relegated to Ligue 2 as the bottom-placed side.
On a personal level, Adli certainly fared better as he got 1 goal and 8 assists in 36 league games, playing multiple roles and even wearing the captain’s armband, but making the jump to a prestigious and ambitious club will have its challenges.
Pioli will have a multipurpose player at his disposal because Adli can play in three roles: as a central midfielder in a 4-2-3-1, as a box-to-box midfielder in another system like a 4-3-3 and as an attacking midfielder too.
He combines technique and physique, while at 22 years old the feeling is that he can only grow, yet he will have to do so quickly given that Milan want to retain the Scudetto, go further in Europe and he will also face competition for a spot from the likes of Sandro Tonali, Ismael Bennacer, Brahim Diaz and, in all likelihood, Renato Sanches.
