For those who are perhaps not as well-versed in the goings on of AC Milan’s Primavera side, seeing Jan-Carlo Simic in the side for the friendly against Real Madrid may have generated a surprise.
However, as MilanNews writes he was one of the more positive notes in the game as he started alongside Fikayo Tomori against the most successful team in the history of football, and he did well.
Due to Matteo Gabbia’s imminent transfer to Villarreal, Simic was asked by Stefano Pioli on the morning of the match to play from minute one and he showed against Real Madrid exactly what we had already seen in the year with the Primavera.
His aggression and physicality were on display, as were his concentration and organisation. Ignazio Abate slowly relied on him last season and he was a big part of the team that went to the UEFA Youth League semi-finals.
He was picked out before the tour of the USA as one of the ones to watch, and now we must see what the future holds. Simic could still play with Abate’s ambitious Primavera side, but his level already seems too high for the youth league.
Milan, who are letting Gabbia go to Villarreal, need to complete their centre-back department which also includes Simon Kjaer (not always physically reliable) and Pierre Kalulu (who can also be deployed as a right-back).
Milan are also continuing to negotiate over Valencia defender Facundo Gonzalez, for whom a meeting with his agent is scheduled at Casa Milan this week, and that could impact Simic’s future too.
Not to say you’re blowing this out of proportion, but it’s one half game in a pre season friendly guys.
They should write about krunic instead no?
Did you actually watched the match?
Having made it to this level in the first place….
He’s in the top 0.001% of footballers on the planet. If he doesn’t make it then there’s something wrong with the system.
Simic looked really good against Madrid. I would keep him.
Lol I called this way ahead. I knew once we didn’t get blown out of the water, they’d over emphasize his abilities. Dude was almost always behind the offside line, got pulled out of position numerous times and couldn’t deal with taller players. Don’t get me wrong he did well given his age but nothing more
You’re the first person who has given a proper review.
People think once a players displays energy and throws his body around to block shots, he is doing well. In some sense, yes. But a CP pairing is very delicate. Chemistry is the key thing about a CB tandem and how both players work together.
That said, the kid does have a bright prospect.
Thanks much. Yea it’s seeing it both ways as u said. Yes for an 18 year old sure it’s a good job. But there are deficiencies that if it’s not worked on can lead to an even worse outcome early on in his career.
Btw I have time stamps so lemme know if u need em lol
To be clear a football loving nation of 60m people didn’t forget how to play football.
The three things holding back youth players especially in Italy are:
1. the excessive number of transfers – you simply can’t integrate 5-10 new players every season AND a set of youth players;
2. the excessive squad sizes – squad sizes of 25 plus mean that young players get crowded out; and
3. the overuse of loans, the number of loans players are sent on, and the unplanned nature of the loans sometimes happening at the end of transfer windows or during the winter transfer window where the loanee gets no time with their new club;
I’ve no faith clubs are capable of showing the restraint required to change this.
Therefore the only way I can see this being addressed is by:
1. Limiting transfers to 3 per club in the summer and 1 per club in winter.
2. Limiting loans to one per player with a minimum duration of 12 months.
3. Limiting squad sizes to 25.
Until this happened there is zero hope that any of our youth players at Milan will make it.
Imagine clearing out at 3 per year during our banter era? Bertolacci might still be playing with us lol
On the loan point, there are only so many teams with so many young players that will “make it”. The cream is going to rise to the top regardless, no?
If you’re good, someone will take a punt. Think of it as top 4 teams in the big 5 leagues in Europe. That’s about 400 of the top players out of hundreds of thousands of players. The probability is always going to be low to make it
A major cause of the banter era was the ridiculous turnover of players where we destroyed players like Bertolacci!
If one or two players had failed to perform you could blame the players but when it happened to the majority of the players then it’s the system, and in particular the system of transferring thousands of players every few months across the top 5 leagues.
There’s no cream. There’s no completely arbitrary rating of players like some computer game.
Most league winning sides had bang average players within their ranks including the great Milan sides. The likes of Seba Rossi, Panucci, Eranio, Ambrosini, Massaro and Simone were not some superpowered super stars. They were solid players who stayed at one club for extended periods.
It was the same for the likes Nicky Butt and Phil Neville at Utd, Ray Parlour at Arsenal, Giaccherini and Matri at Juve, Henderson at Liverpool, Pujol at Barca etc
In fact the real measure of a top side is the bang average players play LIKE world beaters. They then go to other clubs and you see their levels drop.
A measure of the problems at Milan for years was players’ careers would nose dive when they joined us.
As a fan of Milan and football it was always depressing. And it happens because the media, fans, directors and even managers are so caught up in the transfer market they’ve lost sight of what matters.
The most important factor is the coaches. Coaches in Italy don’t see the Primavera as a pathway to the first team.
As for Sonic, we have many talented players in the Primavera, some far ahead of Simic. The Primavera defence is the weakest area of the team.
We do need better options in defence, Tomori was awful last season. He can’t be trusted. If an EPL club would be stupid enough to throw money at him, we should bite their hands off.
You simply can’t integrate youth players with the level of turnover we’re seeing.
If you were to integrate all of the signings this summer and some Primavera players that would be over a 50% squad turnover.
Instead the Primavera players are seen as a means for “funding” new signings even though clubs sell them for peanuts and spend a fortune on new signings.
Look at Cutrone. He literally did nothing wrong when he was at Milan but Maldini still sold him for no reason whatsoever just to “fund” future transfers (and then we spent more money).
Cutrone:
a) had scored at every level at youth team; and
b) was the actual leading goalscorer for the actual senior side one season overtaking expensive new signings,
but it didn’t matter.
He was always going to be sold to “fund” future transfers.
We then spent more money including on many failed transfers like Origi.
Cutrone’s post-Milan career doesn’t really tell us anything because once you knock a player’s confidence, remove him from a team where he’s successful (for no reason), and turn him into a journeyman moving from club to club, and country to country, like some seasonal worker, they’re career is effectively finished.
I mean you wouldn’t expect a lawyer or an accountant to move as often as these elite athletes and for them to have a sustainable career.
It’s total madness and it is killing the game.