AC Milan have made some moves on the mercato this summer, such as redeeming Alessandro Florenzi and bringing in Divock Origi, giving us a picture of how the XI could look. Down below, we take a look at exactly that.
While the starting XI isn’t expected to change that much compared to last season, seeing as that team won the Scudetto, there will be a few improvements here and there. Based on the business made already, and the expected one, we can get a pretty good picture of how Milan will look.
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The defence will remain the same, by the looks of it, as Pierre Kalulu has cemented his spot alongside Fikayo Tomori. Of course, Simon Kjaer will have a say in the matter and the same goes for a potential signing, but they won’t change the pecking order for now.
In the midfield tandem, Sandro Tonali and Ismael Bennacer are currently the starters and it’s certainly a good duo. However, the potential arrival of Renato Sanches could change this and the player at risk is Bennacer, who didn’t impress as much as Tonali this past season.
The attack will be the hardest puzzle to solve for Pioli, given the many options he has. One would have to assume that he will play Charles De Ketelaere as the No.10, but the recent displays of Yacine Adli hint that there could be a different solution. In fact, CDK could be used to the right.
Obviously, a lot will depend on the mercato (Ziyech rumours mainly) and also the recovery of Divock Origi. The latter will compete with Olivier Giroud, who has been on fire this pre-season and remains the first choice for the attacking role. The potential XI, therefore, is as follows.
Milan (4-2-3-1): Maignan; Calabria, Kalulu, Tomori, Hernandez; Tonali, Sanches (Bennacer); De Ketelaere, Adli, Leao; Giroud.
It should be noted that Milan will have many games this season and thus there will indeed be rotation. The selections for the starting XI will not be ‘worth’ as much as they were last season, therefore.
2 Italians only…
I count 6 Italian in Milan right now:
Tonali, Calabria, Pobega, Florenzi, Mirante, Gabbia
Honestly, i’m a Milan fans but not Italian national team. So i don’t see any problem with Milan having non-Italian players more than Italian players.
Who is this Sanchez in the midfield? hahahaha are we dreaming
Florenzi instead of Calabria. Kjaer can replace Kalulu for now…
This would be an insane team not to even mention Origi!
Why? He isn’t a CAM, he ain’t pushing Leao out of Lw, Giroud has mad form preseason, and he isn’t really a RW. For the start of season anyway, he is sub.
Because he can be better than Giroud
@Vasio…are you after the betterment of the team or after the amount of Italian players playing for the team?
Is milan the only Italian team in Serie A?
If Milan doesn’t feature Italian players while others do, is it an offence?
I’ve come to the realization that some Milan fans complain too much and do not undetstand that football is pure business, unlike before that it has to do with more of passion and its certainly not about Italian players making the IX of any team.
Of course there should be no sentiment for picking or selecting the players that make up a team, if a Chinese player can deliver what an Italian player can’t for my team, I will definitely pounce on the Chinese player.
I agree! There aren’t many good Italian players available so why should Milan go after them? There is a reason Italy didn’t make it to the World Cup, they don’t have quality at the moment.
They don’t have the quality because none of the young talents are given a chance and instead replaced by players that don’t add anything. Such as salemaeker…for example
Exactly. English players used to have this problem, then Sancho went to Dortmund, Bellingham went to Dortmund, Tomori went to Milan. Now more and more clubs look at the players on the benches of the big teams. Veratti never played in Serie A and we were the only big club willing to give Tonali a chance.
And who won the Euros? There are a lack of good Italian players in forward positions, not elsewhere. Young players need to be given a chance.
@Mehdi and who were failed to participated in the last 2 WC then? I mean i love if Milan has more Italian like we were with Gattuso,Pirlo etc, but at the mean time you have to admit that Italian talent means nothing if they’re not good enough for Milan.
I’m sure Italy would take winning the Euros than simply taking part in the World Cup and right now, Italy don’t have a squad capable of winning the World Cup. Everything came together perfectly at the Euros, but the tournament also showed the limitations of the team because once Spinazzola went down, they lost a huge amount of their attacking threat.
Italy didn’t qualify for World Cup twice in the row. That makes their Euro cup win looks irrelevant.
@Kingz: dude, it’s just a notice: less good Italians, overvalued by there teams and not giving them faith. Of course I would like more Tonalis (dedicated, focused on there passion and profession first, and then on money, just like Totti an so many of our beloved club) and less Dollarummas in my team, since I cheer for an Italian team with tradition, values and culture that country. But sadly enough, you have spotted it right: it’s pure business and no sentiment now. This is my complaint: for a few dollars more, you choose to be a gold 2nd choice gk than keep fighting for a purpose.
PS: I am not Italian
I agree with you man!! It’s a shame the young Italians aren’t given a chance. And yes maybe they should go abroad to play like the English players. Tomori. Sancho. Bellingham. But it’s the Italian mindset. Yes we missed two world cups so let’s continue to forget about young Italians and developing them. And those that do let’s price them so expensive that no clubs buy them and then they either flop or leave Italy. Zaniolo case in point. Mayve 20/25 million at most but roma wanted 50 million. It’s ridiculous!!
