The pre-season tour USA highlighted some concerns for Milan and mainly in midfield, where they are lacking a defensive figure. The Rossoneri could use a Mark van Bommel-esque player, as highlighted by a newspaper.
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Stefano Pioli has been using Rade Krunic in the deep-lying role so far and while the Bosnian can do the job, he perhaps shouldn’t be the starter. The Bosnian can play in many positions and it’s thus better to have him as an all-round option.
As highlighted by today’s edition of Tuttosport (see photo below), it’s become very clear what type of players Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Tijjani Reijnders are. The Englishman is a classic box-to-box midfielder, while the Dutchman has playmaking and movement skills that fit well with the position to the left in the 4-3-3 formation.
Yunus Musah will sign his contract with Milan tomorrow but as things stand, he will most likely be an option for either side of the midfield, or one of two midfielders in a tandem (4-2-3-1). In short, a proper deep-lying midfielder is still missing given Ismael Bennacer’s injury.
Milan need a ‘man of order’ who can focus on the defensive work but also display good passing. A player like that has always been present in the successful years, such as Rijkaard, Desailly, Pirlo when he played deep and his successor, Mark van Bommel. A type of player that Pioli would play every game.
Van Bommel was the deep-lying midfielder for Milan between 2011-12 and won two trophies with the club (Scudetto and Super Cup).
