AC Milan got their preseason campaign underway with a 7-0 rout of Serie C side Lumezzane at Milanello yesterday evening, with some positive debuts and noticeable absences.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, Divock Origi, Ante Rebic, Fode Ballo-Touré, Mattia Caldara and Marko Lazetic were not called by Pioli for the friendly against Lumezzane with a strong message: they are not in his plans.
They won’t even go on the tour of the USA and it seems that Ballo-Toure is the closest to leaving, as Bologna continue to work to sign him on loan, while OGC Nice and above all Fulham are in the running.
In terms of the game itself, Christian Pulisic was the MVP as he set up Tommaso Pobega twice, while Lorenzo Colombo got a brace and goals from Messias, Luka Romero (from a penalty) and the young Kevin Zeroli capped off a positive afternoon.
Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Sportiello and Romero played for the first time with the former two looking particularly strong. The USA international played on the left in Rafael Leao’s absence, hitting the post and then providing two nice assists.
Loftus-Cheek played on the right of the three-man midfield next to Rade Krunic, who was the deepest of the three. The Englishman showed his physicality and his dribbling.
Chaka Traoré and Zeroli came off the bench, while Colombo sent a statement to the management with his two goals amid speculation that there is interest from Serie A sides.
Need to see Colombo in action against bigger clubs for sure. But with Noah Okafor coming I can see him moving on loan to higher Serie A team than Lecce.