At present there are only four ‘untouchable’ players in the AC Milan squad, meaning a fight for the other places is on.
La Gazzetta dello Sport begin by writing that the myth of a permanent position has faded. Milan will kick off their preseason properly on Wednesday at 13:30 CEST time with a friendly against Arsenal, and no fan is certain which team will play in the league and Coppa Italia.
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The Rossoneri have four established starters: Mike Maignan, Luka Modric, Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao are untouchable. Everything else is debatable.
Full-backs
The identity of the new right-back remains unknown. Guela Doué, barring any surprises, won’t arrive, and Marc Pubill isn’t a priority. The squad has plenty of options there like Alex Jimenez, Filippo Terracciano and Alexis Saelemaekers but none are natural there, while Emerson Royal will leave.
Pervis Estupinan is the leading candidate for the left-back role. Milan have made an offer to Brighton and will soon make another because Igli Tare has chosen him as Theo Hernandez’s heir, and if all goes as planned, Milan’s left-back will be Ecuadorian.
His back-up will be Davide Bartesaghi but there’s no shortage of emergency options like Jimenez, Pavlovic, Saelemaekers. Each have played left-back at least once in their lives. Ultimately, there’s one important rule to keep in mind: Milan will play one game a week.
Centre-backs
Four players for two spots. Tomori and Pavlovic are the theoretical starters, the players Tare and Allegri are banking on most. Gabbia and Thiaw are the alternatives. One logical question, however, is: can Tomori and Pavlovic play together for Allegri?
Some of their qualities are evident, as are their errors in the penalty area last season. They haven’t performed well together. Easy prediction: Gabbia and Thiaw have a chance to overturn the hierarchy, unless someone calls for Malick in the next 40 days. After his no to Como, his departure is unlikely.
Midfield
Luka Modric is coming to play, and there’s no doubt about him: he’ll get minutes, probably as a regista in front of the defence. Samuele Ricci starts as his natural reserve: an apprenticeship from the best, but he’ll play often.
There are two midfielder spots up for grabs and if Ardon Jashari comes he will take one, given he would be a €35m investment. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Youssouf Fofana are the logical candidates for the other spot. Yunus Musah is a candidate to leave, and Warren Bondo is a rotation man.
Centre-forward
The striker might be the most important acquisition, but also the most complex because centre-forwards cost a lot. Victor Boniface is highly sought after and isn’t impossible to buy, but his injury plans leave him in doubt. Dusan Vlahovic’s salary is out of budget, who knows in August.
Dawin Nuñez was the first option, but his costs are very high and Saudi clubs are keen. Tolu Arokodare fits the profile outlined by Tare and has a chance. Breel Embolo is admired and could be signed tomorrow for €15m. Oh, and there’s Santiago Gimenez, the almost forgotten €35m man.
Looking at this, started from the midfield, looks like Milan is worse than last year’s starting lineup.
Except they get an Ace forward (one of the best)..
I would not say so. We lost Rijnders and Theo. Rijjnders was probably our best player last year, so he would be difficult to replace. But Theo had a disastrous season last year. To be honest, any decent left-back who is good defensively will be an upgrade over Theo. For strikers, we had Morata/Jovic/Tammy so Gimenez + someone else won’t be worse than that. Any right-back will be better than Emerson Royal, and there is still a month and a half of mercato left.
So you happy with this players? First look at table last season then put comment here. We not look better and guy who wrote this is tell true.
So 2 FB’s, 1 MF (Jashari), and 1 CF. In the mean time we need to offload, offload, and offload please.
The midfield will most likely be Ricci and Fofana. Seems these guys have completely forgotten about him.
Ricci will play as a DM, obviously. Putting Modric behind him is beyond stupid…
Ricci is an established Serie A footballer, even if Jashari arrives he needs to prove himself.
I think Ricci and RLC/Fofanah with Luca as regista
Modric as DM? So Milan bought a defensive minded DM so they can play Modric in a position where he played 25 times in 20 years. Are these reporters mentally impaired? Luka Modric will not play DM, as a regista or deep lying playmaker or anything. He isn’t 20 so you have to put someone next to him that will run a lot. Ricci.
What s load of nonsense, you know the whole article is trash…
Um, I realize this is parroting what GdS prints but a bit of editorial enhancement would be nice.
It is preseason. Gabbia and Thiaw were a bright spot last season when they got a consistent run of games. So start the others learn what you have and then compare to your intent. Gabbia and Thiaw will start this season. Tomorri and Pav are solid backups and situational starters.
Mid if it is a 433 is fofana – Ricci – RLC. Mordric is 40 and will play as a super sub and as a situational starter.
CF – who the F knows? Vlahovic is one I cannot figure. He was below average under Allegri. He is not a great 🎯 man like Giroud. More of a target baby you can make cry when hitting him with a ball.
FB – Who the F knows. Esputian is intriguing but this should be wrapped up. We have a solid backup on the left on Bartesaghi.
On the right, Emerson is starting to look like a keeper to me. All this time passing is like getting on 🍺-goggles. Honestly, was he that bad or was the team just that poorly coached?
We are about to start the first friendly with no FB. Can outrmanagement really not have learned from the mistakes of last year?! (Spoiler – nope, nope the clearly did not)
Well if this guy says it… it must be true. Write it down. He knows what our starting lineup is going to be.
I’ll bet you Gabbia and Thiaw is not our starting CB pairing.
And Modric did not come here to be a backup. He may not play the full 90 but he will start more games than he does not.
Gabbia needs to start.
He’s the only player left at the club with any real connection to it.
Maignan, Tomori and Leao are there too but they lack the Milanista factor.
There is no AC Milan without Milanisti.
Gabbia 😂😂😂 He is mistake guy.Pioli win title only because Gabbia not play he was at Vilareal. He can be borned at stadium San Siro but he is mistake player.I hope he will not play at all.
Gabbia’s loan was cut short, because Milan needed him and he played well, if we don’t buy any CB’s then Gabbia is our best CB. Thiaw made the most careless mistakes I have ever seen.
I’m not sure why you’re supporting an Italian team if you don’t support Italian players.
Surely there’s another below average league you could follow?
Yep pairing gabbia – tomori or gabbia – thiaw should be done, pavlovic still below gabbia in my opinion
Here we go, I think no excuse should be giving next season. Giving we ‘ll only be playing once a week, Napoli and Juventus of 2012 are common example.. so scudetto must be the least target
Actually great if they play as a team…
I hope Allegri starts with Jashari-Ricci-Fofana then use R-L-C, Bondo and Modric as subs/rotation players. Modric had a really long season and probably need a longer vacation, and will join training later. He will be great for the lockerroom, and to throw in last 20-25 minutes of games to control the tempo and play smart.
Modric will shock Serie A…mark my words