The AC Milan squad is in need of some strengthening during the summer window and there are a number of positions to address, a report claims.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (via MilanNews) writes this morning that as many as 10 players could leave the club during the summer, but once some sales have been made they will need to be replaced.
There are three priorities that seem to be the most pressing: a Franck Kessie-style central midfielder, a centre-forward who is guaranteed to score a certain number of goals, and also a right winger.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek is mentioned as a midfield target, and while he has an imposing size he is more of a classic box-to-box midfielder, which is arguably a position where Milan have been lacking a lot this year.
When he plays, the Cobham graduate certainly impresses but he has been battling injuries for a while now which could be a problem. In any case, he is leaving Chelsea and his contract expires in 2024.
Other names for the midfield could be Carney Chukwuemeka who is also at Chelsea (Milan were linked before he went there while he was at Aston Villa) and Exequiel Palacios from Bayer Leverkusen.
In attack the hot name is Marko Arnautovic of Bologna who has a high salary but a low price tag, while Alvaro Morata of Atletico Madrid is on the list and his contract expires in 2024.
The Rossoneri will have to decide whether to go for more experienced profiles like these or focus on some younger but more expensive investments.
Oh-no tovic
Milan need deadball specialists. They are bad on corners and free kicks (both attack and defense).
Milan need a starter for RW, RB, young CF/ST , CAM, CM/DM positions and probably a defender who can challenge Tomori.
Tomori’s performances were good last season when he had competition with Romagnoli for the starting spot. Now he doesn’t have any competition, so his performances haven’t been that good.
might as well get a starter for gk, lb and lw while we are at it… and 2 cbs & cm/dm
The names mentioned here are worrying to say the least. Off the top of my head, the guys below are better and realistic options:
Strikers: Thuram (free), Hojlund, Wahi, Retegui
Right Winger: Asensio (free), Berardi, Orsolini
Midfield: Kamada, Modric (free), Kante (free), Amrabat, Ounahi
I’m still hoping Adli and CDK come good and act as new signings themselves
Arnautovic is class and I’d take him over Morata in a heartbeat but we definitely need a young striker as well.
And re-posted here.
It’s less about who leaves v getting the squad down to a manageable size.
The reason the back up players haven’t performed this year are:
a) some have had injuries e.g. Origi and Rebic;
b) some have only arrived e.g. Origi and CDK;
c) they haven’t played regularly; and
d) when they have played it’s often been as part one of 5 substitutes or in a side where 7-8 players who have been rotated.
5 subs thing typifies the problem. 5 subs is stupid. It’s disruptive. But managers make 5 subs because they can. The only way to stop them is to change the rules back. They need to change rules back because it’s ruining the game and managers would exercise restraint even if it’s damaging the team’s performance.
Maldini & Co gave Pioli a squad of 30 and Pioli used a squad of 30 – badly.
Pioli’s rotations have been terrible. Changing 7-8 players for one game is simply not going to work. If you changed 7-8 barmen in one night the bar would struggle.
These are supposed to be elite athletes playing at the highest level imaginable where a millisecond is the difference between winning and losing.
So the key is to get the squad down to a manageable size.
With the players we have we actually could have a really tight squad of 16-17:
GK: Sportiello is a good signing as cover for Maignan. I don’t know what the point of Vásquez is other than to block youth players.
FB: Calabria can play on both flanks so he should be cover at RB and LB like Panucci and, erm, a 40 year old Costacurta used to. Kalulu could cover between CB and RB.
CB: Thiaw seems to have the ability to really step up so Tomori and Kjær.
CM: Krunic can be the new Ambrosini covering across all midfield positions with Bennacer, Tonali and Pobega, and then we need to sign a top, top, top midfielder as our main priority.
Attack: Saelemaekers, Leão, Díaz, Giroud + ???
Here is the big question:
Can CDK step up? If he can he potentially solves AM, RW, LW and CF at once,. He could play in nearly every game starting and off the bench.
Can Origi step up? Again he can play RW, LW or CF.
Or do we give up and sign another? Can we afford to if we need to sign a top, top, and I mean top, CM?
We have to choose. We can’t keep both. We need to back one or bring ONE other in.
And then we’ve got Maldini and Colombo.
Big choices. But we have to focus. No more than 1 or 2 signings and the priority has to be CM.
Anyone else needs to go. For themselves and for Milan. We can’t have 30 players. We need 23 and a core 16-17. And assuming there’s no rules change – no more than 3 subs per game.
This is elite sport. You can’t go around changing so much.
Reposted here.
