Mercato

Tuttosport: Milan need four signings for Fonseca to excel – the roles required

By Ben Dixon -

With Paulo Fonseca’s arrival at Milanello close, AC Milan are matching his visions with their evaluations of the current squad to give him the tools to excel in the role. 

Plans for the summer mercato have been made in advance of Fonseca’s arrival, but they may be altered slightly to match his visions. This season has shown how quickly cracks can emerge within a team and how costly that can be, we’re looking at the defensive crisis in particular.

However, the foundations are strong, and whilst investment is needed, as Pioli has said, there is a good base to build from. Now, the base must be further strengthened with investment this summer, alongside growing the current players.

As Tuttosport (via Milan News) reports, four targets are required. However, three priorities are in place for starting roles.

The top of the list is a striker. Giroud’s departure only strengthened the desire to invest heavily in his heir, and this is where most of the investment will be allocated. It will not stop there, though, as Fonseca also wants another central defender, which the report suggests could be left-sided, to play alongside Fikayo Tomori.

Additionally, another right-back is requested, and they will ideally compete with Davide Calabria for the starting role. Finally, a defensive-minded midfielder is also desired, given the depth issue in this position.

Several names are being considered for each role. Benjamin Sesko, Jonathan David, Joshua Zirkzee and Serhou Guirassy all feature in the idea for a new No.9. Buongiorno, Tiago Santos, Youssouf Fofana, and Sofyan Amrabat are targets for the other roles.

Tags AC Milan Paulo Fonseca

42 Comments

  1. The only player we getting from the players above is this Santos dude because he cheap – and he’s gonna end like Dest because his defensive output is gonna be close to 0.

  2. In order of importance I would say:
    1- Defensive midfielder since we have NO ONE who can do that properly. I’d go for Hojbjerg, Hjulmand or Fofana (who is technically more of a box-to-box but also played as a CDM, and a more versatile player is always favored). An unrealistic dream would be Kimmich or Camavinga. If Bennacer is sold, we would also need to replace him.
    2- Striker, perhpas even as high as 1. While we do have Okafor and Jovic, they’re not good enough to be main strikers IMO. I’d go for Sesko or Zirkzee. A unrealistic dream would be Kane or Mbappe.
    3- Central defender. We do have many of them (Tomori, Gabbia, Simic, Thiaw, Kalulu) and I’m convinced that a better system+CDM would already do wonders for our defense. But if I have to pick a defender I would go for either Scalvini, Calafiori or Buorgiorno. Hummels is also a good candidate leadership wise.
    4- If we have enough money remaining, we might go for another target, but these are not a priority.

  3. Zirkzee, Buongiorno, Di Lorenzo, Amrabat

    Reality – Guirassy, Brassier, Tiago, Amrabat

    Because why buy ready players (two of them captains) when we can get foreigners who’ll need 80% of the season to settle in.

      1. Noooo, price cannot be an issue as Milan has better financials than Juve & Inter who already have strengthened their teams considerably even if the mercato hasn’t yet even opened. 😀 😀 😀

        1. Oh I even if I think Amrabat would/could be what we need, I think he too is waaaay to expensive, old and experienced so we’ll probably get Fofana or his cousin/brother. Why? Moneymoneymoney.

          2. “Youssouf Fofana doesn’t seem like a bad idea IMO.”

            I think we need an experienced leader in the midfield though and not a(nother) youngster who “settles in” for a season or two. More like Amrabat or Höjberg.

          4. It seems you have never seen Youssouf Fofana. He is not a young star, he is already a good player, his experience in Europe is no less than Amrabat’s, and he has been called up to the French national team and has scored 3 goals.

          5. “It seems you have never seen Youssouf Fofana. He is not a young star, he is already a good player, his experience in Europe is no less than Amrabat’s, and he has been called up to the French national team and has scored 3 goals.”

            True, I haven’t. But 999 out of 1000 youngsters are no “experienced leaders” which is exactly what we need here. If Fofana was in fact the one exception to the rule then how come Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern München & co aren’t on him? And if they were, we’d be out.

