AC Milan’s emergency in the defensive department means that Stefano Pioli has called upon centre-back Clinton Nsiala is, who will sit on the bench this evening against Newcastle United.
Nsiala joins the likes of Davide Bartesaghi, Alex Jimenez, Francesco Camarda, Jan-Carlo Simic and Chaka Traore among those players from Ignazio Abate’s Primavera who has been summoned for first-team duties, and Radio Rossonera have provided some background on him.
Nsiala was born in Rennes, France, in January 2004. Having grown up as a football player in the youth teams of Nantes, the real turning point in finding bigger stages for him came in the summer of 2021, when he arrived at Milan after showing off with the Under 17 team of the Ligue 1 club.
He has been with the Rossoneri for two years therefore, and he has continued rising up the ranks thanks to his great physicality and athleticism. The Frenchman has one characteristic in particular which is increasingly appreciated in modern football and: he is left-footed.
This is not a trivial fact, considering that the Primavera pride themselves on building out from that back and that makes him very useful indeed, just as it does with Simic. Over the course of the two full and half seasons played so far, he has made 65 appearances at Milan from the U18 to the Youth League, passing through the main Primavera.
The current Youth league season is certainly the one that is showing him in the best light, with five starts out of five and only five goals conceded against top sides like Dortmund and PSG. Clinton also has two goals this year and one was fundamental against PSG in the home match.
However, Clinton Nsiala Makengo will be on the bench in Newcastle this evening and for Pioli he is the only central defender available in addition to the starter Tomori. The impression is that, if he were to make his debut, he would have what it takes to have his say.