It’s less about who leaves v getting the squad down to a manageable size.
The reason the back up players haven’t performed this year are:
a) some have had injuries e.g. Origi and Rebic;
b) some have only arrived e.g. Origi and CDK;
c) they haven’t played regularly; and
d) when they have played it’s often been as part one of 5 substitutes or in a side where 7-8 players who have been rotated.
5 subs thing typifies the problem. 5 subs is stupid. It’s disruptive. But managers make 5 subs because they can. The only way to stop them is to change the rules back. They need to change rules back because it’s ruining the game and managers would exercise restraint even if it’s damaging the team’s performance.
Maldini & Co gave Pioli a squad of 30 and Pioli used a squad of 30 – badly.
Pioli’s rotations have been terrible. Changing 7-8 players for one game is simply not going to work. If you changed 7-8 barmen in one night the bar would struggle.
These are supposed to be elite athletes playing at the highest level imaginable where a millisecond is the difference between winning and losing.
So the key is to get the squad down to a manageable size.
With the players we have we actually could have a really tight squad of 16-17:
GK: Sportiello is a good signing as cover for Maignan. I don’t know what the point of Vásquez is other than to block youth players.
FB: Calabria can play on both flanks so he should be cover at RB and LB like Panucci and, erm, a 40 year old Costacurta used to. Kalulu could cover between CB and RB.
CB: Thiaw seems to have the ability to really step up so Tomori and Kjær.
CM: Krunic can be the new Ambrosini covering across all midfield positions with Bennacer, Tonali and Pobega, and then we need to sign a top, top, top midfielder as our main priority.
Attack: Saelemaekers, Leão, Díaz, Giroud + ???
Here is the big question:
Can CDK step up? If he can he potentially solves AM, RW, LW and CF at once,. He could play in nearly every game starting and off the bench.
Can Origi step up? Again he can play RW, LW or CF.
Or do we give up and sign another? Can we afford to if we need to sign a top, top, and I mean top, CM?
We have to choose. We can’t keep both. We need to back one or bring ONE other in.
And then we’ve got Maldini and Colombo.
Big choices. But we have to focus. No more than 1 or 2 signings and the priority has to be CM.
Anyone else needs to go. For themselves and for Milan. We can’t have 30 players. We need 23 and a core 16-17. And assuming there’s no rules change – no more than 3 subs per game.
This is elite sport. You can’t go around changing so much.
And 3 signings is way too many for the above reasons,
We need to sign a top, top midfielder. They don’t come cheap. We can afford to waste a penny on any other position until that is sorted.
If we have to take a punt on CDK or Origi for another season so be it. If sell one then the other will get more game time which will give them the best chance of playing to their potential.
If I had to pick one I’d go with CDK and play him in every single game as a AM, RW, LF or CF.
CM has to be our prirotiy.
You keep mentioning “elite level” and “millisecond differences” yet however you have no idea about football. Like at all…
First of all, this is not the 2000s, Costacurta wasn’t a full back, he was just anchoring back when our top quality middlefield was dominating opponents. Zero attacking contribution.
Now, since its the “elite” era like you mentioned, you do realize that the players tent to expertise to ONE Position? why couldn’t Leao or Rebic play on the right side to free our hand on previous years ?
This ain’t football manager.
Next, virtually EVERY COACH praises the 5 subs change. It gives them freedom and the ability to change the game if needed. What’s your next big plan? Have 16-players squad? What happens if the player you subbed in gets injured????
I really loled with your statement about 3rd GK not needed, I think you just trolled there, so I won’t reply to this; you can’t be serious, it’s a joke, right?
Last but not least, NO, players (especially in Milan’s high-press system) cannot play 45 matches a season, especially if its Wed-Sun…
A “really tight squad of 16-17” a what now? What happens if you need 3 CBs at some point? Or 2 CFs?
What if you have 2 long term injuries of players who “cover multiple positions” like you said?
Please, please, do us all a favour, keep playing Foorball Manager, keep cheering for our beloved Milan, but stop posting…
We need Milinkovic Savic as CAM
Pioli loves an defensively strong CAM (Kessie, Krunic, Benacer) – and SMS is perfect for this role.
I know Lotito is greedy, but SMS has a running contract until 2024, that could be a key point. However, Juve and Inter will also ask for him, so Paolo needs to be very quick and try to sign him before the season preparations starts.
For CM recruit Cher Ndour free from Benfica and Kamada free from Frankfurt. Right winger and left winger Milan should choose Angelo Gabriel and Gianluca Prestianni,then the forward Milan get recruit Elye Wahi or Retegui.