Pellegatti highlights ‘three years’ without Kessie replacement: “I don’t want to think about it”

By Isak Möller -

Carlo Pellegatti was a guest on Radio Rossonera yesterday and shared his thoughts on the current mercato of AC Milan. Alvaro Morata is the only signing so far and more is needed, especially in one position as highlighted by the journalist. 

Milan needed a No.9 amid the departure of Olivier Giroud and managed to secure Morata, fresh off winning the Euros with Spain. However, there are more positions on the to-do list and perhaps the most important is the defensive midfield one.

Speaking live on Radio Rossonera yesterday, Pellegatti shared his thoughts on the mercato and highlighted the lack of a Franck Kessie-esque player. It’s been two years since he left and if a replacement doesn’t arrive this summer, it would be three years.

“I hope good players arrive and that Fonseca is a good coach. I hope the third striker arrives, I don’t even want to imagine for a minute that we start with only Jovic and Morata. I don’t even want to think for a minute that they won’t sign a replacement for Kessie after three years. Samardzic is good as a market opportunity. If Pavlovic and Emerson arrive, together with Fofana, a third striker and Samardzic I would be very happy with the market,” he stated.

It remains to be seen what will happen but the club CEO, Giorgio Furlani, stated during a press conference yesterday that they ‘have a lot of time’ to complete the signings on the mercato. Not entirely true, of course, but he seems confident.

Tags AC Milan Carlo Pellegatti Franck Kessie

11 Comments

  1. Bring Kessie back from Saudi Arabia. He made his money and is at a good age to come back to Europe. If not look at Ruben Neves who may want to come back to Europe. Look at samuel Ricci from Torino. He is a player with potential. Worse case look at Arambat. He may have flopped in EPL but he his good player. He showed that at Fiorentina and world cup with Morocco.

    1. Amrabat only flopped because he was used everywhere else but as a defensive midfielder. He’s still a good player but I don’t think they’re lookin for a player of his characteristics. They want a tireless defensive box to box who’s capable of playing in a double pivot role, like Kessie. Fofana fits the bill perfectly.

      1. But Reijnders, Loftus-Cheek and even Musah were brought for a 4-3-3. It does make more sense for us to go back to a 4-3-3 (but with regular fullbacks instead of inverted ones) and bring a true defensive midfielder (a N°6). If we insist on a 4-2-3-1 we will be stuck with either Loftus-Cheek as an AM or we will have to use Pulisic and thus Chukwueze and a right winger.

        1. It does. I also think this team is 70% built for 433 and someone like Amrabat would be good in 433 as our #6. But it seems Fonseca has chosen 4231. I think the most wasted player in 4231 will be Reijnders playing as a pivot.

  2. Fofana, Ederson, Danilo, Sangare, Hjulmand (who was 20M last year), Schouten, Joao Gomes, …

    Florentino and Kone stagnated a bit, but could be an interesting signings

  3. I think Okafor is a good third striker. If he doesn’t fit, why don’t we sell him? Pulisic and Saele are good substitutes for Leao.

  4. Hes right in the assessment that if we indeed manages to sign Pavlovic, Emerson, one of Fofana/Amrabat, Samardzic and a third striker like Fullkrug the mercato goes from absolute shit to pretty good.

    It looks dark right now but its far from over yet.

    Also, if the worst happens and we just get Pavlovic, Emerson and say Amrabat because we missed Fofana, Samardzic, and lose Thiaw to Newcastle, its not the end of the world, we just need to switch around some players-

    Let Okafor be the third attacker behind Morata and Jovic

    Let Saelsmaekers be the deputy to Leao on the left flank where he did so well in Bologna

    Let Kalulu be backup CB of Pavlovic/Tomori together with Gabbia (hopefully either Thiaw stays or we sign another CB so we have 5, but we can probably get away with 4).

    Keep Bennacer as a backup to the double pivot position behind Reijnders and whoever we sign as a defensive midfielder. If we manage to offload Pobega and Adli, Musah would be the fourth choice and Zeroli could always be brought up.

    Then we end up with a 23 man squad with like-

    Maignan (Sportiello)
    Emerson(Calabria), Tomori(Kalulu), Pavlovic(Gabbia), Hernandez(Gimenez)
    Amrabat(Bennacer), Reijnders(Musah)
    Pulisic(Chuckwueze), RLC(Samardzic), Leao(Saelsmaekers)
    Morata(Jovic,Okafor)

    Then Torriani, Bartesaghi, Zeroli and Camarda could be added from Milan furturo whenever needed.

    Thats still a good squad. Fonseca will get more out of it then Pioli did.

    Stay positive ^^

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