It has been a strange past few months for Mattia Liberali, who is about to be thrust into the starting line-up in a competitive game for the first time.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport report, Liberali caught everyone’s attention during the USA preseason tour in July and August, but since then his time has been split between Milan Futuro and the Primavera.
It was against Rapid Wien, Manchester City and Real Madrid that the young playmaker made his mark, dazzling with his technique and his creativity, but with the added caveat that preseason games are different in nature.
The idea behind the Futuro team was that there are now no barriers between the senior side and the Primavera, with some players able to move between all three levels with regularity, and Liberali has fallen into that category.
The 17-year-old started with Milan Futuro and an unwritten promise: he would have a chance with Fonseca. Instead, he has failed to score for Daniele Bonera’s side and he was sent to play in the Primavera.
The contract issue is delicate to. Milan risked losing Liberali already in the summer of 2023, when Benfica called him with an offer. The Rossoneri’s offer to renew, in the end, arrived and was signed.
That contract, a year and a half before its expiration, has not yet been renewed and Liberali’s complex season will not help to bring everyone around a table. He has had ups and downs, he has also struggled in the Youth League but there is no shortage of interested teams, in Italy and abroad.
At present everything is possible, even a farewell at the end of the season. For today, though, he must think about seizing his big chance. Milan will be without Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek against Genoa, while Yunus Musah is absent too, creating a gap for Fonseca to fill.
Liberali trained with the first team on Friday and on Saturday he was tried with the starters. Fonseca thought back to the summer and pressed the green button, hoping that he will repay him with a goal.
I’ve been wanting for over 10 years for this club to rely more on the youth academy and we never do.
If he does well of poorly as soon as the injuries are over he’s done with the first team. As always with this club. Probably end up selling him if he does impress..
Too many risks for one match; one futuro starter is more than enough. We’ve already paid plenty for our (well, Fonseca’s) arrogance this season
I don’t think playing young kids is a risk. If you trained them properly it’s just a matter of time when they deliver.
That’s what Saf did for over 20 years
Then after 3 years will be a key player for another serie a team!!
Doubt. He’s 17. Any club that gets him won’t have him as a starter.
Or you think atalanta would make him a starter and bench cdk or lookman?
I’m genuinely excited to watch tonight’s match because he’s playing….
Poor kid gets thrown into a proxy war smh 🤦♂️
Liberali was struggling at Futuro in Serie C so they moved him back to Primavera. But now he’s ready to start for the first team?
I know this is injury-forced but I don’t think he’s ready. Same with Jimenez – played with the first team before, ok going forward but defends as well as Theo on his bad day.
Fonseca isn’t starting these kids to give them a shot. He’s doing it to prove a point to the senior players. Hope this experiment doesn’t backfire.
I think Liberali had a decent debut. Dike expected naivety and some good stuff, a great pass in the first half and should have won a penalty.
We just lack intensity as usual…same story for years. Only Fofana seems to play sort any