One of the issues that continues to be talked about relating to AC Milan’s squad is how little Italian influence there is, especially in the starting line-up.
As Corriere dello Sport (via MilanNews) recall, both the new coach Paulo Fonseca and Senior Advisor Zlatan Ibrahimovic were asked about the lack of Italians in their press conferences a few weeks ago.
The answer was clear: quality is the primary characteristic when looking for players who can improve the team, regardless of nationality. The paper carries a headline on the issue that states: ‘Fonseca’s Milan no longer speaks Italian’.
It all starts with the possibility of seeing an entirely foreign starting eleven next season, as is hypothesised. The team should be as follows: Mike Maignan; Emerson Royal, Fikayo Tomori, Strahinja Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Tijjani Reijnders, Youssouf Fofana; Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Rafael Leao; Alvaro Morata.
The subtitle reads: ‘The only exceptions will be Calabria and Gabbia, with some possibility [of seeing them start games]. Pobega, Terracciano, Sportiello and Florenzi will start from the back [of the pecking order]’.
The problem is that the top Italian players, in addition to being objectively few, are also much more expensive. At the same time, Milan are looking to the future and they have players like Francesco Camarda, Kevin Zeroli, Mattia Liberali, Lorenzo Torriani and Davide Bartesaghi.
why is Bennacer always benched for RLC? our midfield will obviously be Benny-Fofana double pivot with Reijnders up front at 10.
Who cares about Italian present nowadays, I’m all for having Italians in Milan but this generation is really bad … Couldn’t even qualify group stage of European cup and you wanna waste 40M€ on a buongiorno who’s not even a starter.. Tonali was the last decent player we had all the rest is cr*p!!
I’m with you man. I’m all for italians but if the Euro showed anything (most fans knew it already) is that there are very few italians i would put on our starting 11. Calafiori or perhaps barela or maybe buongiorno but they are either overpriced or not available at all. The next generation looks very promising and not just our boys but the whole U17 and U21 actually plays good. We gotta be honest, this current generation of italian players sucked, next generation looks good. period.
So according to your logic, Morata is cr*p too because he scored 1 goal in Euros? Or Kane? Or Bellingham? Or Musiala? Mbappe? What about Zirkzee who was also warming the bench in Euros and Milan were reportedly willing to drop 40 millions for him?
You can’t seriously compare player’s Euro and club performances. It’s just a lame excuse when it fits your narrative.
First, Zirkzee is crap. The others you mentioned have a body of work that shows their worth. And the current generation of Italians have a body of work that shows anyone not blinded with jingoism their lack of worth.
Tell that to Moncada and Furlani who reportedly wanted to splash 40 millions on him. My take was on Buongiorno and a comment he didn’t even step foot on the field in Euros. There were many choices Spaletti got wrong and he’s the main culprit for Italy’s disappointment. But saying Buongiorno is not good because he didn’t play in Euros is straight laughable. He’s a captain in his club and that means something.
should’ve gotten Scammaca who just tore his ACL
or Buogiorno who plays in a back 3 for most of his career and isnt even that good for 40m
Buogiorno went for 35 million this is more or less his value in the current market . Also it’s not like scamacca would have torn his ligament if he had joined another team. So your comment makes zero sense
so his value is 35m while being worse than Pavlovic, doesnt even have UCL experience
‘value’ lmao
Based on the comments from the experts of the SM comment section, Pavlovic is better than Van Dijk and Saliba combined and will claim the next then Ballon d’Or.
Ha ha 😂.
Typical Bartolomeo.
From a conversation about Pavlovic being a better player than Boungiorno, he blows it out of proportion with a ridiculous made up statement.
Boulden said Pavlovic has UCL experience, Boungiorno doesn’t.
Pavlovic has UCL, World Cup, Euro experience, while Boungiorno has zero experience outside of serie A and Copa Italia. ✅️
Boulden said that we don’t know If Boungiorno can play in back 4 since he has only played in back 3. Pavlovic has played in back 4 and back 3.✅️.
Keep on the hate brother.
Whatever floats your boat
Literally no one said that. But that’s what you have to do when you can’t intelligently defend your position, you have to make stuff up.
