Marco Pellegrino became the 10th and last summer signing to make his AC Milan debut during last night’s draw with Napoli, but it was a rather forgettable one in the end.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) describes Pellegrino’s evening as being like an elastic band, given he was unexpectedly fired into the limelight after Simon Kjaer and Pierre Kalulu’s injuries, but then when he came on it became a night to forget.
Pellegrino came on in the 19th minute to mark his first appearance for Milan after Kalulu suffered a thigh problem forcing him off, and his evening ended after 68 minutes as he limped off ‘due to a very bad sprained ankle’ as per Stefano Pioli.
His evening had begun in the usual way: on the bench. Until yesterday, in fact, Pellegrino was a mysterious object in this Milan team: having arrived in August from Platense for €3m, he earned a call-up to the senior Argentina side despite not playing a minute for the Rossoneri.
With Malick Thiaw suspended and Kjaer forced to miss the game at the last minute due to muscle strain, a sliding doors emerged for Pellegrino, like it did for Fikayo Tomori in the 2021 Coppa Italia derby:.
That night Milan were defeat but emerged the certainty of knowing the Englishman was worth persisting with, but this time they got a point and some doubts about the new centre-back.
Pellegrino fought hard but looked raw. He gave a ball away that could have sent Raspadori through on goal and then he was turned inside out for Matteo Politano’s goal. Let’s put it this way: now that he understands the level Serie A is at, he can only grow.
I really feel for the kid. His debut at la Maradonna ? Geez Stefano what a way to ease in your young players….
He didn’t have a choice really, as Pellegrino was the only remaining CB we had. But I agree, tough game to make a debut in. Can’t judge him.
Yes, expected. And some geniuses were asking for him in the first team weeks ago
Pioli should have given him some minutes in some previous games to get him used to playing with the team (just like he did with Okafor and even Jovic).
You can’t expect a youngster who never played a minute with Milan to do well at la Maradona against a raging Napoli and then put all the blame on him.
I would argue those geniuses were right!
This is a clear example of why a team needs to give minutes to young/fringe players. Minutes at the end of games v’s weaker teams.
That way, when the emergency moment (and it regularly does at Milan) arrives, they at least have some experience.
Dropping this kid into a match like that in Napoli is an impossible scenario.
If I was the agent or parent of this lad I would be mad as hell
Agreed.
Should have subbed in Florenzi and moved Theo to center or dropped Musah/Krunic to CB. Anything but that shaky “clearly-not-ready”-Argentine.
I don’t where such backward thinking people like you and boulden came from, how do you guys expect a kid to perform well when his first appearance for the club is against a team like Napoli. This is insane how much hate you are giving him just because of 1 game.
I did see some potential there.
He’s certainly not lacking in confidence. His positioning isn’t terrible and he seems to have good distribution and a great header.
Could be an interesting one. Not sure how he’ll get many games though.
Should’ve go with Bartesaghi instead of Pellegrino. And Gabbia should never be loaned out.
Disagree on Gabbia. Yes, he would’ve been useful today but he would play very few minutes the whole season. Loaning him allows him to play a lot of minutes all season. Next season with Kjaer gone, gabbia will be a solid guy.
Pioli should never have put this kid in that situation – huge game on road against defending champs – having never played for us before. Terrible decision as we all saw. Poor kid. Could have moved Theo inside and brought in Florenzi or Bastiraghi who at least has some playing time under his belt. Another tactical master stroke by Pioli lol.
The idea of Theo as a CD terrifies the sh!t out of me, even for the remainder of the match that he played…
He struggled and a made a mistake for the first goal. After that, I thought he did okay considering the situation and he seems to be a very good header of the ball. It was a rough experience but I think it’ll be good for him.
This guy just disaster
These are the choices we made over the summer..let Gabbia go and went for Pellegrino hoping we pull a Thiaw and boost his price for resale. We have to now live with the choices we’ve made