The international break has its positives and negatives for AC Milan and head coach Stefano Pioli as he continues his attempts to gel the squad.
La Gazzetta dello Sport talks about how there are certain players who could have done with staying at Milanello to continue their adaptation to Pioli’s tactical ideas and the environment as a whole having arrived in the summer window.
Sergiño Dest is one of these players, but he flew with the United States national team for their two matches against Japan and Saudi Arabia. Aster Vranckx and Malik Thiaw are another two, who were called up by Belgium and Germany Under 21s respectively. All three could have used the fortnight to try and get more up to speed having not played much.
However, the plus side is that Yacine Adli will remain at Milanello. This is good news for Pioli as the Frenchman – signed last summer and left for a year at Bordeaux – has played just 54 minutes so far and was excluded from the Champions League squad list.
Pioli continues to speak well of Adli but did rule out the idea of him playing in the double pivot, so he must instead work to change the hierarchies which have him as the third playmaker behind De Ketelaere and Brahim Diaz.
