For AC Milan, the next few weeks will see some crucial decisions made that will shape the near and potentially distant future of the club.
At present, Milan have four strikers in their senior squad. Santiago Gimenez is currently the man leading the line, with Tammy Abraham his deputy, Luka Jovic somewhat of a mystery third choice and Francesco Camarda shuttling between the first team and Milan Futuro.
What could the summer bring for each? Considering the arrival of a sporting director seems to be nailed on, and a new head coach is expected too, the hierarchies could undergo a big shake-up and at present there are few certainties.
The present
We start with the immovable. Santiago Gimenez arrived in the winter transfer window from Feyenoord in a deal worth €35m including bonuses. It is the largest outlay Milan have sanctioned on a striker since Krzysztof Piatek – also a January signing – back in 2019.
Things started very well for the Mexican striker, who got three goals in just a handful of starts, including one against his old club. On Tuesday, hough, he became a striker who hasn’t scored for a month as the initial flame seems to have burnt out.
Nonetheless, there are no doubts about Gimenez’s status as the starter heading into next season, both because of the amount invested and because with five goal contributions in 10 games he is still well on track to have the best per-game output of any striker in the squad.
The last five games or so, though, have served as a reminder that the former Cruz Azul star does require a period of adaptation and for the right service to be provided. These six months will be a very useful apprenticeship, before a ‘fresh start’ of sorts in 2025-26.
The stopgap
While Gimenez struggles for goals, Tammy Abraham is hoping that an opportunity might emerge for him to showcase his qualities. The Englishman holds the rather intriguing distinction of being the only striker with more goals (eight) than cards.
Abraham has had to make do with a supporting role this season, having arrived on loan from Roma with Alexis Saelemaekers going the other way. He has had some useful contributions though, like the goal that won Milan’s 50th trophy in the Supercoppa final against Inter.
His latest big moment was the brilliant assist for Tijjani Reijnders’ winner against Como, continuing a recent knack of coming off the bench and making an impact. Given he will work with Sergio Conceicao over the break without interruptions, he might even get a start against Napoli.
The problem is that at present Abraham is not owned by Milan, nor does there seem to be the margins to keep him. Roma are apparently asking for a big fee – tied to Saelemaekers’ fate – and he has a €6m net salary. So, could these minutes be viewed as wasted?
The enigma
It has been a strange few months for Luka Jovic, who was given a contract renewal last summer as well as the No.9 shirt, only to be actively shopped during the winter transfer window.
Jovic has racked up just 122 minutes of action across seven appearances in all competitions, having been left out of the Champions League squad altogether. Between injury problems and exclusions by coach’s choice, his adventure at Milan is coming to an end.
Monza were linked with a January move for the Serbia international yet nothing came of it. Instead, the former Real Madrid and Eintracht Frankfurt man was happy to wait it out and see what options he has at the end of the season.
It has been quite a sad decline for Jovic in recent years, formerly a €60m man now reduced to being the kind of player that fans forget is even a part of the squad. Hopefully for his sake he picks his next club correctly and begins to climb the mountain again.
The future
If Milan had the chance to go back and make different decisions regarding Francesco Camarda, they might just do so. The management of the club of a very young talent has ended up in the crosshairs of criticism as he has not had enough game time, and thus hasn’t scored much.
He has only 1417 minutes played this season with four goals scored (two in Serie C, one in the Coppa Italia Serie C and one in the UEFA Youth League). Given that he is just 17 years of age, spending time shuttling between the first and second team without playing much is not beneficial.
Speaking of Monza again, Adriano Galliani had everything agreed to sign Camarda on an extended loan deal in the winter mercato, but then Zlatan Ibrahimovic stepped in and took on the responsibility of blocking the deal.
They are apparently still interesting in signing him, and Milan face a big decision: loan him to another club for guaranteed senior playing time, or keep him in-house to manage his development, but with the necessity that wherever he ends up he must play.
The targets
So, if we work under the assumption that Abraham will probably not stay at the club, Jovic will not be renewed again in the summer and Camarda doesn’t seem ready at present to be the deputy striker, a gap has emerged.
An alternative is needed to Gimenez and at present two names are being linked above others: Lorenzo Lucca and Nikola Krstovic. Lucca has 10 goals in the league for Udinese, the same amount as Krstovic has for Lecce, with two of those coming in the recent game against Milan.
Both are very different profiles to Gimenez: more physical and traditional centre-forwards who score goals through power more so than finesse. They would, therefore, offer the new head coach (or Sergio Conceicao) an alternative off the bench when the situation calls for a more direct route.
If Milan were to go for a more natural deputy to the Mexican, then Santiago Castro at Bologna stands out as being a talent worth watching. With eight goals and four assists in the league he is not as prolific as, say, Mateo Retegui. Yet, at 20 he has big margins for growth.
Bring back Colombo.
What’s the difference between Giminez and Jovic?
Why no talk about another Piatek when he is obviously Piatek 2.0.
I would honestly bring in an older striker over 34. Someone to teach the younger players and has experienced playing in that role.
I think in the last season Jovic, did okay even though not being a first priority striker.
He really did okay.
I think Colombo and cutrone could have been better striker if milan trusted and invested on home grown players
If you look at the output of Jovic last season, his goal scoring rate was actually very good. And the eye test proved it as well, he was a super sub and won many games for us. Of course he was never going to supplant Giroud. But he deserved better, and I’m 95% sure he’s going to be scoring goals somewhere again next season.
Send Abraham back to Roma, let Jovic go, send Camarda on dry loan to Monza, buy Lucca and re-integrate Colombo as 3rd striker.
Ginenez, Lucca and Colombo
Our problem in AC Milan now is very diverse first we need a coach who the players want a please a coach that has continuity in making sure everyone is trying their best to please him on the field,no coach has been able to? Do that in a while, conceicao did it in the Coppa Italia when he was new but something has made the players withdraw from him if you need to win then you need a coach everyonw wants to impress, then secondly football is in an era where you need quality by spending, let’s hope soon we have a new owner who is ready to spend, not too much but when we need it without hesitation…
Cant understand this fans to want Colombo back, they want a scudetto squad with colombo as Striker LOL
Milan cannot go far with players deciding which coach to play for. No team succeeds with such player power. The players need to play for the Jersey and their careers nothing else.
Colombo Cutrone Petagna can be good replacement for Tamy & Jovic as squad players/ super-sub,
all HG, cheap & low salary..
more important is to sell Chuck & better replacement, i think Esposito (Empoli)/ Orsolini/ Berardi or maybe SeS as Puli backup