Pending the choice of the new sporting director and the new coach, the AC Milan management are already making assessments on some squad members.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) writes this morning, everyone at Milan is partly focused on the end of the current season with the dual objective of earning a place in a European competition for next season and lifting the Coppa Italia.
The last seven (or eight) games of 2024-25, however, will have to further clarify ideas on which elements of the squad are Milan-worthy. The new director and coach will bring their ideas on those who should stay and go, but that doesn’t mean some verdicts cannot already be made.
Those to build around
The starting point for next season is solid, more than the current ninth place in the standings would suggest. Christian Pulisic with his 15 goals and Tijjani Reijnders with 14 have been locked down with a renewal (the American’s has yet to be made official) and are considered unsellable.
Rafael Leao, who until two months ago was in the balance due to too many ups and downs, has changed gear and has made it clear that he has grown above all on a mental level. He is in double figures for goals and assists.
The club will only let him go for a significant offer, certainly lower than his release clause (€175m), but certainly not at a bargain price. Translated: no less than €100m. In addition, Rafa’s desire is to continue wearing the Milan shirt, perhaps together with the captain’s armband.
Youssouf Fofana has shown positive signs in his first season in terms of distance covered, balls recovered and assists (eight). Strahinja Pavlovic is also one of the summer signings that will definitely remain.
Matteo Gabbia will not leave either, and will be part of the Italian group that the directors want to build. For Alex Jimenez the desire is to start a negotiation to avoid Real Madrid buying him back, then Warren Bondo and Kyle Walker are likely to remain.
In doubt
It is mandatory to start with captain Mike Maignan, who had a decline in performance at the beginning of 2025 and made some serious mistakes, like in the Champions League vs. Feyenoord. He has not yet renewed, and if he doesn’t before the summer it is more likely he goes than stays.
For Tammy Abraham, who has 10 goals (only three in the league), the discussion is linked to his performance in this final part and the requests of Roma. The position of the Englishman will be discussed together with that of Alexis Saelemaekers, on loan in the capital.
Milan will not give up on Santiago Gimenez after the €28.5m investment, but the Mexican will have to give some signals in the last month and a half. Malick Thiaw has alternated good performances with a few too many own-goals, literally and figuratively, while Luka Jovic ‘woke up a little late’.
On the way out
Joao Felix will not be permanently signed after a disappointing loan spell, having arrived from Chelsea during the winter transfer window. Offers will be evaluated for Theo Hernandez, whose contract expires in 2026, despite him wanting to stay.
Fikayo Tomori, Yunus Musah and Emerson Royal have their suitcases packed too, but they will not be sold off at a discount price. There is the feeling that Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Samuel Chukwueze could move on too.
The idea of buying Riccardo Sottil remains complicated given that he has not shown much, while Alessandro Florenzi (whose contract expires) and Filippo Terracciano could depart too.
It’s not just about individual quality, it’s about who is a good fit tactically, who wants to be here, who can improve, who is in good physical shape…etc.
This idea that we can sell 10-15 underperforming players and replace them is delusional. This rebuild is a 2-3 year project.
Many questions need to be addressed before looking at the players individually:
Who is the new coach and what system of play is he going to use?
Which loan players stay/go/come back?
What are our goals for next season, to challenge for the league or top four?
Can Primavera and Futuro players fill gaps in the squad?
Now we can talk about if individuals are Milan worthy:
Despite intentionally weakening our central defense by letting Kalulu and Simic go, we are still fine there. Our weakest areas are midfield (top priority) and right back. In midfield, Loftus-Cheek, Musah, and Felix need to go. Bondo hasn’t impressed me yet. Fofana has regressed but has had enough good games to get a chance. At right back, if management thought Kalulu and Calabria were not Milan worthy then Walker (at this stage of his career), Florenzi (injuries), and Emerson are not either. I don’t want to hear anything about Mike, Theo, Tomori, Leao leaving before all the dead wood in the squad is cleaned out and the midfield is fixed.
Good post, this is always the thing that winds me up with these stories – it’s not like we sell 10 players, buy 10 and win a title.
We also have to accept that just spending money won’t fix it, there needs to be a style, a direction and some patience required before we can become a title challenger again; forcing each new coach to say “we’re trying to win the title” each season is just setting up for failure.
“We need [insert player name]” rhetoric is worse and worse each year. Ricci will fix us? Not without a team around him working with his skillset.
And there is no right and wrong answer, someone who’s not succeeded at one club might be just what we need – who expected McTominay to be a dynamic attacking midfielder? Napoli’s scouts, that’s who. Or just look at all the players who’ve left Milan and become stars. Hopefully, this winter’s cash splurge and subsequent failure will open some eyes to this, but I suspect not.
Future success will depend on a coach being able to get more out of some of the players we currently don’t think are ‘good enough’. Because in many cases, give them the right system and they can be.
Agreed with most of what you guys are saying, but further to that, I don’t even think we need to sell many of the players being discussed as sales. Like you say, we can’t sell 10 players, buy 10 and win a title. It’s just too much turnover. And agreed that midfield is our greatest need. Aside from players on loan to us who will not be retained, and our players loaned out that will not come back, the only MUST SELL players are Origi, Royal and RLC. The former two because they’re just not good enough, and RLC because he’s unfortunately almost never available. The rest of the questionable players, Musah, Chukwueze, etc., still provide depth and cohesion. The only four MUST BUYS right now are a new RB (or just let Jimenez grow into the role), a good DM, another good box to box CM to rotate with Fofana/Reijnders, and a deputy for Leao. Then we just need to figure out if Theo and Maignan (and one of Tomori and Thiaw) stay or go, and then replace them if they go.
So that’s four definite incomings by choice, and three potential “forced” incomings. Still a lot.
Testify brother!!
I would like to think they are already planning the summer, but we have learned from recent windows that is not how we work.
I hope next time Gerry is giving a talk at Harvard business school, someone can introduce the topic of how to ruin a successful team
It’s a bit too much to say Luka Jovic ‘woke up a little late’. He was injured for a long time and then not given a chance to force Abraham, Camarda and Morata who didn’t show much. When given a chance Jovic performed very well. I am pretty much sure he would have 10-15 goals already scored in Serie A if he was pushed and supported like other players. And now, Fonseca is fired, Morata sold, Camarda sent back to youth team and they still want to sell Jovic? Just give the man a proper chance. He will not disappoint. And you will never ever find such a good striker for literally no money. If jovic played in Milan from 90’s and 2000’s he would be a mean goal machine with the balls fed from Seedorf, Pirlo, Cafu, Serginho, Albertini etc.
And yet, Jovic always seems to struggle to lead the line as a no. 9. He always does best playing off of another striker. He would probably excel in a 3-5-2 or 4-4-2, but that’s just not the way we’re going to play as long as we have Leao and Puli. So me may not be that useful to us
The worthy only the 3 American clowns. Hahaha…
This article show every players will depart.. haha
But who will come in ? The primavera players ? Haha…