Jan-Carlo Simic has reflected on the debut that he made with AC Milan almost a year ago, and the goal he scored at San Siro.
Simic arrived at Milan in the summer of 2022 from Stuttgart and his potential quickly became apparent. He captained the Primavera side and was often tipped to make his first team debut when he was a teenager.
Then, the 19-year-old made his first team debut last December at a time when there was a crisis in the rearguard. He scored against Monza off the bench, making six appearances in total under Stefano Pioli.
However, his deal was set to expire in June 2025 and he was clearly in pursuit of more regular senior minutes. Anderlecht then found an agreement with Milan over a permanent transfer, and thus his brief spell with Milan ended.
Simic spoke to Meridian Sport almost a year after his professional debut with the Rossoneri, and his comments were relayed by MilanNews.
“Almost a year has passed since then. Time flies at an incredible speed. It was unreal for me to have made my debut so young with the Milan first team, but to have scored my debut in just 17 minutes on the pitch… Even now I often can’t believe it,” he said.
“I don’t know how many other defenders managed to score in their first match. Forwards like Pato did it, but for us defenders it’s hard to score on our debut. I’m proud! Everyone was wondering ‘how did this little guy score a goal?’ Honestly, I don’t know either.
“I was completely unaware of the situation. I didn’t hear or see anything in those moments. I felt all my team-mates jumping on me, there were hugs and blows to the head. Indescribable, like in a movie.
“A few minutes later it was half-time. I remember going into the dressing room. We take off our shirts, try to rest and I keep my head down, looking at the floor. Everyone around me is happy. Rafael Leao was the first to come up to me and ask: ‘Do you know what you just did?’.
“I can’t describe those moments to you. Olivier Giroud also spoke to me straight away: ‘Carlo, I can’t believe it!’ Everyone was smiling at me. They knew how hard I had fought for this, how hard I had worked.
“I should have made my debut earlier, but due to a combination of circumstances the coach made different decisions. Kjaer and Florenzi hugged me and kissed me. The whole team rejoiced with me, but even before that they had always encouraged me and told me that my time would come.”
It is really a shame that we let this one go. We certainly could use a quality CB and there is no doubt that Simic has enormous potential. I do know that Simic was primarily the one who asked to leave; he wasn’t actively pushed out (the way Kalulu was; an even bigger blunder as Kalulu went to reinforce a rival; and contrary to Simic, Kalulu wanted to stay), but hiring and lineup decisions by the club and the coach have certainly contributed to his desire to leave, as he wasn’t high in the pecking order and figured that he’d have very limited playing time, so he went to greener pastures. It is an even bigger shame when we know that with Milan Futuro he would have had plenty of playing time. Oh well, what a pity. I wish the kid good luck.
Well written Luigi. I would say the same, word for word.
A CB roster of Tomori, Gabbia, Thiaw, Kalulu, Simic would have been perfect.
The club needs to show players they are wanted and respected, instead of going after the next new thing.
First off our midfield was complete, that was dismantled.
Then our defense was complete, that was dismantled.
We never had an attack and now we have one, just no defense or midfield.
For shame
Somebody just go and buy us a goal scorer as that has never been addressed
honestly i miss Romagnoli now
He was impatient. But also Milan sits on its youth players too long.
We could have told him, you are part of the 4 CB roster with Tomori, Thiaw and Gabbia, you will get games.
Kalulu will play RB with Calabria.
I think you’re being a little sentimental, it’s the Belgium league. I don’t think he’d move the needle for us this season. Not doubting his potential but he wanted to play regularly and he probably preferred a sale to a loan.
*agree with your Kalulu assessment
The reason he asked to leave is he wanted to be in the first team.
It wasnt that he wasnt high in the pecking order.. his issue was, he wasnt even IN the pecking order. As per the news, Simic wanted to be in the first team instead of playing for 3rd division.
But instead of giving him a chance, we went for a CLEAR downgrades.
That’s exactly the non funny joke. They didn’t even give the kid a chance. They didn’t even try to take his consideration in place and put him up for the first team, they just slotted him off to sign a new fresh face.
This is where Maldini heir is right. They don’t even try to evaluate and assimilate Milan’s youth, they just put them up for adoption and go looking for the next shining new toy.
Simic could have helped on where pavlovic was acquired, but what am I typing it’s not like even if Simic was kept the money used instead on pavlovic, would have been spent well on a much needed acquisition.
Better to stick with him than getting Pavlo. And we could’ve used that money somewhere else. What intriguing is that we never insert any buy back clause (like the big club usually do) when selling our young talents.