The summer transfer window officially came to a close on Monday night, and AC Milan were among the teams to complete the most business.
In terms of acquisitions, the headline names were Ardon Jashari and Christopher Nkunku who arrived from Club Brugge and Chelsea respectively for €35m+. Samuele Ricci and Koni De Winter were the other €20m+ purchases.
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Pervis Estupinan, Adrien Rabiot, Zachary Athekame, David Odogu, Luka Modric and Pietro Terracciano complete the list of incomings, with Massimiliano Allegri being given a replenished squad.
Milan’s new predicted line-up
How can we expect Milan to line up after the break? Well, Sky predict that Allegri will continue with a three-man defence and the same rearguard of Fikayo Tomori, Matteo Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic in front of the goalkeeper Mike Maignan.
Alexis Saelemaekers and Pervis Estupinan should be the wing-backs, with Youssouf Fofana, Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot expected to be the midfield three. Ardon Jashari as a reminder is injured, while Ricci is down as Modric’s deputy.
Up front, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic are expected to be preferred – at least initially – over Santiago Gimenez and Christopher Nkunku. The latter two are more natural strikers and cost over €70m combined, but should only be back-ups to start.
Predicted Milan XI (3-5-2): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic; Saelemaekers, Fofana, Modric, Rabiot, Estupinan; Leao, Pulisic.
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I had my doubts about Pulisic, but what a pleasant surprise he has consistently been since we signed him. He scores goals and gets assists. He needs to be on the field.
Agree that’s the most likely lineup and that shows the strange decision making here.
70M (and possibly 12M in bonuses) on Jashari and Nkunku, who aren’t even predicted to be starters.
The three new predicted starters cost a total of around 27M (and admittedly a fair sum in wages).
Despite the money spent, what happens when Estupinian or Saelemaekers get injured? Just zero cover there.
Maybe that’s not the plan at all – next few games should show.
Athekame is Salad’s deputy and Bartesaghi is Estupinan’s backup. Do not even ask how these two qualify to be deputies, we did not bring them in, Milan’s management did. But these are the backups to answer your question.
We need to realised that Pavlovic best position is also wingback. He can run with the ball. He can score goals. Then his carelessness and costly mistakes will be further up the feild.
He can serve as cover for Estupian. Allegri knows all this. He needs to finished squad development before testing .
Squad is good to go for first half of the season
Agree .. I was thinking that.. I remember watching the leece game and pavlovic went on a run with surprisingly good pace and decent foot work! And I instantly thought wow! He could actually play wing back!!
Jiminez is better than Estupinan!!! We should have kept him..
If Jashari and Nkunku bought just for back up, i dont think the management is doing well. They spent 70mil to shine the bench. And up to now, I honestly dont trust Allegri 3-5-2 with Leao – Pulisic as two main striker. These two are quality player, but there skill dont suit with the position they are forcing to play.
I agree with you Chris! Leo & Pulisic are underused in a 352…. From what I’m seeing, 433 is the best or 4231
If I am d manager, I will field 343…3 man defence plus winger…wing play is rossoneri main attacking threat
I don’t think pulisic will work well in this position. I can’t believe it, our defence is still as bad as last season.
Pulisic will work better. He isn’t a dribbler or anything like that, better to have him closer to goal and more centrally. His shooting and finishing are top notch. Most people said he won’t do good on RW, but he can play anywhere in attack or behind attackers.
I think that, as good as his numbers have been the past two seasons, they’d have been even better if Milan had had even one midfielder who could see his runs and deliver a cutting pass.
All of a sudden he’s going to have Modric and Rabiot, both of whom have the football IQ and ability to see his runs and deliver a decent ball. I think Pulisic and Leao should both have their best seasons for years, as long as those two (and Ricci) stay healthy.
Agreed, If he forms a connection with Modric and retains his form Pulisic will be devastating.
You can put Pulisic on CB on he’ll still be our best player. Yes, he’s that good. He’s been that way since his first season.
Actually, it’s worse with Thiaw out.
The Only hope is, that Allegris defensive style will seal the gaps defensively, even though the quality individually is lacking.
I really think we could’ve used a Simon Kjaer-esque profile, e.g. Akanji. But it didn’t come.
My huge problems are the depth in midfield which ironically is to deep for only one competition, and the defensive depth which is lacking tremendously.
1. RLC is better than fofana , they are both defensively bad but at least RLC scores goals.
2. I dont know why no one was concerned about the wing backs – our backups are Athekame and Bartesaghi . I guess its a good thing to give them some minutes this season , maybe in the copper Italia or the Supercoppa
3. The 19 year old German centre back should also be given a chance of the bench, he’s actually a very good talent.
Not true. RLC is useless defensively. Fofana actually tackles and takes balls away. Maybe he is not the best but hundred times better than RLC. Forward RLC is way better.
