Today is the day that AC Milan officially begin preparing for the 2023-24 season as the squad come together at Milanello for the first training session.
According to Tuttosport (via PianetaMilan), the Milan team will get back to work after their summer vacations for a few tough days in the sun at Milanello before leaving for their tour of the USA on July 20.
The paper writes that Mike Maignan, Fodé Ballo-Touré, Theo Hernández, Pierre Kalulu, Simon Kjær, Malick Thiaw, Charles De Ketelaere, Alexis Saelemaekers, Olivier Giroud, Rafael Leao and Lorenzo Colombo will join the group from Wednesday 19 July after international duty.
The trio of new signings Marco Sportiello, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Luka Romero will be present, in addition to Yacine Adli, Ismaël Bennacer, Davide Calabria, Mattia Caldara, Alessandro Florenzi, Matteo Gabbia, Rade Krunić and Andreas Jungdal.
Daniel Maldini will be there but his loan move to Empoli is being defined, while Junior Messias, Antonio Mirante, Divock Origi, Tommaso Pobega, Ante Rebić, Fikayo Tomori and Devis Vásquez are expected too.
There will also be some players from Ignazio Abate’s Primavera present – namely Victor Eletu, Hugo Cuenca and Chaka Traoré – who Pioli wants to have a look at before a decision is made regarding whether they will stay with the senior side, work under Abate more or go out on loan.
Three signings for the starting eleven were needed; A replacement for Kessie, a top right winger, and a top striker. So far, none of these issues were addressed. After the Maldini debacle and the sale of Tonali, the owners/management have put insane pressure on themselves. A lot of work still needs to be done but it’s nice to see Chaka Traoré renew and I hope to see him in the first team. Hopefully Adli and CDK step up so we can focus on the key positions.
I do hope that some of our primavera guys are given a chance this year.
We can’t just buy/assemble a whole new squad overnight.
Bozzolan would be a great option to cover Theo and learn from him.
Eletu would be good to give minutes to in midfield where we lack depth.
Hopefully Chaka and or Cuenca can also add some depth in attack.
Chaka seems a good profile to cover Leao. Looks like we will get Pulisic who can play anywhere across the front line. Which means we can give minutes to the likes of Chaka or Cuenca when the pressure is off at the end of games we are winning comfortably.
These guys are 18 – 19 and are ready to get some game time.
Even the wealthiest EPL teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, Man Utd etc regularly give game time to their better youth players
You mentioned Pulisic. He is a good player but I don’t like the fact that he’s being talked about as a utility player. Utility players are usually a third option or second option at best. Look at how much Krunic has improved now that he has a defined position. For some reason I think of Germany’s decline when it comes to this. Werner going from a second striker to a left winger, Gnabry playing between left wing, right wing, and false nine, Havertz thrown around between attacking midfield, right wing, and striker, Kimmich going from best right back in the world to just a solid midfield player. Don’t get me wrong, Pulisic would be a solid signing if he stays fit but the fact that he’s not being signed for a specific role worries me.
Hopefully Chaka shows positive signs in pre season, would love to have a homegrown talent backing up Leao on that wing. It’s time we blood the youths and give them the time they deserve, as well as Colombo.
I agree a lot w/u…. But do u remember pioli iconic words from last season? “… But he is not ready”, cdk, vrancx, adli is not ready and they r not given a proper minute, thiaw had it too until he became the last cb available and suddenly he become one of our bright star … thats why Im not admirer of pioli, clearly we need a better head coach …
Eletu, chaka, colombo can be decent back ups given that they are home grown and if we all agree that we are a poor club that can only break even, we have seen worse recently