Journalist Franco Ordine has published an impassioned reflection on the current state of the AC Milan squad and in particular the last summer transfer window.
It has been a difficult start to 2023 for Milan as they were wasteful in the first game of the year against Salernitana at the Stadio Arechi, winning only 2-1 in a game where they should have scored five or six goals.
Then, the Rossoneri threw away a two-goal lead in the last five minutes of the game against Roma at the weekend, and last night Milan were dumped out of the Coppa Italia at the last 16 stage for the first time since 2008 by a Torino side who played 20 minutes plus extra time with 10 men.
Ordine wrote his weekly column for MilanNews after the defeat against Torino last night which ended the Coppa Italia campaign after one game, and we have translated his comments before.
“The censures expressed after Salerno and the criticisms referring to the 2-2 with Roma were not signs to be underestimated. On a par with the yield so far from the summer market. The third clue came against Torino in the Coppa Italia and it’s a clue that leads to a negative judgment,” he said.
“You know almost everything about the game. You know that Toro defended himself, in a very orderly way, with 10 men for half the second half and during both extra time periods. You also know that in attack, despite the arrival of reinforcements from the bench (Leao, Messias, Giroud), Milan didn’t show much in terms of precision, lucidity and dangerousness.
“The Granata’s passage to the quarter-finals is a well-deserved success, achieved in the old-fashioned way, with a 45-metre long counter-attack. It is useless to drag it out for long: it’s not the Milan of the last month and a half of last season when the Scudetto ride was successful with a healthy squad.
“Now, and not only due to Maignan’s absence, cracks have opened up in defence which seemed to be forged in steel, in attack Giroud and Leao cannot always be asked to make the difference. And in particular, the large number of injuries prevented Pioli from achieving that rotation that would perhaps have allowed a group to be presented in the cup with a better energy.
“But even more important than the elimination from the cup is what Paolo Maldini said before the match. There were two fundamental concepts: the market closed after the arrival of Vasquez, no goalkeeper and no attacker being pursued despite internal rumours having floated the hypothesis of an intervention in the opposite direction.
“Better this way: at least there is a clear orientation and a clear responsibility. The orientation is to go ahead with the strength available in the belief that time will prove the choices in the technical area right, starting with CDK who started discreetly last night, hit the post, and then at a distance looked a bit lost as it happens to him when he spends time out of the game.
“Maldini’s reference to the sustainable football model does not call into question the club’s guidelines because Paolo makes it his own and it certainly does not absolve him from the performance of the summer transfer market which has been disappointing up to now, nor from the exaggerated number of absentees due to injury. Starting with the Maignan case which is a real indictment against everyone, trainers, physiotherapists, technical staff.
“The second piece of news provided by Maldini is the one referring to the two renewals in progress. Bennacer’s is now considered obvious, the announcement is only expected in a few hours, they are working hard on that for Leao and there is the declared optimism of the top manager of the technical area to act as a guarantee.
“On the subject, rather, Maldini closed his interview with a precious reflection. He said verbatim: ‘Whoever wants to stay, in the end stays’. In short, to say that Donnarumma, plus Calhanoglu and Kessiè have not shown the intention of wanting to stay from the beginning of the negotiation. More clarity needed.”
“On the subject, rather, Maldini closed his interview with a precious reflection. He said verbatim: ‘Whoever wants to stay, in the end stays’. In short, to say that Donnarumma, plus Calhanoglu and Kessiè have not shown the intention of wanting to stay from the beginning of the negotiation. More clarity needed.”
Eeeexactly. Those who want to stay, stay. It really is THAT simple.
It is also that simple that Donnarumma, Calhanoglu, and Kessie didn’t show the intention of wanting to stay from the beginning of negotiation and yet Paolo continued to negotiate instead of selling them.
This just makes him look worse
He doesn’t look worse for continuing to leave the door open. It was courtesy on his part to talk to them about it rather than slam the door in their face because they didn’t want to say after talking about it just once. That would have been really severe.
Milan is a super rich club compared to PSG, Chelsea, ManCity or Real, therefore there is no need to take millions for players we have developed further like franck or gianluigi. jeers
The worse summer mercato ever. Especially after just wining the scudetto. Bad management.