AC Milan are trying to strengthen the squad in January on multiple fronts, and particular attention must be paid to the attacking department.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recall how Zlatan Ibrahimovic declared ‘something will happen’ before the Supercoppa Italiana final when asked about the possibility of January business. What might that something be?
Eyes on Spain
The defence seems to be a department Sergio Conceicao is happy with and only the sale of Fikayo Tomori could change that. We then move on to the midfield, where the evaluations will also take into account a possible change of formation.
The new coach wants to see how Ismael Bennacer is after his long injury lay-off and if Ruben Loftus-Cheek can fit his plans. Thus, the Dani Olmo idea persists, even if – in addition to the economic difficulties and competition – there are added legal ones given Barca have appealed.
The wings
The club’s attention is focused on the attack. Finding a striker in January is complicated, and Conceiçao will be able to fill the area by placing Tammy Abraham alongside Alvaro Morata. The idea is to intervene on the flanks, especially with Noah Okafor rumoured to be heading for the exit door.
The coach wants determined players. Francisco Trincao of Sporting CP has six goals in 17 league games and could be a solutions. He would cost around €25m, which Milan can afford after the Supercoppa Italiana triumph, and like Conceicao his agent is Jorge Mendes.
An option from England
There is also another idea: Marcus Rashford. The 27-year-old has been at Manchester United his whole career through highs and lows, and seems to want to leave Old Trafford. He plays mainly as a left winger, which is Rafael Leao’s area, but has been used on the right and as a striker too.
A couple of obstacles exist. Firstly Rashford’s salary, which is higher than any Milan player currently in the squad, meaning a sacrifice or some contribution from United would be needed. Secondly there is the competition from other clubs.
They are his name is Warren Bondo and he’s 5th in the league at tackles in the defensive 3rd and top 20 in tackle win %, but he’d be a back up because FOFANA IS OUR STARTING DM. I believe the other target is Frendup who is the top preforming DM in the league when weighing all defensive stats. But because these players are valuable to their teams midseason deals will be very difficult if not impossible.
Maybe, just maybe you’re the r******d one. Just kidding but seriously chill and remember these positions are requests from the coach not management.
What the heck happened to flyinggratitudes comment?
Apparently DM is now decreasing in importance, particularly if Conceicao is planning on playing 4-4-2. For two central midfield spots we have Fofana, Reijnders, Bennacer, Musah, RLC and even Terraciano. More than enough until summer when more and better options will appear. The need for another DM only exists if we stick with 4-2-3-1 or change to 4-3-3 (unlikely). What we need is more goals from our strikers and better output from the backups for Leao and Pulisic on the flanks. Despite Royal being a Serie B player, our defense is 5th in goals conceded, so unless somebody leaves in January I do not expect action there until the summer. So a winger and potentially a striker (or one player that can play in both positions) is what it looks like this January.
I’d suggest that Ricci is still an important get because he is Italian (Squad list rules).
In the first part of the season when Puli was healthy we were top 4 in the attack. It wasn’t until we started playing our RW as a second RB to cover Emerson that our attack fell off.
If the goal is to play regular with two strikers then I suspect we want to add one more assuming we keep Jovic.
I am 100% against Rashford. We don’t need another diva.
I agree to your comment about the tactics if using our RW to cover Emerson dirty jobs, at last some one with ball knowledge finally voiced out the truth, and u think it’s about among the reasons why chukwueze has failed to deliver up to expectations. I won’t comment on pulisic coz he has a different playing style to chukwueze because he has been give a free role to move around the pitch as much as he want but it’s quite different from the role Chukwueze has in the team. Looking back at chukwueze at Villarreal you would see that chukwueze is best at counter attack not given possession when he is coming from the RB position. Men I wish the new coach has a plan to fix this. I would recommend we get a new RB ( my opinion tho)
Rashford is also horribly inconsistent… and hasn’t had a good season in several years.
You brought good points about the 4-4-2 thing but I’d suggest a midfielder is still compulsory. Among the midfielders you named, only Reijnders and Fofana played well consistently enough. Musah is still bad most of the time and has 0 creativity, RLC and Terracciano have shown nothing close to a good performance in the midfield and Bennacer will most likely get injured again.
Even if we assume Musah can replace Fofana, we need a creative player as well, so Ricci.
As for the attack, if it’s Olmo why not, but please not Rashford. He is too expensive to be a sub and is basically just another LW who can’t play as a striker who is average most of the time and who is a prima dona.
I doubt we will see Reinnders playing in a double pivot under Conceicao. I think he will play in a more advanced role or he will start on the left if we play with two strikers.
Am used to reading and at the end of the window nothing happens so am not moved
We NEED another STRIKER if we are playing a 4-4-2
Cannot rely only on Carmada as the primary back-up.