AC Milan may be in second place in the standings, and while some of the summer signings have helped them get there, quite a few have struggled to impress as well.
Today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport has taken stock of Milan’s squad, following the Supercoppa Italiana exit. There is one easy conclusion to make as per the pink newspaper: the second place in the standings, and the 14-game unbeaten run in the league, is thanks to Max Allegri and his staff.
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While the Supercoppa exit fueled this argument, the evaluation is mostly based on the entire first half of the season. Over €80m was spent on players like Christopher Nkunku, Koni De Winter and Pervis Estupinan, who have all struggled to impress so far.
Furthermore, players like Zachary Athekame and David Odogu (who cost €20m) have been rarely used due to their inexperience.
Nkunku causing headache
Having said the above, no shadow should be cast on the likes of Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot, who have been driving forces in the team so far. The same can be said about Alexis Saelemaekers, who returned to the club after the loan spells at Bologna and Roma.
The others have failed to make the same contribution. That includes the big-money signing Ardon Jashari, even if the full verdict is still out on him given the serious injury he suffered in August, having made just two starts so far.
From one big-money signing to another, Nkunku has had several chances to prove himself and unfortunately, the outcome hasn’t been positive. Considering that Milan paid €37m plus bonuses for his services, the performances have been dreadful.
The Rossoneri still have faith in him and have assured that his future isn’t in doubt. However, it’s inevitable that before the transfer window closes, if nothing changes on the pitch, further evaluations will be made. Regardless of Füllkrug’s arrival.
Deputy De Winter struggles
In addition to Nkunku, De Winter is the other negative exclamation mark from the summer, having arrived for €20m from Genoa to replace Malick Thiaw. The leap from a medium-sized club to a big club is clearly affecting him so far.
The Belgian struggled not only against Rasmus Hojlund on Thursday night in Riyadh, but also against Sassuolo’s Andrea Pinamonti and when he replaced Fikayo Tomori. In other words, Milan cannot rely on him as the only centre-back deputy.
Considering the squad isn’t particularly deep and was built that way because Milan aren’t competing in European competition, the lacklustre performances of some individuals have only exacerbated the gaps. This makes it urgent to intervene in January.
Nkunku: “The Rossoneri still have faith in him and have assured that his future isn’t in doubt.”
According to whom? Stop making things up. You have no idea what management are saying. If they get a buyer in January, he’ll be out. Chances are we’re stuck with the lazy fat pig until the end of the season. Fortunately his agent is a crook and moving on players.
So you say “Stop making things up, You have no idea what management are saying” and then you proceed to tell us that you know what they are saying “If they get a buyer in January, he’ll be out.”
🤷♂️
Add Ricci to this list. This forum was screaming for him to signed and even going as far as to say build the midfield around him. Now that Jashari and Fofana are back from injury, it is clear based off recent lineups, that Allegri has Ricci at the absolute bottom of the midfield pecking order. I hadn’t seen him play much at Torino, so was hopeful that all the enthusiasm was valid. Wrong!!! He is not even in the same galaxy as Barella or Tonalli. so much for that!
He’s barely played, kiddo. Relax
Minutes played so far this season.
Ricci 788, Estupiñán 712, Nkunku 703, De Winter 624.
And what did you think of each one of them so far ?
To me Ricci and Estupiñán were clearly above the other 2.
Outside of Modric and Rabiot, none of the other new players are worthy of the transfer fee. But somehow Ricci always gets excluded from these lists the media posts when they wanna criticize Milan’s transfers last summer. There are always excuses for why he plays like trash. Oh he isn’t playing in his favorite role, but then they turn around and criticize Nkunku for looking bad in a position that he is not physically able to play because he is too small.
Estupiñán got benched by Bartesaghi while when the midfielders are healthy Ricci is the lowest in the pecking order. They are above none.
As I said at the beginning of my comment, outside of Modric and Rabiot the rest were all bad transfers, including Ricci, who is have said before was a management signing not Allegri signing, similar to Nkunku.
I’m talking about Ricci and Ricci only.
you need to check your facts…and maybe watch a match or two kiddo! Ricci has played plenty. Enough to be relegated to the bottom of the midfield pecking order.
You remember what people said about Tonali after his first season in Milan?? 99% of the fans wanted to return him to Breshia
Give them time. It’s not easy to make a change like that. We must give every player at least 1 year. And then to judge
Willing to extend that same 1-year wait period to Nkunku? Thought not!
My problem is this team seems to have no plan. Let’s start up top. You get a manager that plays two up top. You then have Leão and Pulisic for one spot when you get your CF. Then you get another player, for a lot of money for the same position. You also have Saelemaeker who can play up top if needed. Neither Leão or Pulisic see themselves as subs. What happens? ACM is not rich enough like a PL team to have that amount of money sitting on the bench. The end of the year will be interesting for attackers. While people love Modric, he seems to be slowing down and next year will be a year older. None of the other midfielders seem to be able to make passes to break the lines. Right now, Serie A seems poor enough that you should be able to make a top four finish. Will Roma spend money and improve with their manager? Bologna always will hanging around if any team messes up. This management team does not instill confidence.
Jim you maybe on to something….Maybe with a different coach and a decent plan, and better players Milan may at least be sitting in 2nd place just 1pt off the top by now and possibly be able to take points off the top teams like Inter, Napoli, Roma, Lazio and Roma??….Hey wait a minute!??!?
It’s a long season. Don’t count your chickens yet.
Milan only has to win against the teams put in front of them don’t they? No one is counting anything Jim. It’s football. win some, lose some. Milan are in 2nd today, now, at this moment. And this bothers you???
You never addressed my point of how poor ACMs transfer decisions have been. La Liga and the Bundesliga have always been top heavy. The EPL will end up being a battle. Those leagues also have more of a battle for top 4 spots.
I also said the league is weak and AC Milan should finish in the top 4.
Weak? maybe so, but tell me this…who will win la liga? who will win Bundesliga? Who will win Lique 1? who will win in England? I’m willing to bet you could guess with 99% accuracy? Why? because there are only 2-4 teams in each league with a huge gap on the rest. Those other leagues are ‘weak’ as well then?
2025 CL final INTER (Italy) v PSG!
Also Jim you do know that ‘weak’ Italian teams currently occupy 5th and 6th place in the CL table? I know that may not be good enough for your high standards, but considering the opposition, its not bad imo.
There are only 2 Italian teams in the top 15 of the CL. There is only one Italian team in the top 20 of the Europa. It’s early in the competition and there are still a lot of crap teams playing since they opened up the competition for more money. Wait.
Sorry, 2 in Europa.
Here are some of the ‘crap’ teams below the Italian teams in the CL table…Barca, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Spurs, Newcastle etc etc etc. Wait for what Jim? PSG were last season’s CL finalist…who did they play Jim?
Jim I never addressed you question because it is irrelevant to the point I’m making. but ok I’ll bite….Poor transfer decisions??…So poor that we beat Inter, Roma, Napoli and Lazio? So poor that we’re in 2nd place? You see Jimmy, your statements are not backed up by our league position or our performances against the top clubs. THAT is all that matters!! Everything else is…irrelevant!
It’s all in your head Jim. Just relax, one game at a time mate!