The international break is coming to an end and for Davide Calabria – who was once again snubbed by Italy – it never really even started. Despite that, it has been a difficult couple of weeks for the defender.
As Calciomercato.com write, the decision to sign Emerson Royal was the first warning sign for Calabria, because Paulo Fonseca made it clear he wanted another solution at right-back and thus the captain then had to fight for his spot, a battle he lost in view of the Lazio game.
Calabria has always done his job with professionalism and dedication and – even if he probably hasn’t managed to enter the hearts of the fans despite being one himself – his starting position has never been more in doubt.
Despite this, another role could open up for him after Ismael Bennacer’s long-term injury. The report states that the 27-year-old could once again be useful to Fonseca in the ‘wild card’ role of central midfielder, a position he was deployed in during various injury crises.
The pitch will provide answers, also relating to the long-standing and complicated negotiations for the renewal of his contract. Calabria’s deal is currently set to expire on 30 June 2025 with the last extension having been signed way back in 2021.
The full-back’s goal is to remain in the Rossoneri for a long time, but he expects recognition from the club for what he has done so far, which means earning around €3.5-4m net per season like Bennacer, Chukwueze and Tomori get.
Those are players who have given – in his opinion – much less to Milan than he has done. Also for this reason, the next 30 days will not only be decisive for Fonseca but for the captain too.
I would test that… If this works we can move for Kayode on RB and have Emerson as sub, while Calabria would cover as regista/regista-sub…
Then sell Bennacer in January for Ricci…
Upgrade RLC with Ferguson!
He’s not bad (6/10) on the ball with good aim on long ablls and he can do man-to-man marking really well…
He actually started out as a midfielder and he has also on a few occasions played there under Pioli even though its been a long time ago from what I can recollect.
One of his best games was against Juve in midfield!
It was the start of our return to the top.
To be fair it stands a bit hazy for me but I nevertheless had a recollection that he wasn’t half bad at least once he was tried out there but couldn’t remember it was against Juventus, all the better. To be honest as of now I’m more confident about fielding him there than for example Musah even if i do recognize some potential there. It might work out if done even if he sorta would work more like a reversed libero dropping down a lot to stabilize the defense when needed.
I remembered that game, he showed up in a big way.
I’m going to start a drinking game where every time you post about Ricci, I’ll take a shot. 😉
not as if the guy isn’t developing into a high lvl midfielder…
I’m teasing you dude. You just mention him constantly. We get it.
And straight to the transfer market to find another RB…
GET. THE EFF. OUT.
Calabria is a limited RB. Guess what, last season when Pioli inverted him inside, he was an even worse midfielder….
Does Fonseca not do his homework? Like, what the actualf**k?
Yeah, it feels like groundhog day. Two summers of midfield churn and two coaches later, and here we are having to resort to using Calabria as a midfielder. That is a BAD sign for this project.
It’s just another made up article to get clicks. There is no way he is considering this.
Another creativity by great fonseca
Your respect for the captain of the club you allegedly support knows no bounds.
Anyway he’s played there a few times including last season as an inverted full back.
In fact he did a better job in midfield than our actual midfielders last season.
Outside of the armband he wears, he is NO captain and possesses ZERO leadership whatsoever. I have made my feelings of him clear many times.
And he is AVERAGE as a RB and absolute TRASH as an inverted mid. Made that clear too.
I’m not even gonna touch “In fact he did a better job in midfield than our actual midfielders last season.”
Notice how nobody asked
Do you have enough brain cells to process that a cm and a RB moving inside are two monumentaly different things? Simmer down, hate boner
I think playing DM v being inverted full back is very different.
Calabria played a few games as DM and was surprisingly good, it suits his skill set.
Anyway at least it is an option as we are quickly running out of them and the season just began.
Imagine Fofana gets suspended or worse injured, we need cover
No thanks.
Playing 3- 2-3-2 formation might balance the team
Morata Abraham
Leao Reidjners Pulisic
Loftus Cheek Fofana
Pavlovic Tomori Gabbi
Where is the balance in that? You’re literally without fullbacks. Most passes 4 goals we concede come from fullback area and you wanna remove them altogether?
But it works so well on PlayStation…
Dude, this is awesome haha delusional post of the day
He actually did well when played at double pivot. He has the suitable skillset as well. Worth to try again.
This has been tried and it was a failure. Doesn’t Fonseca study tape? Can someone please tell him not to try again stuff that hasn’t worked before? Calabria was inverted to play more centrally by Pioli and it was a disaster. It’s just like when Fonseca tried Rafa more centrally and everybody knows that Rafa has never done well in the crowded central part of the box; not for Milan, not for Portugal. Given that Fonseca is Portuguese, I’d expect him to know that, but no!
Fonseca seems to be a lazy, mediocre coach who never studies tape and keeps having these “brilliant” ideas that don’t work. I can’t wait to see him gone. He is a disaster. This was predictable. I posted several times when Milan was considering a coach to replace Pioli, that Fonseca was by far the worst option available at the time. And yep, we went for the worst one, and we are collecting the results from that.
Thiago Motta, De Zerbi, Conceição and others, all much better than this mediocre loser called Paulo Fonseca.
The inverted bit didn’t work because there was no one to cover the FB position when Calabria moved inside.
Calabria did ok, and we actually beat Juve a few years back with him in midfield.
You love Calabria more than your family
Dude, Calabria isn’t going to be your boyfriend, just stop.
You have to give it to this management. They are genius when it comes to being cheap. They didn’t want to fire Pioli because it would cost to bring a new manager and players he want. But they had to fire Pioli after pressure from the fans and could get a manager that the fans would like and support like Conte, De Zerbi, Motta, Sarri, Conceicao, Tuchel, Zidane etc but they would cost and are ambitious. So what did this genius management do they copy and paste Pioli and brought Fonseca. And now we have Calabria in the middle just like Pioli instead of bringing in a defensive midfielder Hahahahaha