AC Milan kick off their 2025 Asia-Pacific tour on Wednesday afternoon with a game against Arsenal in Singapore.
Massimiliano Allegri had just shy of two weeks with his new squad at Milanello having taken the job officially last month. On Saturday, the squad and staff flew out to the Far East for a tour that will see them play three games in three countries across two weeks.
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The double sessions in the heat of the Milanese sun show that Allegri wants a group that are in top condition physically. Now preparations are going to hit another level, starting with a game against Arsenal.
Team news
Technically, Allegri named his first Milan starting XI since 2014 on Saturday during the lunchtime intra-squad friendly against Milan Futuro. The senior side won that game 3-0, with goals from Davide Bartesaghi, Mattia Liberali and Matteo Gabbia.
This feels more like the real thing, though there are some absences. Youssouf Fofana and Alex Jimenez are not expected to play a part as both have had slight injury problems and will not be risked. The Frenchman and the Spaniard are tipped to be available against Liverpool on Satuday.
Then, there are the players not in the camp for various reasons. Emerson Royal, Ismael Bennacer and Yacine Adli are all waiting for their next clubs, while Luka Modric and Santiago Gimenez are currently on vacation.
Both MilanNews and La Gazzetta dello Sport are reporting that Allegri tried a 4-3-3 in training with Mike Maignan in goal, Fikayo Tomori at right-back, Gabbia and Strahinja Pavlovic the centre-backs, then Filippo Terracciano at left-back. Bartesaghi could start over the latter, though.
Interestingly, Rafael Leao was deployed as a striker with Christian Pulisic on the left and Alexis Saelemaekers on the right. Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Yunus Musah were either side of Samuele Ricci in the midfield.
Predicted Milan XI (4-3-3): Maignan; Tomori, Gabbia, Pavlovic, F. Terracciano/Bartesaghi; Loftus-Cheek, Ricci, Musah; Saelemaekers, Leao, Pulisic.
Opposition insight
Arsenal finished second again last season in the Premier League under Mikel Arteta, though they did not push the eventual title winners anywhere near as close as they did Manchester City in 2023-24.
Therefore, there is a bit of pressure being place on Arteta to deliver some silverware, and the Gunners have already been active in the summer transfer window, with more to come.
Kepa Arrizabalaga signed from Chelsea for around €5.8m, while Christian Norgaard joined from Brentford for €11.6m. The headline purchases though are Martin Zubimendi (Real Socieded, €70m) and Noni Madueke (Chelsea, €55m).
Viktor Gyokeres is expected to follow that quartet and would be another €70m+ operation, so it would be safe to say the north London club are looking to take the next step and try win some major honours.
According to The Standard, Arteta has taken a 30-man squad out to Singapore for the tour, with Gabriel Jesus missing out due to injury. There is some youth sprinkled in, but with the 2025-26 Premier League season set to begin earlier than the Serie A campaign, a strong side is expected.
Predicted Arsenal XI (4-3-3): Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Zubimendi, Merino; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.
How to watch
Time and date: Wednesday 21 July, 13:30 CEST/12:30 GMT.
Venue: National Stadium, Singapore.
Broadcast: Arsenal TV in the UK and Australia; Milan TV in Italy; Paramount + in the US; FanCode in India.
I’m super interested to see Allegri’s plan for Leao. I wonder if he had a sit down with him and expressed how good of a striker he thinks Leao could be and that this is his ultimate plan for him? It’s the first solution everyone wanted during that first year with Pulisic. It lets Puli play in his best position, it gives great strength to the right side with Saelemaekers and a ton of speed and creativity up the middle with Leao. Last time when Pioli tried it, Leao publicly spoke negatively about playing striker. We’ll see if Allegri has had a better time convincing him. But that explains a lot of the preseason treatment from Allegri, he’s trying to convince Leao to make a huge change in his play. If it works, it could be explosive in a good way.
Also, we can play a multitude of different formations without compromising the left side. The way a striker applies pressure in defense is much different from a winger as well and this should work in Leao’s favor. He’s creative enough and strong enough that his hold up play should be similar to Giroud (obviously won’t be as good b/c Giroud is a legend in hold up play). But I can see how they would want to try this out first before putting all their chips in Gimenez’s corner or splashing 60 mil on a striker.
I do mot think it will happen. If alegri wants to play 433, with the rumours of buying another striker, you already have gimenez plus one there. I can imagine leao being striker only in 5212 formation, where even the rumour of buying another striker would fit, but then we seem to have lot of midfielders, assuming pulisic in this formation would play the atacking midfielder.
Leao is a pure winger, he does not have the characteristics of a CF, hopefully this is just temporary.
And RLC, Musah and Terraciano, yikes…