Matteo Gabbia landed back in Italy this evening ahead of rejoining AC Milan following the termination of his season-long loan deal at Villarreal, and he spoke to reporters upon arrival.
Milan have really been struggling with injuries in their defensive department over the past few weeks with Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw and Pierre Kalulu all out for some time yet as each sustained serious muscle injuries.
As a result, Pioli has had to get creative with solutions such as using Theo Hernandez at centre-back and even given Jan-Carlo Simic playing time, but now January is here reinforcements can arrive.
The first is somewhat of an ‘internal’ solution given that Gabbia began the season as a Milan player before being loaned out to Villarreal for more consistent playing time. He has been recalled, and will be available again soon.
Gabbia landed a few minutes before kick-off in Milan-Cagliari to resume his adventure at Milan and he was intercepted by Sky, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
Are you happy to be back?
“Yes, very happy.”
Are you ready?
“I’m ready, I’m pumped. We start tomorrow. Let’s hope it will be a good six months for me and for the team where we can get some great satisfaction.”
How was your time in Spain?
“My dream has always been to play for Milan, then it was clear that I also felt very comfortable in Spain at Villarreal. This situation arose regarding injuries and I was very happy that the club thought of me to help the team and that’s what I will try to do.”
Have you heard from the coach yet?
“Yes, he asked me if I was okay. Mainly how I was physically and if I was trained. I’ve always had a good relationship with the coach, it was nice to hear from him again.”
A message for the fans?
“The goal is to try to make them happy as much as possible, make them happy and make us happy by trying to achieve great goals. Forza Milan.”
You meet Zlatan again as a manager this time…
“I haven’t heard from him but he’s still the same, he’s an important character. It will be fascinating to see him in a different guise and role.”
Smart guy, had all the answers that people want to hear. Very professional answers. Let’s hope his current skills are as good as his answers…
I hope he has improved with this half-loan cut short, because I wasn’t very impressed with his skills before he left.
That Zlatan question was an odd one
Good. Now Theo can go back to LB again because we need his defends and dribble more on the left.
I guess against Empoli the duo CB will be Kjaer-Gabbia with Simic sub in on half time.
Afterall there should always be a rotation between kjaer simic and gabbia so that simic can mature for big games and the other players can recover in time from their injuries