AC Milan travel to the MAPEI Stadium on Sunday to face Sassuolo in what could be a very tricky game late in the season.
The equation for Milan is quite simple going into the final four games of the campaign: if they take six points from their games against Sassuolo, Atalanta, Genoa and Cagliari then they will mathematically confirm Champions League qualification.
Of course, the sooner they do this the better for everyone’s heart rates. It all starts with a difficult game in Reggio Emilia against a Sassuolo team who have nestled nicely into the top half of the table having returned to the top flight after winning Serie B in 2024-25.
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Once top four is in the bag, Milan will begin to plan for the future and a potentially ambitious summer window to boost the squad’s quality and quantity. This is where present meets future: there are a few players who have shone under Fabio Grosso, and might just catch the eyes of the directors.
Sassuolo – although possessing a very solid project – know their place in the food chain. They have developed several players that they have sold on, like Gianluca Scamacca, Manuel Locatelli, Davide Frattesi and Giacomo Raspadori. This summer, they could be raided again. Could Milan play a part?
Midfield muscle
We start with a name that has actually already been linked in the media: Ismael Kone. It is well known that Milan are after Leon Goretzka, but another body coulda arrive if Youssouf Fofana and/or Ruben Loftus-Cheek were to be sold.
If Fofana departed then Milan would lose serious muscle in the middle of the park. This is where Kone could step in: the 23-year-old Canada international is having a great first full season in Serie A, with six goals to his name already in a buccaneering box-to-box role.
Massimiliano Allegri is reportedly a big admirer of Kone and he will be able to see how he gets on in his individual battle with the man he might replace, Fofana. Sassuolo for their part are a club that sells for the right price, but they might ask for counterparts.
The rocks at the back
Then we come to the very impressive centre-back pairing of Tarik Muharemovic and Jay Idzes. The Bosnian and the Indonesian internationals have attracted admiring glances from top Serie A clubs given their performances, and rightly so.
Sassuolo may have conceded the most goals of any team in the top half but the feeling is that this is despite having Muharemovic and Idzes rather than because they have them. Both stand at over 1.9m tall so they are physically commanding, and at 23 and 25 respectively there is a lot fo room for growth.
Presuming that Milan sign another centre-back as well as Mario Gila to ensure five quality players for three spots (and a loan for David Odogu), then it makes sense to sign a player with a high ceiling to grow under less pressure. These two might just fit the bill.
Moving on to the attack, Sassuolo’s main threat statistically remains Armand Lauriente. He has scored four goals in four games against the Rossoneri which explains why he feels like such a thorn in the side, as does Domenico Berardi who we have excluded from this list for various reasons.
The 27-year-old Frenchman has 13 goal contributions in the league this season, with five being goals. He is the most productive member of the attack and he can play either on the left of an attacking trident or in a front two.
Attacking flair
If there is to be a huge attacking shake-up in the summer that sees Christopher Nkunku, Santiago Gimenez, Niclas Füllkrug and one/both of Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao leave, Lauriente could be a very safe option as someone who knows the league well and is versatile.
Kristian Thorstvedt is a name that has gone a bit more under the radar, yet he is absolutely pivotal to how Sassuolo tick. He is the link between the midfield and the attack, with three goals and three assists to his name to show he can get involved going forward too.
The 27-year-old Norwegian is that perfect tactical ‘balancer’ that so many coaches like to have, including Grosso. It is no coincidence that the club’s CEO named him earlier in the week as one of four players they have received a lot of interest in.
The question about Thorstvedt is where he would play, but if Allegri fancies having a more forward-thinking and creative (but still hard-working) right arm in his midfield trio – or even a replacement for Adrien Rabiot in both phases – then Milan could do worse.
The surprise striker?
Finally, we come to Andrea Pinamonti. Like the aforementioned he perhaps isn’t a ‘glamorous’ name, yet his record speaks for itself: he hit double figures for Serie A goals in 2023-24 and 2024-25, and if he scores a couple more this season he will do it again.
Milan desperately need a striker, that much is well known. They face three paths: invest in a bit of a gamble from abroad, sign a luxury free agent or recruit someone from within the league who understands what it takes to score regularly in Italy.
At present the third option seems the least likely, but never say never. Pinamonti is ex-Inter yet would probably jump at the chance to make a big move especially at 26, the age where the best years are just about to come, in theory.
Pinamonti as a back striker in place of Fulkrug and Gimenez, yeah A Great Yes.
Fulkrug isn’t going to be signed and Gimenez is going to be sold.
So? That’s what he proposed. “In place of” means “instead of”, he evidently suggests replacing Santi and Nicklas with Pinamonti, surely not buying the guy so he could be their backup ’cause that would be awful and horrible, the two of them can barely have and hold that status.
Sam worded his post poorly:
“Pinamonti as a back striker in place of Fulkrug and Gimenez, yeah A Great Yes.”
He wrote AND Gimenez. Gimenez isn’t a back-up, he’s supposed to be the starting striker.
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