Massimiliano Allegri is gradually getting more and more contributions from the summer signings, but there is one outlier.
Milan’s squad is not a deep one after the cull that took place ahead of the season, and while some of the new additions – Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot, above all – hit the ground running, others took a bit of time to get going.
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Over the past few weeks in particular, we have begun to see more across the board. In defence, Koni De Winter’s level has increased to the extent that many believe he can not and should not be dropped from the starting line-up.
Zachary Athekame looked raw in his initial appearances, but last Tuesday night against Bologna he was excellent in just his second league start. In midfield, Samuele Ricci and Ardon Jashari are making progress with each start, and are beginning to carve out obvious roles.
The story of 2026 so far is Christopher Nkunku though. Actually, it dates back to the end of 2025 when he scored a brace against Hellas Verona, and since then nobody has scored more than him, with seven goal contributions to his name.
And then were was one
Everyone is doing better then, except one player. Pervis Estupinan was signed from Brighton in the summer to replace the outgoing Theo Hernandez, with a fee of €19m agreed for the Ecuadorian. Ironically, Brighton ‘replaced’ him with long-time Milan target Maxim De Cuyper, from Club Brugge.
Estupinan seemed to start well and then suffer a bit of a decline, which culminated in an ankle issue sustained in October that forced him to miss a few games. Davide Bartesaghi was entrusted with the wing-back role in his absence, and has never let go of it after performances beyond his years.
Since the start of 2026, Estupinan has started only two of seven games, otherwise coming on only a couple of times in the closing minutes. He has lost his spot and his way a little bit, to the extent that when he does play he overcomplicates things and looks shaky, often to Massimiliano Allegri’s frustration.
In mould, Estupinan is very different to Bartesaghi, and is more on the Alexis Saelemaekers end of the wing-back scale. The former Brighton man thrives in dynamic situations, where he can exploit his pace and attack the space in behind. Defending, especially one-on-one, has never been a strength.
Yet, the 28-year-old isn’t showing enough from an end product point of view to nullify the defensive lapses and justify starts, like Theo Hernandez did at times. Estupinan has only one assist in 15 appearances in all competitions, with Bartesaghi – not known for attacking – even surpassing his goal contributions.
Estupinan’s difficulties are probably because of three things: the pressure of playing for such a big club, the difficulty of adapting to Serie A, and a style of play that isn’t being effectively utilised by Allegri (or generally isn’t a fit).
The errors he committed against Fiorentina show a lack of confidence, and there was talk that the Milan directors were even considering listening to offers that arrived in January.
Estupinan ended up remaining, but his future will surely become a talking point again before the summer, unless Max manages to work some of his magic again.
Or maybe it was fans writing him off the moment he arrived because he was here to replace Theo. XD
Having fans on your back for every single mistake you make is tough. He started well because even with him in the team, we were winning with clean sheets galore at the start of the season.
Napoli came around, and he conceded a dumb penalty, and then the Milan fans waiting for mistakes all started to dogpile on him.
Not conducive to gaining confidence is it?
Sometimes Milan fans are the club’s worst enemy.
Nonsense article. He played well in his last match. He’s had a couple poor performances but overall has been fine. It’s the same people that wanted to run De WInter out of town after a couple poor games. Plus he is playing for the same spot as an Italian, Bartesaghi, so that means everyone has to say he sucks and Bartesaghi is amazing…
So it’s because he’s Italian and not because he’s performing better than Estupinan. It’s probably also a r*cial thing too right?
Mk the anti-Italian poster. Not sure what he’s doing here, pretending to root for an Italian club.
if you think royale is bad, this is the student of emerson royale.
Zalewski could be a great option since Atalanta are about to miss out on UCL and most likely Europa League
Alexis, Barte, Zalewski, Athekame
Estupinan could technically stay and we can play Barte as LCB but I think Odogu out and Gila in solves CB for the next couple of years
Estupinan did not start well.
He was shakey his first three games then started to grow in the role but was never convincing.
Bartesaghi came in and was convincing.
In the chances Estupinan now gets he is a mixed bag. It’s easy to see there is a player in there but no one better than Bartesaghi so giving him starts when he is at his ceiling makes no sense when Bartesaghi has yet to reach his and is already a better player for the majority of our situations.
What is worth mentioning is that Estupinan is a quality backup on the left. This means he can spell Bartesaghi at the end of games sub for him if he needs to rotate into CB and give him a rest next year when we are playing UCL.
No reason to excoriate the guy. We are just on the happy spot of having someone better.
I think he is being unfairly treated by some, he came here having just recovered from a season of injuries and are in need of minutes to recover. If he wants to stay and compete with Bartesaghi I don’t think its smart to let him go. He have heaps of potential and can provide a good economic return if we nature him back to form instead of throwing him out when he is at his lowest
He was great in DeZerbi’s system which broke Pep’s Tiki Taka so it’s disappointing to see him not adapt as well to Italian football. And with a 19/20 playing better and committing similar mistakes as a finished product/prime years full back then it’s a bit of a no brainer on who to play