AC Milan boss Marco Giampaolo has hinted that he will persist playing Suso at trequartista in his pre-Brescia press conference.
The Spaniard has been the subject of intense speculation this summer, with suggestions from a number of outlets that he could be sold as he does not fit Giampaolo’s 4-3-1-2 system.
However, the former Liverpool man showed promising signs in preseason as his new boss persisted with playing him behind the strikers in preseason.
Despite this, he was largely ineffectual in the defeat to Udinese last Sunday as the Rossoneri failed to register a single shot on goal.
Rumours have been rife that Giampaolo will abandon his 4-3-1-2 after he hinted to Sky Italia after the game (via Football Italia) that he is considering changing to a different system.
He confirmed in his press conference on Friday that he will not abandon his philosophy, and went on to shed some light on both Suso’s position and the mercato.
“Will Suso play out wide or behind the strikers? We’ll find out tomorrow,” he told reporters, via MilanNews.it.
“The trequartista is a player who needs to have high work ethics as well as having a high quality that’s why I think Suso is ideal there. It’s all a question of context.
“I take my time as much as possible. We have a path I know we must follow and I use every training session to make sure we are on this path.
“We have to work hard and together. I’d like to point out that I begun preseason training with 8 players from Primavera.
“We’re talking about the mentality and attitude, if you think that a player arrives tomorrow and can already play straight away you’re wrong.”
On the fixture at San Siro on Saturday evening, he added: “The fact that there are 56K fans is great. I ask our fans to be patient. Milan must play as Milan in terms of mentality.
“Brescia are a good team. They’re a lot of similarities with how my Sampdoria played. We will have to play well to outperform them.”
Giampaolo went on to discuss the mercato and the squad he has had at his disposal so far.
“The directors know what they need to do, they see our training session and can see what the team needs. It’s not within my job description to be involved in transfer market.
“When I complain about mercato closing in September it’s not a random complaint. It’s good for reporters and tv to talk about it, but in terms of work of a coach it’s very irritating.
“All players are in condition to play. I’m not interested in any rumours regarding the transfer market. I trust any player I call up.
“It’s a matter of professionalism, whether there are rumours or not player must give his best.”
On the midfield, he added: “Unfortunately I lost Biglia whereas Bennacer has trained a little with us. That means we have to adapt Hakan.”
And finally, the head coach addressed the struggles of striker Krzysztof Piatek, who did not score in preseason and drew a blank in Udine.
“Piatek’s problem is not a question of role it’s a question of having space.”
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