With the final international fixtures taking place over the next few days, AC Milan will welcome back several of their departed stars in the days to come with some expected back today.
The international break has certainly come at an interesting point, and it is quite difficult to decide whether it has come at a ‘good’ time for Milan, given how the 2024/25 Serie A season has begun.
In some ways, giving Paulo Fonseca two weeks to revisit some of his ideas could be a welcomed thing. However, with the majority of his starting XI away, it means it is difficult to decide whether much impact can happen.
Additionally, it gives a break from the opening of the season, and in some respects, the start of the season could be after this fortnight’s stop. The flip side of that, though, is they are greeted with two horror fixtures, and confidence going into them will depend on the result against Venezia this weekend.
With the weekend’s fixture to prepare for, Paulo Fonseca has seen his squad return at Milanello after a questioned four-day break, and Gazzetta dello Sport (via Radio Rossonera) reported that Rafael Leao, Strahinja Pavlovic, Luka Jovic and Noah Raveyre should have returned today.
Tomorrow, Mike Maignan, Theo Hernandez, Youssouf Fofana, Mattia Liberali, Lorenzo Torriani, Davide Bartesaghi and Kevin Zeroli will return. Samuel Chukwueze, Hugo Cuenca, Tijjani Rejinders, Yunus Musah and Christian Pulisic are expected back on Wednesday.
Theo did not play today against Belgium and has been criticized by the French press for being off-form. Fofana played just 4 minutes. Maignan played the whole game (well) and wasn’t injured, so that’s good. Rafa played poorly for Portugal the first game but played very well the second game, collecting an assist and creating many other opportunities. Reijnders again did very well with the Netherlands.