AC Milan are not intending to call Francesco Camarda up to the senior side any time soon and instead they plan to form a ‘protective bubble’ around him.
MilanNews have interviewed Francesco Pietrella who is a journalist for La Gazzetta dello Sport, and he was asked about the rumours that Stefano Pioli is planning to promote Camarda to the first team at the age of 15 to try and help cover Olivier Giroud’s absence.
However, he confirmed that a call-up ‘is not in the plans anytime soon’ and instead there is ‘incredible protection’ from the management, even describing it as a ‘bubble’ so as not to create too many expectations.
Camarda will turn 16 in March and that will be the moment when he will be able to sign a contract, but a scout from a big team told Pietrella that ‘everyone wants him’ so Milan will have to move decisively to get him to extend.
He would go on to add that Camarda is a player like Erling Haaland was while he was in the academy at Molde: long-limbed and a lethal finisher who had not yet begun working on strength.
No surprise.
A high stakes game against a quality opponent which will probably dominate the midfield battle is is 1000% the wrong time to hand an appearance to a 15 year old.
There is far too much pressure, with virtually nothing to gain.
You only need to look at Camarda to know that even if he were to score against Fiorentina and play well he is nowhere near it in terms of being a solution even as the third striker in the squad. He’s not even the starting striker for the Primavera, despite clearly being the best options. Management is clearly managing his workload. He is not a man-child. He’s a boy in a boy’s body and has many years of growth and physical development ahead of him.
In February / March, if the team is performing consistently and Camarda is too, that may well be the time to throw him a few appearances off the bench.