It was always expected that Paulo Fonseca would conduct his evaluations of players when he arrived, and it seems that the Portuguese coach could halt AC Milan’s search for a defender due to some training experiments.
Even though Milan have a healthy mercato budget, sometimes, you find new solutions to problems that aren’t drastic, and this seems to be the case in the early stages of the window.
It has been reported for months that the Rossoneri could look to strengthen at right-back, not due to massive issues with Davide Calabria, but rather to offer the captain some more viable competition than an ageing Alessandro Florenzi.
Understandably, the Diavolo looked to the mercato initially and had a three-man shortlist, which has gradually become a one-man shortlist. However, they could halt their pursuit of the man, Emerson Royal, due to some findings in Milan’s early training sessions.
In his first press conference, Fonseca stated that he was going to experiment with Pierre Kalulu to see how feasible it would be to use him as a right-back, and according to recent reports, the experiments have gone very well.
With this in mind, Corriere dello Sport (via Milan News) have reported that Kalulu could provide a balance to the defence, and allow greater tactical flexibility to further support Theo Hernandez’s attacking tendencies.
Therefore, the key to unlocking this balance could be Kalulu, a natural central defender with experience on the right of a four, and if he is seen as a right-back, then it would presumably stop the pursuit of another full-back, giving more reason to invest in a central defender, or two.