AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has revealed that the plan in the transfer window is to create a squad that has 20 or more starter-level players.
It has been a very lively summer for Milan which started with the departures of Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara as directors, then the sale of Sandro Tonali followed for a club-record fee as the first real act of the new management.
Milan have then been the most active of any Serie A team in the summer window having signed Marco Sportiello, Luka Romero, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Christian Pulisic, Noah Okafor, Samuel Chukwueze, Tijjani Reijnders and Yunus Musah.
Pioli spoke to DAZN not long before kick-off in the 2023-24 Serie A opener for his side against Bologna at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara, with his comments relayed by MilanNews. He chose to field three of his new signings, but not Samuel Chukwueze and Noah Okafor.
What sensations are there?
“There is always the excitement of the first game of the season. We are excited, we are curious to see what we will be able to do.”
What is the thinking behind your selectiosn?
“[I have chosen] The ones who are more ready play, we have been working together since 19 July while instead the others who arrived – I am referring to Chukwueze, Okafor and Musah – arrived only two weeks ago and therefore it is normal that the others are further on, but I don’t think it will take time to get in line with their team-mates.”
You now have more options from the bench…
“The idea is to have a full squad, the idea is to have 20-22 starters because we will have many games to play and we want to be competitive everywhere. We need players who are up to par.
“We have to go match by match, but I am convinced that we are already forming a good group and a good team so now let’s give the pitch the floor.”
