AC Milan should go out and sign a striker on a free transfer, journalist Carlo Pellegatti claims, with Alessandro Matri the first obvious name.
Head coach Stefano Pioli was forced into a number of changes for Sunday’s 1-1 draw against Hellas Verona at San Siro as Andrea Conti, Simon Kjaer, Ismael Bennacer and Rade Krunic all missed out.
However, arguably the biggest absence was that of Zlatan Ibrahimovic; the Swede having contracted flu late in the week after having a muscle problem earlier in the week.
It was a frustrating encounter as Calhanoglu’s free-kick cancelled out Davide Faraoni’s opener, but Milan could not find a way to score a second despite even playing the last 20 minutes with a man advantage.
For Carlo Pellegatti, the draw perfectly exposed how Milan are short of a target man which allows them to better
“From yesterday’s game a problem emerged from the January market: yesterday Ibrahimovic’s weight was missing,” he said on his YouTube channel.
“With him Milan is one thing and without him they are another thing. Without the Swede, there is no alternative weight in attack. When I had heard the rumours about Petagna, I was happy for this reason.
“Yesterday there were several balls put into the area, but nobody went up for these balls. Leao and Rebic do not have these characteristics.
“There is no alternative to Ibra at Milan currently, so in my opinion Milan must now go looking for a free transfer. The first name that came to my mind was that of Matri, who yesterday would have been important towards he end of the game.
“Leao and Rebic are not primary strikers and yesterday it was seen. The market is not over, you need a physical option that could become useful in the last minutes of the game.”