Ricci is better than the pair of them – should be starting
Ricci plays a different role. That’s why Rabiot is here
I agree. Actually Fofana sitting in front of the defense can be sublime if we give him consistent time and periodic rest. We should have Modrić and Rabiot play slightly higher upfield from him
Yes. From my point of view, RLC should not be the starter. He is used effectively if we need to ‘play slow’, low block against big team and attempt to use strength player slow down the tempo when we already score 2,3 goals against smaller team. RLC has no vision, cant not pass, cant not drible, not a good ball tacker, not enough physic to play as a box-to-box in 90min. Rather useless lol
Koni De Winter is our best CB. Once he starts no one will take him out
Question, would it be possible to have Odogu play in Futuro some and some in first team? Kinda what bartesaghi and Camarda did last year?>
There will be a lot of competition in midfield and up top for playing time. Hopefully that produces quality.
All the critical questions remain in defense. Maignan will have to be great.
4-5-1
Maignan
Athkame Tomori Pavlovic estupian
Salema modric Fofana rabiot pulisic
Leão
4-2-3-1
Maignan
Winter Gabbia Pavlovic estupian
Modric Rabiot
Sale pulisic leão
Nkunku
4-2-3-1 would definitely work better than this 3-5-2
Just another injury in the midfield and the department looks short-staffed immediately. Do not expect to see Jashari until January. He is expected to be fit again for training in November, not fit enough to play match minutes.
Or…
4-3-3
Maignan
Athkame Tomori, Gabbia, Estupinan
Modric, Ricci, Rabiot,
Pulisic, Nkunku, Leao
Allegri plays Fofana and RLC the first matches, he won’t bench both.
I think we will see Ricci as an extra this season, much like Tonalis first season, If anyone remembers that. Offen Kessie and Bennacer started ahead of him.
This will be Modric and Fofana/Rabiot ahead of Ricci I think.
Next season Modric will be 40, and even if he takes the extra year on his contract he won’t be playing regularly, especially not if CL or EL comes every midweek.
But don’t expect too much of Ricci this season, I would say.
This formation does not play to both Puli and Leao’s strength….not to mention they haven’t played together in the formation alot. So we still.dont know well they can even adjust to it. It’s like.habong two false 9s up front 😬
Also the wingbacks will need subs especially as this formation relies heavily on their runs (we can see as such in the first two games during counter attacking moments). And we sold Jiminez and Musah who both offer relief in those roles. The other full backs are more classic.
I sense the 352 will be ditched for maybe a 451 if anything
Our defence is the major issue – I can see us needing to make two signings for this dept in January
OK, some reality. First, Allegri knows exactly how he is going to use Nkonku- Pulisic is going to the bench. Allegri just doesn’t want to say it. Pulisic has never fit Allegri’s system and when Allegri played him he put him in positions in which he was going to fail. Standing on the 18 yeard line, back to the goal with the box packed with defenders. Really? Whoever said Pulisic is not a dribbler is not right. He dribbles thru traffic. Yes, he doesn’t depend on speed to beat players, but on agility and change of directons. I hope he pushes to leave in the winter window. His mistake was not learning from his days at Chelsea. The team is going to play Allegri ball and try and get 1-0 or 2-0 wins. Will they get enough to finish top four? Maybe, if they can beat out ROMA. The finish will be Napoli, Inter, Juve and then ACM or Roma. I am going to watch less ACM games because I prefer football that excites and entertains.
I have a feeling you may be right. I honestly don’t see any of our attacking players thriving in this setup. This formation really doesn’t suit Pulisic or Leao. But Allegri doesn’t really care about attacking players anyways. He’s more than happy to field 8 defenders and midfielders. Pulisic was smart not to renew his contract before he saw what the coach’s plans are.
It’s going to be a long boring season unfortunately. Even the wins are hard to watch.
I have a hope tho that Allegri was just brought in for this one season as a safe bet to get a top 4 finish which he can probably accomplish. Then we can hire a new coach with some real ideas who is not stuck in the past 25 years ago. I can dream anyways.
Totally agree.
I’ll also add that even with two of the best Italian CBs, Chiellini and Bonucci he played a back three.
Put your best player on the bench………. Good way to lose your job quickly!
I’m ok with any combination of that group. Allegri showed in pre season he has a strong preference for Tomori and Pavlo. Gabbia was brought in when it was clear Thiaw was leaving. And we saw against Crem exactly why a new CB became a priority.
I think long term will be 4-3-3. Estupinian and Leao will have to be covered by Rabiot. Fofana will probably be DM and either Modric/Ricci will complete the midfield with an eye for the offense. In attack we have some versatility depending on the opponent thanks to Puli and Nkunku in theory being able to play everywhere.
This is so bad
We shouldn’t be playing 352 honestly. Leao & Pulisic would be playing NOT in their natural positions, which is very bad. Allegri is old passion. Milan can’t finish in first 4 in the league, that’s for sure
But he cant cross, good header but not good finisher, can run but not fast lol. Theo (at prime) or Dumfries type is what we really for wingback position
Gabbian and Fofana out,De winter and Ricci in.
Next summer 10 players out, 10 players in to fix the mistakes made this summer.