Man I don’t know Pavlovic, probably like many people here, but he’s already overhyped before even playing for Milan. I hope he’s good and I’m impressed by his speed at his height but I’m waiting to watch him play. My guess is that if he was so good Milan wouldn’t be the only team trying to recruit him, especially for that price, but whatever, any signing from this management is so hyped here that it’s cringe af. If the management would recruit Calabria the same around here spitting at him would say he’s the best right back in the world.
So you are out here making statements about a player you don’t know and judge him based on other teams Intrest in him or not? 😂
You do realize that there wasn’t much interest in Theo Hernández before Milan signed him?
“We were already following him at Atlético Madrid and then at Real Madrid and then he went on loan to Real Sociedad and I said to myself how is it possible that no one is interested in him?’ And the truth is that we didn’t have much competition when we got him.”
That’s from an interview of your favorite Milan director Geoffrey Moncada.😂
Bartholomäus, do Not react of the commens of Kids which think Sacchi was Not an extraordinary Coach! or pulisic is the greatest Milan Player of all time. This Persons Are Not man enough to say where Are They from!
I’m out here making statements based on the comments around here. I hope Pavlovic is not like Théo who was 21 when he arrived, was very raw and needed a few seasons to adapt. But who cares if Pavlovic needs time, we’re in rebuilding mode until Camarda gets facial hair. I wonder if Inter fans would be so ecstatic as Milan fans if their management would suddenly said “scudetto and second star was a bonus, we compete for 4th place”.
how are you hyping up Buogiorno this much based on him being Italian? I dont get it
you even ignore the point that he doesnt even play in a back 2, ITS NOT THE SAME. Look at Bonucci, he literally always struggled in a back 2 and was world class in a 3.
Why should Milan drop 40m for that?
Bartholomeo Theo first season at Milan was his best what are you talking about? He was literally top goalscorer. Where are you watching football brother a bucket of water 🤣🤣🤣
I guess we will find out this season who is better. I don’t know much about Pavlovic. I’m just saying that Napoli got Buogiorno for his fair market price. They didn’t overpay given the current market.
Also I never heard anyone talking about Pavlovic until Milan had an interest in him. If he was that good I’m pretty sure someone would have mentioned him before.
I mean they did over pay, as they were the only ones offering that. ADL is a desperate owner who needed a signing who can get the fans hyped given they are going to lose osimhen and karva in the near future
Worse than Pavlovic? What you’ve gotten your hands on Goku’s crystal ball? We’re yet to see who Pavlovic is and hopefully, for the sake of our team, he performs. But don’t make bold claims like that.
1994 was the Best final ever, 8 Italians Vs. 8 spaniards , you want to Play come on and Play
Lol this guy always make a point of something bad that’s already happened to support and make justification on his negative hypothesis. Just like we’re extremely lucky to had sold Tonali because his betting case. Like, who the f know about it beforehand. Classic.
In an ideal world at least half the team would be Italian but we’re going through a moment where there’s hardly any. It’s not the end of the world, guys. We have Liberali, Camarda, Zeroli etc all coming through and “All things must pass,” as George Harrison once said.
Not a fan of Emerson Royal, but I guess that’s who they want. Hopefully he proves me wrong.
Insert Samardzic at 10 and Pulisic back at RW.
The rest of it looks good.
Perfect
yup. Better than calabria but not a big fan either. The few times i saw him play, i can tell he’s fast, he can dribble but he got distracted and made a few defensive errors. Tomori had kind of the same reputation when he joined us. I guess they look for that profile. Easier to train someone to focus and be consistent is easier than train for speed and physicality ?
Fine by me. I wouldn’t want Milan to cave and pay these ridiculous prices for overrated Torino or Bologna talents. No freaking way. It’s better for Milan to buy foreign for half the price and then develop its own Italian players. That’s what is gonna happen with Futuro
Chuku will be Rw, puli the 10, Leao left , Morata striker. The midfield and RB are the questions. 2 midfielders that usually start will be benched. If we get Fofana then RLC probably gets benched and it’s a toss up between Tianji and Bennacer. No guarantees Emerson will be better then Calabria but I will assume he is.
This article is so wrong lol because AC Milan is literally feeding mid table series A and series B players. Even some top team like Roma, Atlanta ( although they switched their model now like AC Milan), Juventus. Futuro is the best thing that could happen since we lost so many decent players