AC Milan’s pre-season will officially kick off next week, more specifically on Monday, but the players and Max Allegri have arrived at Milanello today for the fitness tests.
As highlighted by today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport (see photo below), Allegri’s new adventure will begin today with the return to Milanello. He knows the training ground well, of course, and now a few weeks of tough work await him and his players.
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First batch of players at Milanello
The first proper day of the pre-season, also known as the Raduno, is scheduled for Monday with a training session at 9:30, a press conference for Allegri at 13:00 and another training session at 18:00. This morning, however, the first players arrived at the training ground for fitness tests.
The likes of Samuel Chukwueze, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Alex Jimenez, Warren Bondo, Marco Sportiello, Davide Bartesaghi, Tommaso Pobega and Lapo Nava will be present, in addition to the new signing Samule Ricci. Tomorrow, meanwhile, the second batch of players will arrive.
Those who were called up for national-team duty at the start of June will join the team on Monday, such as Mike Maignan, Strahinja Pavlovic, Alexis Saelemaekers and Rafael Leao. Then, the players will all meet at midnight at Milanello on Sunday to be able to start the day early on Monday.
From that moment on, in fact, it will be mandatory to sleep at the training ground so that all the details can be handled as best as possible. From nutrition to getting enough sleep, as well as recovery between sessions, everything will be monitored closely.
Intensity and dedication demanded
Allegri’s pre-season plan is comprehensive, to say the least. Both physically and… mentally. After the disappointing eighth place last season, Max knows that he needs to reset the minds of the players in order to achieve success again.
It’s inevitable that a lot of spirit and sacrifice will be demanded by the manager, as well as a dedication to the cause. Allegri won a Scudetto and a Supercoppa Italiana with the Rossoneri, so he certainly knows what “Rossonero DNA” means and intends to instil this feeling in the group.
Naturally, he also demands respect for the rules. He expects everyone to have done their homework during the holidays in terms of individual sessions, and he will demand maximum punctuality with regards to the schedule.
Of course, it’s clear that the team is far from complete yet, with Luka Modric at the Club World Cup and Santiago Gimenez at the Gold Cup. Furthermore, there are no starting full-backs and at least one more midfielder will be needed, not to mention the No.9 position.
In other words, it will be difficult to work on the 4-3-3 immediately, so most of the focus will be on the defence phase to begin with. For Allegri, the team will have to be strong and compact in the non-possession phase because important results are achieved when there are no blunders at the back.
