Matteo Gabbia returned from a loan spell at Villarreal in January and became one of the most reliable defenders in the AC Milan squad, something that has changed his future entirely.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, next Thursday Gabbia will leave again for the United States just as he did one year ago, only this time everything is different. While one year ago a loan move was being talked about (and ended up happening), this time he is playing for a starting spot.
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The Italian returned from Spain during the defensive crisis and he played 18 games between January and May, with 14 as a starter, scoring an important goal against Frosinone (plus one against Genoa) and a more sad one against Roma in the Europa League.
Milan will have Thiaw, Tomori, Kalulu and a new arrival in the centre-back department next season meaning there is competition to get a starting spot, so now he will have to convince Fonseca.
Gabbia is right-footed but can play on the left, he is not the fastest in the squad – and Fonseca likes speed in the centre – but his foot can be very useful for a possession team.
The academy graduate spoke about working with Fonseca recently: “There is a lot of curiosity and desire to follow a coach who is new, who has just arrived. This is our goal for the first few weeks of work: to try to get to know each other and make him understand his strengths and weaknesses.”
As we stand now in mid-July Gabbia has many hopes and three certainties. The first: he was the most surprising player of last season, by far. The second: his stay is not in doubt. The third: even if nobody considers him a starter, he is ready for the challenge.
In my opinion, he has done enough to deserve a starting spot next season. We should put more trust in our home-grown products.
Gabbia is too slow to start against stronger and against faster opponents he’s often caught lacking
Our man to man high pressing system didn’t help him (or any of our defenders for that matter)+the lack of a defensive midfielder in front.
I don’t think his speed is gonna improve by a lot, but not all good defenders are fast.
Also why do we assume that he can no longer progess ? Especially after having seen how much he progressed aften being lonaed ?
Tomori is worst, piling up red cards for stupid bold mistakes
You don’t need speed to be a good CB.
Gabbia has improved a lot after the Villareal loan but make no mistake, he is not a starter but a reliable sub
And why do we assume that he can no longer progess ?
It’s not like we have Maldini and Nesta in our starting eleven
Gotta agree. You could tell last season that while he improved he was still below par for a starter for Milan.