I don’t see this set of players competing with juve or inter Milan ,we are not fighting in retaining the champions of Italy we are just fighting for a champions league spot
Yeah, exactly, hopefully more Milan fans know this and don’t be angry when this season will not go fantastic. We only played against Koln and farmers from the Balkan, the other teams are stronger then last season.
Roma is better, much better now with Dybala
Inter is better, depth wise and a pure fast striker with Lukaku
Juve isn’t much better imo, Bremer and De Ligt isn’t a massive improvement especially bc Bremer only player in a back 5. Pogba is out till januari
Even Fiorentina is much better
Yeah Dybala, who has less goals and assists combined than Theo Hernandez over the past 2 seasons, do you even watch football? Clearly not, Roma spent 127m last season and still finished 6th, they spent the most in the league😂😂😂…this isn’t FIFA on your playstation you seem to know very little about Mourinho’s style of play too, Mourinho plays defensive football not attacking, that’s why they got carved up 6-0 by Bodo/Glimt and he has done nothing to reinforce that defense, you need to smarten up and actually watch football before talking nonsense here.
First of all, if Milan wanted Sanches, he would already be here. It’s agent talk and he’s a shit player.
We have:
Maignan – easily in the top 3 GKs in the World, only Allison is better.
Theo – The second best attacking RB in the world, after Robertson
Tomori – One of the best 3 CBs in Serie A
Kalulu – One of the best young CBs in Europe
Tonali – The best young DM in the word.
Bennacer – International class DM.
Leao – One of the best young left midfielders in the World.
That’s seven excellent starters, 2 of whom are World Class (Maignan, Theo), and another 3 have potential to be World Class (Tomori, Tonali and Leao).
Juve have a garbage squad, their midfield is hopelessly bad. They have 4 very good players in Bremer, Chiesa, Vlahovic and Danilo. When you’re relying on injury prone Pogba and old fart and bottler Di Maria to carry your title charge, you’ve got problems.
Inter have a very good squad. Lukaku is a bottler, he only excels when there’s no pressure on him and there is pressure on him now because of last season. As long as Lautaro holds his hand, like he did when they played before, Lukaku will be fine, but I don’t expect him to have the impact he did at first. Defence and midfield are excellent, but they have too many old players.
There’s nothing to fear from Napoli, Roma or anyone else. Fiorentina? Are you guys serious?
We didn’t win Serie A by accident. A team needs exceptional players to win a league title and we have more exceptional players than our rivals. The lack of squad depth is the issue. That will be resolved in the coming seasons.
Last season many fans say like that too . But who is the winner of scudetto? Title not winning by just big name player
Let them be, it is better to let them have less expectation so there won’t be much pressure they give to the team.
@reccaman only reason for scudetto is Zlatan. League titles attracted to him, CL opposite.
I hope Zlatan read this so he is more determined to win UCL. One last attempt before retiring.
Yes
Of course we are fighting for the title, what a dumb comment
That’s what people said last season, wrote off Milan as a scudetto contender but they forgot never to underestimate an underdog.
All those expensive players looks nice on paper. But if the coach can’t find chemistry and build a solid team work between them then it will be useless.
Tbh i for one will admitt i never expected milan to be champions the most I was worried about champions league spot but pioli magic worked big time…he installed self believe in this milan side that we should go to achieve their dreams…we were the weakest on paper but guys stood like a rock amongst each other Total professionalism by those who left us at end of season….same applies today we are not par with other sides inter and juve have brought good players no doubt even lazio and roma will challenge us though not sure about napoli at the moment…it will be a long season many highs and lows but I will count on pioli….he has this perfect communication and self motivation factor in him…..when Davide astori left us it was pioli who jelled his side then…..I simply wonder what this guy can do if provided with right resources….he certainly is a good technician…..the way he managed and changed tactics in games was simply mind blowing…….yes we are not that strong but self belief is what matters…..
The rate at which some fans on this blog write off this squad is tiring. None of you guys criticizing this current squad believed what they did last year. Pls just keep shut if you can’t exercise patience and follow the process.
I will never read comment on this website again because some fan can just comment like they are not Milan fan or they don’t know anything about football,if you can’t support the team and have faith in them, than please go support the other team that you think is stronger than us and leave us in peace
I don’t know what that Midget is doing in Milan (Diaz) his existence in the team will prevent Ziyech from coming. To be honest his existence in Milan eill prevent Adlington and Charles playing together. Foza milan ♥ ⚫
Adli **
While we will need to improve on our youth end products and their integration into the first team, Italian players who have had a chance to try the first team and blown their chances need to start asking themselves questions too. We cannot just play Italians for the mere sake of having Italians in the starting XI, we must be competent first of all. We have Italian appearance in the defense, in the midfield but none in the offense. With that being said, we could make room for an Italian CF to compete with Giroud. What names come to your mind? Do not even look at Italy national team, they did not qualify for the World Cup, just a reminder. Italian football as-a-whole is on a decline in terms of talents. The problem is a lot bigger than just “Milan not buying/playing Italian boys”. Romagnoli going up against Lukaku looked like a scooter getting run over by an F350, Lukaku just treaded over the former capitano. Them Italians cannot compete with all these foreign European players. Again, Italians need to start asking themselves questions before complaining.
