AC Milan’s summer transfer window has been on fire so far with the sale of Sandro Tonali followed up by four signings and another one to come.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) ask the following question: “Which devil is stronger?” They are referring to the contrast between how Milan might line up next season compared to their first choice XI from last season.
Geoffrey Moncada and Giorgio Furlani have begun rebuilding the midfield after Tonali’s exit with Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders done deals, and it is expected that Yunus Musah might join them.
Milan have changed their strategy as they decided to sacrifice Tonali and his future as the Rossoneri’s backbone to sign more players and improve the squad, cashing in €80m and choosing to move it into various different positions.
Milan suffered from a lack of physicality in the Champions League semi-finals against Inter and that is another reason that there was the desire to reconstruct the midfield, with a potential system change from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3.
Reijnders is seen as a player who knows how to do everything: press and recover, defend and organise, assists, and score. However, he has only played in the Dutch league, has not set foot in the Champions League and and is a recent international.
Ismael Bennacer meanwhile is sidelined with injury and will reappear on the scene at the end of the year, so Reijnders’ adaptation to the new world will define the new Milan for better or for worse.
Loftus-Cheek will add to the size given that he is 1.91m high while Musah covers a lot of ground and has a battling size, with both having a knack for ball progression as box-to-box players.
Pioli, in his fifth season with Milan, is called to innovate. Will Milan be stronger? It depends on if Reijnders means Tonali isn’t missed too much and if Furlani buys a centre-forward to help Olivier Giroud.
The attack will increase its depth with Christian Pulisic, who should be more useful than Brahim Diaz who was penalised often by his small physique, but another No.9 is necessary.
