The arrival of a new centre-forward was a certainty at the start of the window, but now everything is back up in the air again.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write this morning, the summer has been particularly volatile. At present, Massimiliano Allegri is seeking stability with the new 3-5-2 system, in which Rafael Leao is the striker and Christian Pulisic a second striker.
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Both are interchangeable with the new arrival Christopher Nkunku, and player who has the speed of Leao and the quality of Pulisic, if he can stay fit. Santiago Gimenez looks set to remain as well, so there is another option up front.
Gimenez scored (it would be overturned for offside) against Lecce, celebrating in front of the Milan fans. It didn’t seem like a player wanting to leave and indeed, despite a timid offer, he won’t be going anywhere. It could have been Roma, but only if the Giallorossi got a loan with an option to buy.
Milan said no: therefore, no swap deal for Artem Dovbyk, the central striker who best fits Allegri’s footballing ideas. Igli Tare attempted to separate the two deals, asking for Dovbyk regardless, but Roma rejected the offer.
Will they hold out? If the transfer market is unpredictable, the outcome could be even more so. Other attacking options? Difficult.
3421? Not really considering Pulišić and Nkunku are our only players capable of playing behind a striker, if that’s where Leao is going to play.
This mercato started well where they finally addressed midfield properly. But then they blew it. More precisely I blame it on Allegri for changing the system so late.
Due to this decision we’re now stuck with half a*s squad for any 433 or 352 systems. We don’t have wingers, fullbacks or attackers for 433 and we don’t have defenders, wingbacks or attackers for 352.
The wing back, and winger/attacker were sold and some are yet to be sold with no Backup for either Nkuku and Pulisic if Saleamakers is to play wing back .
without any new striker coming Okafor should have been kept and sold Chukwueze instead as he can only play in one position compare to Okafor .
anywhere 8hours left for the closure of the transfer market anything can still happen with Valhovic and they shouldn’t have closed Harder door real quick.
or better they bring back Pato he can still offer soemthing. Hahahaha
Okafor sale was the best move Milan made this summer.
Okafor is never healthy or fit when you need him. He has always been injured, since his time at Salzburg.
You guys just leave Gimenez alone. Let him fight for the number 9 spot.
I am not looking at the present effect on the number 9 position this season, but on the morale it gives to the other players to be loyal to the club. On that, they’ve not done well with the hanlings of Theo, for example.
Have faith for Santi. Remember Benzema, Higuain, Vieri, Sheva, Icardi, even R9 have same physic like Santi, only matters in Technical ability.
Is it all about physic? You have a good physic does not mean you are a good footballer. Santi ball control is zero and can’t dribble past a defender
Leao as a striker, I wouldn’t believe it if I see it happening. The boy who’s afraid to shoot, the one who has better % of Spectator hits/shot than the great Fofana of 2025/26. The guy who has 4 more goals with headers than the giant Brahim Diaz…
Rafa has world class qualities and if he works hard he might become a decent finisher, but the only resemblance with a striker right now would be if you position him as one on the field (btw he already knows how to stay in the front when we defend).
The good thing about Leao being the striker is that he won’t leave a massive hole in the left lane for the opponent to walk over. It should help the team when the opponent has the ball. Which is pretty darn often.
To be honest, I find Leao not coming back to track a poor excuse for the terrible disorganised defense we have in the last couple of years.
No one suggested it was the only excuse. Part of the problem for sure when you have Theo & Leao playing side by side and everyone knows their defensive work rate (and skills). Or are you actually saying they were doing a brilliant work when the opponents had the ball???
We will regret no buying Dusan Vlahovic, he will score 15-20 goals this season and with this kind of mercato we will never reach UCL again and this will cost us more than Vlahovic salary…
Agreed. There was more than enough money for him, which is the most frustrating thing.
It’s not that simple.
Milan have a wage max, and it’s too low for Vlahovic.
You give Vlahovic maybe 8-10 million euro Per season? What will Leao think, Pulisic? Maignan?
Now you have a much bigger problem with and unsatisfied squad, or you pau them all and it costs a fortune.
I am not saying that we shouldn’t have gone all in for Vlahovic, I’m just saying it’s not that simple as “there was more than enough money for it”. First if all because of the speculations stated already, secondly because of the lack of champions league.
Vlahovic won’t be going anywhere as it looks like Spurs have landed Kolo Muani
I think it was the other way around. Because Juve can’t afford keeping both, they couldn’t proceed with Kolo Muani, who was their top priority striker. They were hoping we will get Vlaho and to be honest I prefer them with the Serbian in the squad than with Kolo. As another +, he will leave for free next year.
Juventus signed Lois Openda Leipzig when they couldn’t agree with PSG for Kolo Muani.
He is doing his medical right now, in Torino.
Our problem in attack will be the finishing. We only have puli as a constant finisher now since santi have a bery low confidence. Lets hope rlc can replace reijnder place cause his the only one who can fill it. I also hope leao is gertting meaner cause u need to be a killer if u want to score goals. Eventhough he will have to put less smile in his face during the game
actually Leao, Pulisic, Knunku combined with modric might be very deadly indeed
And rabiot also for fun nah..if he already learnt how to shoot on goalie.
I really believe we have a very strong attack with the current team (incl. Rabiot and keeping Gimenez). Ricci and Jashari seem to also have a good eye for offensive play. What I am really worried about is our defense – both in depth and quality.
We don’t participate in UCL so it should be not a big case.
They should have had more concrete options, vlahovicwe needed guarantees in the striker role not the supporting three to fill that role
Wondering what our management was thinking by letting all our strikers to leave. No one would ever believe that upon all the noice about the need for striker and the declaration by management itself that a striker Is a must, that none will arrive. Really show that sometimes , we don’t have a standing playing philosophy.
It feels unreal or rather it feels like some one is operating the team like a gaming football manager, because if it’s Football manger, this is how I’d go about my season when I’m tired 😂😂😂
When your younger brother that is too young to make sense loads your save while you’re away and you come back to this. This is what it looks like.
Vlahovic has super expensive salary but his off to a great start this season. He won’t be taking paycut if he plays like this. We should of gone for Jonathon David on a free. 5m salary is within our reach. Few years back we were stingy with Thuram and inter took him. His now worth 90m. Often you need to be flexible to pivot, unfortunately our management is run by furlani who is useless.
He’s worth 90M in Inter’s squad, with us he could have been a flop when there was no creative game to support him. Looking at the highly speculative online valuations, Inter’s squad in my opinion is heavily overestimated (based on their success as a team, not as personal qualities). Interested to see what Inter’s fan thinks about that.
Don’t remember another one strikers
So if a striker was bought Nkunku or Leao would’ve been benched
are you lot dumb?
One of them might end up on the bench anyway, as we need to contend with Pulisic as well, if Allegri uses a pure 3-5-2, which is looking like it is, as he wants RLC, Modric and Rabiot to start. Also means Ricci and Jashari to the bench.
Imagine how much of this nonsense couldve been avoided by keeping Jovic around