AC Milan are expected to announce Paulo Fonseca as their new head coach, and La Gazzetta dello Sport have theorised how the team might look under him.
The paper report that Milan and Fonseca have ‘chosen each other’ and in a few days everything could become official. There is no total agreement yet, there are no signatures, but the path is clear. Fonseca has always been in Milan’s mind and is appreciated for his style, on and off the pitch.
La Gazzetta have also taken a look at how the team could line up under him, starting with Mike Maignan in goal and with Pierre Kalulu, Fikayo Tomori and Theo Hernandez in the back four as remaining members of the current squad.
Tiago Santos of Lille or Emerson Royal of Spurs are down as options at right-back, implying an upgrade on Davide Calabria is being sought for that position. Both have been linked, and we broke the story regarding the former.
Tijjani Reijnders is expected to remain in the double pivot in what is a 4-2-3-1 formation, with Monaco’s Youssouf Fofana next to him. He is another target that has been linked, with Fonseca liking to pair a deeper-lying playmaker with a more defensive battler.
Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Rafael Leao will all keep their place in the attacking trident behind the centre-forward as per the graphic, which the striker will be one of Joshua Zirkzee, Serhou Guirassy or Benjamin Sesko.
I entered it with optimism, but if we do hire this guy, and yes I will call him this guy, it has severely deflated my hope. What are we trying to achieve here, we might as well get Marco Giampaolo back in this case.
Giampaolo or Rudy Garcia 😵💫
It is indeed very disappointing. Appointing this guy, I will start calling him this guy too 😁, is an indication of this humble management goals, I guess Scudetto was Maldini’s ambition and we can all forget about it now. I bet their decision of hiring Zlatan is just to use his name to give them credibility while making this mediocre decisions, I can’t believe he approved hiring this guy.
What a relief to get rid of all Italian players and coaches.
the true american dream! raaahhh
This is a disgrace, not a single italian in sight, I know what everyone will say, but we need Italians, we are an Italian team, from Italy. If this comes to pass, it will be hard to watch and heart breaking. I really hope this does not happen, Forza Gabbia, Forza Sportiello, Forza Terraciano, Forza Camarda, Forza Florenzi and our capitano Calabria.
Well… We can count on MM16 leaving as he will not get the money he wants. That leaves us with Sportiello as number one. So we will have an Italian in our squad next year. Let’s see if the new coach hates Gabbia as much as Pioli does.
If there’s one position player that Italy produces well, it’s the GK. We can replace Mike easier than any other star position.
That team is a joke, same like Fonsesca.
Loftus is not a nr 10 , he plays better in a 3 mildfielders or 2 mid, Tijjani is the closest we have for attacking midfielder, Bennacer/Loftus and Fofana or whoever they bring this summer in front of defence.
What is the favorite formation of Fonseca?
4231
The idea of a new coach is so that he comes in with his own new ideas. This article has him playing Pioliball. Fonseca doesn’t have his own ideas? Could have kept Pioli for that.
Different formations? Lineups? Reshuffle the starting players and their roles. I do hope (if Fonseca is the new coach) that he picks players based on merit…
He plays the same formation, 4231 switching to 343 in attack phase. He is flexible and adjusts his tactics to the players strength as he did in Roma with Spinazola.
You can listen more here:
https://youtu.be/_k2wxx4TajQ?si=xhS2XouOrIc-YIS1
I think this is why the management are opting for him, he will probably not change the formation that much.
I wont blame Theo if he wants to leave this team.
This.
Move Kalulu to the right, but still sign Tiago Santos, buy a new starting CB,
Fofana would be a great addition to the midfield if they can sign him, hopefully RLC will play closer to the midfield than to the opposing GK like he did under Pioli.
Gove me Joshua Zirkzee up top. Not a fan of Guirassy and Sesko is not coming to Milan.
Guirassy would be a second fiddle to a marquee signing, one would think.
I just feel bad for Okafor in all this. Can’t seem to carve out a chance.
There will be Spinazzola and possibly Di Lorenzo available this summer. But knowing this bunch we will see them either in Inter or Juventus while we get moneyball resale could bee’s
Milan can do better. They are both past their prime and of little relevance to Milan.
Yeah same was said for Florenzi, Kjaer and Giroud.