People writing us off, talking about Roma and Dybala is laughable, you do realize Theo Hernandez has more goals and assists in the league than Dybala over the past 2 seasons, alos have you learnt nothing about Mourinho’s style of play, Mourinho parks the bus, 1 goal and defend like they did against Tottenham. Yesterday, Roma spent more than Juventus last season, 127m and only got 6th, Juventus spent 126m got 4th, Napoli spent 20m got 3rd, Inter 70m. If you have been a supporter of Milan long enough you would know that crazy spending doesn’t solve anything, we’ve spent 900m over the last decade, 200m in a couple of transfer windows and that got us nothing, you need to be smart when running a club, this isn’t FIFA on your playstation
Rightly said, the Serie A domination of Milan will start to take complete shape if we somehow pull ourselves out as a winner next season. Optimism! ⭐⭐
Get rid lord saladmaker & return bakayoko . More ofensive if kalulu in RB replace calabria while ndicka in CB duo with tomori
My criticism for this article:
With the players mentioned, it is better to use 4-3-3 as both Sanches and Adli can play as CM/mezzala but not good enough defensively for DM/double pivot.
Yelnats24 that’s a great observation. If Sanches comes, then there’s definitely going to be a formation change because it would paramount to suicide to play him in a double pivot and still have a trequartista who isn’t strong enough defensively, unless Pioli continues to play Saelemaekers out of position on the right to help keep balance to the defensive structure.
Excellent options , more than sufficient to retain the title on Italy. CL is another storty… but anyway, we’ll see.
Milan is an Italian team and have been most successful when Italians have made up the core of the side. Sooner rather than later, Milan will have to refocus efforts on buying and developing Italian.
Italian players used to be really good. But the era of Baresi, Maldini, Totti, Del Piero, Nesta, Gattuso, Pirlo, Inzaghi, Cannavaro, Buffon etc already long gone which you should accept that reality.
Right now most Italian players are mediocre and overpriced as F. Only a select few who are really good.
This formation are good if we get proper CB to replace kalulu so kalulu can move fill RB position. While we dont need renato , double pivot tonali – bennacer enough. With this we are more ofensive and can smash small club that play defensive
Hopefully we’ll try 4-3-3 also. Given the fixed squad (no Sanches etc) Benny – Sandro – Adli seems perfect. Leao – Giroud – Charles seems solid as well. But then again, the formation in this Pioli regime is just purely on paper. The way it’s applied on the field is entirely different from time to time. And all credit goes to Pioli & Co for that matter.
Milan need top strike if want to retaining Serial A champions or just fighting for top 4.
I Like To Play 3-4-1-2.
tomori-kjaer-kalulu
theo-bennaser-tonali-calabria
adli(cdk)
leao-giroud(origi)(rebic)
Haha yeah only if we had many defenders at our disposal. We’re building a team on a 4-2-3-1 (4-3-3 sometimes) formation and guess what? It is working magnificently.
Yeah… why should we bother in big name players? Maignan is the best GK in the league, Tomori and Kalulu may neutralized almost all top strikers in the league. We know what Theo and Leao could do. Tonali is the best Italian talent at the moment.
I only expect that I don’t see Saelemaekers and Messias in our RW too often. And someone to replace Ballo-Toure…
We don’t even need that much right now a rw preferable along with dm or cm and a back up upcoming left footed defender….Trust me we will challenge for title and give our opponents a run for their money…..what we spend till now is what we saved through wages and earned through hauge sale. A bit more push we are good to go I will again say we need a good cm who can hold the lines or ball playing midfielder….Well about Italians being in team plz invest in infrastructure thats only way forward. figc and government should amend laws regarding investment this is only way clubs will nuture talent and make some changes of having mandatory Italians in senior squad…..we can’t restrict the flow of foreign players as it will makes seria a less attractive…..
The last Italian prodigy we nurtured chose the psg bench over his Italian heritage…
Proof that football is simply business.
Our last Italian captain wasn’t good enough for Milan or the Italian national team…
The better player will play!
Don’t underestimate salamakers at all, he can play both as a right winger and a right back 🇧🇪
It’s a dangerous eleven; capable of beating any side in Europe, but I don’t know about the whole Sanches thing. Pioli singled out Bennacer as the player whom he thinks is capable of making that next leap in quality, so I’ll assume that the coach has a huge role for him to play this season, and I’m going to guess that it would still apply if Sanches does arrive. That said, I’m just hoping that I’ll see some heavy rotation this season, with some prioritizing of players to particular matches when necessary, while allowing as many players as possible to find a rhythm through match fitness.