            You can’t substitute experience with youth.

    2. Even your reality is too good to be true. I bet Pinamonti is gonna lead our attack , some unknown 19yold as a CB and no CDM will arrive. The only plausible is Santos cuz he cheap and we cheap as well

    3. Dream: Sesko, Zirkzee, Khepren Thuram, Calafiori, Buongiorno, Chiesa

      Concrete Signing: Pinamonti, Mats Hummels, Guirassy, Emerson, some free agent players

      1. We’re now out of senior leaders so Hummels wouldn’t be a bad signing. I’d love to add Spinazzola to our targets. He’s out of contract this summer and he’d be great rotate option with Theo with his experience.

      2. @ Roses. With PINAMONTI,GUIRASSY AND HUMMELS. WE CAN HAVE A GOOD SEASON, EXCEPT IF WE SELL SOME OF OUR REGULAR OR KEY PLAYERS.

  4. We need to build an Italian core. We are becoming like inter were in the 90’s with all foreigners and Inter are building an Italian core like we were.

    When you have an Italian core they set the tone for the club.

    1. For the defense we have a lot to choose from: Buogiorno, Calafiori and Scalvini.
      For the striker, the only Italian worth it is Scamacca, and we’re very unlikely to get him.
      For the defensive midfielder I don’t see Ricci as better than our other targets for that position, unless you know of another Italian CDM.

      1. Scalvini’s still a bit raw, and Calafiori’s probably Jube bound so Buogiorno’s the guy to get. Being Italian would be awesome and all that but overall we need defenders who can defend, no matter where they’re from.

        1. I agree.
          I just named who are the Italians we can possibly go for.
          But in general, we should go for the best player available regardless of his nationality.

          1. Yep that’s the problem – Italian defenders used to be the best in the world but now we’re talking slim pickings.

          2. Scalvini, Bastoni, Calafiori, Buongiorno…
            There are very few countries with more talented defenders than Italy.

      2. Verratti Jorginho though I’m not necessarily pushing for any particular nationality, when we’ve very little to choose from between an Italian and others it may be more advantageous to go for a local, but as many also have been pointing out – it’s not always easier to afford good Italian players.

    3. I suspect that the plan is to start involving players such as zeroli and anyone else who may be ready…this is likely to be the best source of italian players. There are several 18-19 year old players who may be ready to contribute. And then Camarda eventually.

  5. Depends who these 4 players are of course but the positions highlighted are spot on. Next season will be a sh*t show no matter who our coach is if we go into it relying on Calabria/Florenzi, Thiaw/Tomori, Theo/??? and no DM.

    2. These are positions Milan planned to strengthen even before Fonseca’s name popped up. Feels like they told him of their plans and he agreed to it.

  6. In Lille Fonseca played 4-2-3-1 with attacking midfielder, which Milan simply does not have. Pulisic might be the one to play there (it would utilise better Chukuweze potential as well), but when he was tried there it was not really amazing.

    Maybe Ketelaere would be a solution, but Atalanta seems to be already claiming to buy him out and with current deal (idiotic from Milan’s side by the way) they have priority.

    1. Cheap and experienced would be Spinazzola who’s contract runs out this summer. He would be a great addition. And before people start with “he’s past it”, same was said about Florenzi, Kjaer and Giroud.

    1. I wish Calabria was Milan quality but he ‘aint. Florenzi’s decent, but a backup only, and Kalulu’s probably going to get injured in pre-season. Leaving us with…………

      1. Calabria was actually one of those players who suffered from having to play as an inverted fullback and having to man-mark and go for 1vs1 which leaves us exposed, but he did manage to produce quality games these past few years albeit inconsistenly. So who knows, maybe under a different system, he will actually be able to prevail.

        1. VERY INCONSISTENTLY!

          I’m ready to move on from Calabira, I’m sorry. For the reason above and for the fact that he’s no captain material.

  9. Lol. When I go through the comments section I see a lot of dreaming going on ..well as for the article..from all the players mentioned we are getting only Santos as momo said…I hope I am proven wrong at the end of the transfer window.

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