Is that not true though? Can Milan not better than Kjaer, Giroud and Florenzi?
Past their prime?
They are Italians.
The question no one is asking is what happens to Calabria under Fonseca? Fonseca will reeeeeally ruffle some feathers by benching the Italian and appointing a new captain.
once he works with him he’ll probably start him.. they all do. david has quality
Are you being sarcastic? I can’t tell anymore…
i am not sarcastic. mark my words. when a new coach comes and a new rb David will still be starting
Honestly Davide has been sometimes the victim of this whole inverted fullback thing + sometimes having him go for 1vs1, but he did have some solid performances, so we don’t know what Fonseca will think of him.
The management is looking for a “yes man” for a coach so regardless of the coach they pick, that would be the new look Milan planned by the management.
To be fair, again, most coaches are yes-men. Or they are not employed by the club. What coach lasts at a club he is in constant disagreement with? See: Conte at every club.
This is the best you can muster….
Stupid Owners, Incompetent President, clueless of Managing A Champion Club like Ac Milan,Pls Sell it to the owner Man City.What a medicro Coach,what do you take Ac Milan for,If u are a old and real Milan Fan reply back if am wrong
Not Loftus cheek CAM rubbish again!
No. De Zerbi is our new coach or it will be riot in Milan.
I don’t think he’ll play RLC there. From what I read around about Fonseca and his tactics, he likes to play a proper no10 up there, a player who can also rotate the wing position. So considering our current rooster it’s more likely to see Chuk-Puli-Leao behind a striker.
We don’t really have a proper 10. Puli sort of defaults there. Although Reijnders could be developed into a good one.
RLC should have never been played there, despite his goal tally.
I meant he doesn’t play a kind of box to box type there but a proper attacking midfielder/trequartista and from current rooster only Pulisic ticks that box. Reijnders is someone I’d also like to see in the hole.
I’m boiling
Honestly this article is 100 % speculation if not BS. The man has not even taken the team yet and they already know that he will maintain a 4-2-3-1 with Loftus-Cheek as CAM and that we’ll surely go for Emerson or Santos as RB ? I’ll have to press “X” for doubt.
Now if we get Fofana and either Zirkzee or Sesko or both, that will be great.
Lol I know this is just predictions but can we please get loftus out of that attacking mid role? If we’re going to continue with that formation another player is certainly needed.
Not even an italian in this team, wow
Most of this starting 11 would be decent backups. Not a starting 11. Laughable. What have the greatest team in the world been reduced to by greedy owners?
As even heavily indebted Barca are planning to hire Hansi Flick, this mediocre Milan management are adamant on signing Fonseca. What kind of retrogressive mindset is that?
😂 🤣 😂 🤣
Says alot uh
Lost interest in the article when i saw cheek as number 10. I seriously hope this Fonseca dude has better ideas than baldy, or he won’t last half a season. My expectations are low to be honest. Also. Lets start injecting some italians in our team. I dont want my milan look like the old shinter.
Simple – #Cardinale/OUT/MALDINI/IN
Very disappointing hire. Fonseca is ok – he’s a good coach – not great.
It’s just considering all of the other options available: from Motta, De Zebri, Conceacieao, Xavi, Conte, Tuchel, etc….Fonseca is the best we can get???
Just shows the lack of ambition from these owners. Just get a guy that won’t rock the boat, won’t make too much $$ and wont ask for too much transfers $. Do enough to qualify for UCL and we are good.
Once again we foolishly believed Gerry and his hollow promises of wanting to win so we thought now things would be different. I mean we are now a profitable club so things should be different right?? LOL. Nah. Same old same old.
Barging signings, players nobody wants, cheap young talent – that is the Redbird way – and that will NOT change. It’s their policy as an investment firm – make sure you turn a profit for the shareholders and you cannot do that if you spend $$$. This isn’t about winning titles – this is about winning the bottom line. 2 very different things.
So I would stop dreaming of players like Sesko and Zirkzee – they will not be coming. Lucky if we can take Guirassy before Dortmund does. And can’t wait till Theo and/or Mike is sold too. And the cycle continues.
I wish Fonseca all the luck in the world and truly hope he becomes a world beater – but I won’t be holding my breath. Just sad we have set our standards so low.
TY Gerry