AC Milan’s struggles in front of goal continued on Monday night as they failed to score against Napoli at the Maradona.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report, Massimiliano Allegri tried five different forwards during the loss to Napoli, but none of them managed to find the back of the net. Milan’s slowdown has seen them lose three of their last six games 1-0.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
This can also be explained by the strikers’ struggles and an attacking unit that has performed less well than the others all season, especially since January. Allegri has long been aware of the problem, and when Leao and Pulisic were injured in the fall, he masked the shortcomings by finding “alternative” goals.
In the first three months of 2026, however, the situation has become more complicated because Pulisic has been stuck since the goal he scored on December 28 against Verona, Füllkrug netted only vs. Lecce and has been living with a broken toe for weeks, while Gimenez has returned from two matches after nearly five months out.
And the others? Nkunku hasn’t scored a goal since February 3rd in Bologna, but the former Chelsea player’s last goal from open play dates back to January 11th in Florence. Leao returned yesterday for the final seven minutes plus injury time after a recurrence of pubalgia.
Physically, Leao has had a nightmare season, starting with a right calf problem in mid-August in the Coppa Italia against Bari and continuing with the pubalgia.
Not enough up to
AC Milan’s forwards have scored just eight goals in 2026: four from Leao, three from Nkunku and one from Füllkrug. A paltry figure considering that since the first match of the new calendar year, the away match against Cagliari, 15 games have been played.
The slowdown, however, was even more evident in the last month or so, when Leao scored the inconsequential counter-attack goal to make it 2-0 against Cremonese. There ended the contribution from the attackers.
Even looking at the numbers for the entire 2025-26 season, however, the situation isn’t much better. In Serie A, no one is in double figures, with Leao having scored nine goals, Pulisic eight, Nkunku five, Füllkrug one and Gimenez zero.
To secure the points needed to finish in the top four, someone will need to wake up, starting Saturday against Udinese. Ahead of next season there will be a revolution, and in addition to a true Champions League level centre-forward, there will be other changes up front.
Füllkrug will not be signed permanently, Gimenez may remain as a reserve number nine if he doesn’t receive offers and Nkunku will likely pack his bags after just one season. However, neither Pulisic’s (who has the best chance of staying) nor Leao’s future are guaranteed.
Just play attacking football and goals will come.
Swapping personnel will so absolutely nothing if this style of play is kept.
Allegri will not play attacking football even w/ trio world-class CB’s (BBC) & CR7 on it
Yes, we saw last season. Goals came, that is why Milan conceded 43 goals and finished 8th.
No goals scored means only 0 or 1 points per match. Yesterday we didn’t even try to win or score and got 0 points. We’ll be out of TOP4 soon if we don’t even try to win matches.
Last season at this point Milan scored 4 goals more and conceded 13 more. Napoli had 48 goals after 32 games last season when they won the title. Milan has 47. Like I said, it is nonsense. Your opinion is not the reality. You are obviously wrong.
*31
“No goals scored means only 0 or 1 points per match. Yesterday we didn’t even try to win or score and got 0 points.”
“Your opinion is not the reality.”
LOL!!!! Not an opinion but a SIMPLE FACT. Not scoring goals means 0 or 1 point. Fact. Not my “opinion”. We scored 0 goals yesterday and got 0 points. Fact. Not an opinion. I’ve have better discussions with effing guinea pigs than with you. 🤦♂️
At some point you need to recognize that maybe it’s not the players but the system- that was written dripping with sarcasm. I think Pulisic will put in a transfer and Leao will stay along with Nkunku. With Nkunku, ACM paid too much for him to sell him on the cheap. Pulisic will bring the most profit with his low purchase price.
Who will pay heavily for a player that’s out of form?
They’ll get him cheaper. His market value has decreased.
Nice piece Oli.
Truth be told, we need a total squad revolution if we do not want to be abysmally embarrassed in the champions league.
The players we are relying on to deliver us aren’t very functional in the 3-5-2 formation we play. And with how poorly Allegri style is, we need players with strong personalities who can take the game on it’s head.
To start with, if we’re sticking with the 3-5-2 formation, we just have to sell of Leao, he’s no part in this formation. Modric has to go for a more vibrant player. Nkunku also and some other sales need to be made.
Now, I hope Tare and Co reads this.
Spending €100m on Nkunku, Jashari and Ricci showed me that we aren’t scared to spend money now, but we just don’t spend it rightly on players with personalities that guarantee instant upgrades just like Rabiot.
Champions League qualification should just be the barest minimum, we must aim to perform well in the competition in order to move higher in the club ranking and qualify for subsequent UEFA club world cup.
To effectively rebuild, this must management must bring two transfer seasons into one in order to attain a significant raise in squad quality.
Making some big sales of players like Leao, Nkunku and players on loan, and adding the transfer buget of two seasons, we can have around €350m to work with, which would be more than enough to build an elite team capable of holding it’s own on the big stage.
Now, just sign 2 strikers, 5 midfielders and 4 wingbacks
I hope Tare reads this, and this is my wishful thinking, so please albeit not easy, please make it happen.
Strikers:
1. Osimhen – 75m
2. Sorloth – 25m
Midfield:
1. Joelinton – 50m
2. Morten Hjulmand – 50m
3. Tonali – 40m
4. Palhinha – 20m
5. Goretzka – 10m
Right Wingbacks:
1. Pedro Porro – 50m
2. Dodo – 20m
Left Wingbacks:
1. Udogie – 40m
2. Andy Robertson – Free
TOTAL = €380m
The team outlook after purchases:
First team:
3-5-2
Osimhen – Pulisic
Udogie – Rabiot – Hjulmand – Joelinton – Porro
Pavlovic – Gabbia – Tomori
Maignan
Substitutes:
3-5-2
Sorloth – Gimenez
Robertson – Goretzka – Palhinha – Tonali – Dodo
Bartesaghi – De Winter – Odogu
Maignan
Just loan out:
Jashari and Ricci and maybe Athekame.
Sell off all the other players.
Thanks Tare and Co.
I hope you read this or someone close to you does so you can see it.
Please help Ac Milan become elite again please, we the fans suffer emotionally when we loose.
Please, do something.
LMAO!!! 380mil huh? Like In one window or… can we get a repayment plan? hahaha
Wholup… I will respond only to Tare’s comment, but for now, let’s just pretend that you’re inconsequential in this convo and see how that works.
Inconsequential is the reality you find yourself in if you think the lineup you put is possible in the physical universe that the REST of us occupy. But please, don’t let me stop you. Go on.
Milan spent 170m in the last transfer window without transfer fee injection. So if spending twice as much to build a formidable future is a an impossible request then you should cheer for Parma for crying out loud.
If you read my writeup, I stated clearly that it’s just a wishful thinking, but a block head like you obviously know nothing about developing a blueprint from a mere wishful thinking.
LOL……..
With regard to Leao and Pulisic, Allegri is asking them to contribute more defensively while simultaneously learning to play different attacking positions. For Pulisic, Pochettino is asking him to do the same thing for Team USA. He tried to play Pulisic as a true #9 against Portugal. I posit that if Milan want them to return to their former offensive form, they need to find away to move them back to their more natural positions. To recover from a significant slump ( Pulisic ) or injury ( Leao ) having to think less and rely on muscle memory would be a great help.
In the USA v. Portugal game Pulisic actually lost his cool and earned an completely unnecessary yellow card. I have never seen him lose it like that before so he is obviously very frustrated. Probably mostly with himself, but his coaches are not helping.