Mattia Liberali generated plenty of excitement with his performances during the preseason tour of the USA, but since that he has returned to working with Milan Futuro.
Calciomercato.com report that as is the case with Francesco Camarda, Kevin Zeroli and Alex Jimenez, Milan have planned a gradual growth path for Liberali, passing from the ‘obligatory’ stage of the experience in Serie C but with the long-term goal of becoming a resource for the first team.
In truth he seems to be a good fit for Paulo Fonseca’s ideas, which are built around dominating games with possession and also the inclusion of a pure attacking midfielder who can create and supply the other forwards.
However, the flip side is that Liberali has no goals and no assists in five appearances with the Futuro team coached by Daniele Bonera, only three of which have been starts. The team in general are struggling and perhaps due to a lack of size, which has not helped the 16-year-old.
In the meantime, the interest in Franco Mastantuono of River Plate must be noted. He is an equally promising player but has already had regular first team minutes and is in the sights of several European big clubs, Real Madrid first and foremost.
This makes his valuation around €30-40m, but fans will rightly ask why Milan would spend that much when they have a similar talent at home. After winning the European Under 17 Championship, Liberali is also consolidating his position in the Italy Under 19 team.
He made two appearances against Wales in recent days, leaving his mark both in the first games – a goal and an assist – and in the second, in which he found the net despite coming off the bench.
With the Azzurini he does nothing but confirm that he possesses qualities and talent that must be nurtured, and Milan intend to do exactly that.
Franco Mastantuono wont turn 18 years old until Aug 14th 2025 so he wouldn’t be able to join us before that date and AC Milan simply isn’t gonna fork up 30-40 mil let alone long before he would be able to join us as a lot of things can happen in the meantime.
He will end up in Madrid, City or Chelsea, PSG or a club like those who has the willingness to invest fairly big amounts on youth players.
If Liberali played for River Plate he’ll probably be worth €30m but right now he’s not worth even €1m. What does that tell you? Well it doesn’t tell of our incompetence in developing players but rather the discrepancy in expectation. Not much is expected of River Plate so they can afford to play that kid and develop him but over here at Milan the expectations are crazy so we can’t afford to gamble on a kid no matter how good he is. They’ll always go for experience. Can’t really blame anyone though. It is what it is.
Well even though I think that it’s easier for young players to break through at a young age in Argentina and in general South America compared to Serie A I think a club like River Plate has very high expectations from its fans as its to my knowledge the argentine club with the most championships. I did look up the club and I can see its the club with the highest average attendance of any association club in 2023 at 84,567 pr. match which means full stadium all season. They also has some pretty crazy fans on top of it so think its a truth with modifications.
The futuro numbers are irrelevant in my opinion. They are a team of kids playing adults. If you’d put the class of 92 against a o full premier league team they have been the same. The clever bit is bringing Giggs, Scholes, Neville, Butt and Beckham into the first team alongside the likes of Cantona, Bruce, Pallister, Ince and Schmeichel….leaders…. We should be looking to introduce these lads into the first team bit by bit, they also need strong professionals around them
I know probably many will laugh but looking at Liberali’s face and body I can say that he has what it takes as an athlet/footballer to become very big.Who played football more than 2 years knows what Im talking about.But he will probably end by being sold to empoli otr whatever by these idiots
“However, the flip side is that Liberali has no goals and no assists in five appearances with the Futuro team”
Well, duh. Of course he isn’t doing well while playing against grown men in Serie C. He does a lot better when he plays against people his own age, with the Azzurrini.
People need to stop advocating for bringing these very young players immediately to the first team. If they can’t do well in Serie C, they will do even worse in Serie A.
Let them develop in peace. They are still too young, lack size and muscle mass, and are not ready for Serie A.
Yes and no, they will be surrounded by adult teammates in Serie A. Remember Michael Owen’s debut? He looked about 12….it’s about giving them minutes in the right games at the right time…
Incompetent management and scout group that doesn’t cherish their home grown.
Other big teams in Europe sells their own talented academy players at highest cost but not Milan… always cheapest team to chop from. Devalued their own players.
Imagine Liberali playing for Barcelona or Manchester City