There have been a few questions asked of AC Milan in recent weeks, and it seems they will not be disappearing anytime soon.
Throughout the summer, there has been a lingering feeling of ‘what now?’. Milan have reshaped the midfield and made small movements in other areas. However, the team still feels lacking in some major areas.
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Koni De Winter for Malick Thiaw is a debatable upgrade/downgrade; the Belgian will also not transform the defence, or at least this is not massively likely. The big issue, though, is the striker situation.
Dusan Vlahovic has been there, waiting, but the Diavolo have gone elsewhere and taken another risk on a youngster. A model which they did not try in the midfield, really. So, questions arise, understandably.
Vitiello’s criticism
This morning, Antonio Vitiello has written a rather scathing piece for MilanNews about the summer’s activity after the first game and the disappointment of the season.
“We hope it was just a blip, a major slip-up on the opening day of the season, but to be honest, the impression we got at San Siro against Cremonese was truly awful.
“We revisited all the structural problems of last season, both tactical and technical, but also environmental. It was a disturbing evening, which affected both AC Milan fans and the coach.
“It’s no coincidence that the day after the poor showing against Cremonese, a transfer summit was held at the club to try to address the situation. The Tuscan coach asked to improve the squad with a striker, a midfielder, and a defender.
“Let’s not underestimate the lack of a top-notch defender, who isn’t there at the moment. Vlahovic was supposed to be the striker, but due to financial constraints, Conrad Harder, a huge unknown quantity, was brought in.
“He could become a great player, we sincerely hope, but a 20-year-old kid who spent just one season as a reserve at Sporting is arriving at San Siro. Allow us to be concerned.
“In this final week, the team will be improved, but the feeling remains that the transfer market conducted so far hasn’t improved the team compared to last year. Indeed, in some ways, the quality has even declined.
‘The AC Milan player’s only hope may be Max Allegri. The coach, with his experience, will have to make the difference; otherwise, it will be painful.
“Too many gambles, too many unknowns, and too few certainties. The attack has weakened compared to last season, as has the defence, with only a couple of good players added in midfield.
“The first match influenced the assessment, but a team like the Devils can’t show up in this state for the first season of the season, and lose against a newly promoted team that will fight all year to stay up.
“The thought of playing all year with Pavlovic, Tomori, and Estupinan in defence keeps anyone awake at night.
“The match against Lecce will already be an important turning point. The Milan world expects a concrete response, especially from Max Allegri, who has called for greater focus on defence, something that was completely lacking in their Serie A debut.”
Player from Vilareal B have only 19years and costs just 5m. He score 18goals and why we bring this guy for 30m when have better for 5m?? Barcelona interesting about him so i think he not anonimus like this Harder.
Also Dobyk not bad player we can loan him
Entering the third year under this management and people are still shocked that it’s a huge mess 🤣
it’s never been a mess like this, though. Sure we always struggle to sign players but the squad has never fallen apart so completely like it has this summer.
This is on Tare and Allegri
I didn’t like Allegri pick but I don’t think he should be blamed if he doesn’t get what he asked for.
Tare has been interviewed prior to his hiring. He’s not the boss here he does what he’s asked to do. Sell players to generate cash flow and don’t spend too much. This is the exact same recipe. Allegri has no say.
But I agree with you that it’s more and more concerning. Next year, Maignan and Modric could be out. There is no elite centre back, zero right back, zero offensive midfielder and two unproven strikers. If the team qualifies for Europe, it will need a lot more players. If it doesn’t qualify for UCL, we can say goodbye to Leao, Pulisic, maybe Ricci and Jashari.
I was writing that Tare isn’t any magician, but an average bargain hunter. Best part is crediting him with Thiaw sale for 40M, when Newcastle wanted him for years and Allegri raised his stock by playing him and wanting to keep him. Tare did 10% of the job and took 100% of fans praise. He didn’t even manage to bring what the coach asked, a strong defender and strong striker. We got De Winter( and only as a replacement, Allegri was asking for another defender) and Harder. Of course we spent 40M on an unproven Albanian descent midfielder instead of buying a proper striker. I’ll say it, Petar Sucic will be a better player for 14M, so will Samuele Ricci for 25M. At the end of season we’ll see…Tare is to blame, along with Furlani and Moncada. They didn’t get what they coach asked and got us Temu versions.
And there will be a comment here how he sold 19 players and brought in 7 or whatever. This is a football club, not a train stop. Selling half a team and bringing in more isn’t an accomplishment but a sign of you being lost. This last week shows how disorganised this club is. Plan Z striker joining
So Allegri fielding Thiaw in two friendlies is 90% of the job in a 40 mil. transfer? Wow, we should do that more often.
No, most of it is Eddie Howe wanting to buy him since the Milan – Newcastle Champions League game. He said it publicly. And multiple times. And the rest is Allegri saying he wants to keep him so the club didn’t sell him for 25M. If Newcastle didn’t want him that bad they wouldn’t offer 40M, especially 6 months after Milan accepted 25M. I don’t get why is it necessary to explain common sense things every time.
What’s the connection between Newcastle wanting him in previous years and Tare not deserving the credit for the transfer, because of it? Do you think his job is to put magical spells on clubs who have no interest in our players in order to change their minds? It’s exactly his task to make the most ouf of situations like this and he did. Not a single person, including you, would’ve predicted we’d sell Thiaw for 40 mil. You may not like Tare or whatever, but at least don’t put a ridiculous spin on actual facts. By your logic, sporting directors may as well disappear. A club shows interest in some player – > the coach says he wants to keep him (something Allegri said about every player that we sold/loaned, except for Adli and Bennacer) – > the player’s club gets 40-50 mil. The Infamous probably thought the same thing last summer and look at how that turned out.
Yes, and his credit in this is 10%. Good job. If Newcastle didn’t want him for years and their manager didn’t think he is a top talent Tare wouldn’t sell him for 40M. The story is that Tare is a magician for getting 40M for him when in fact any sport director on the planet could get this amount from Newcastle, a club owned by Saudi Arabia and whose manager was pushing for him. This is not an accomplishment but business as usual. You want to tell me someone else couldn’t get 40M in this situation? I personally think you could do it as well in this case. Same as Musah, there are multiple clubs interested for months, selling him for 25M is a lay up, if you get 35M that is good. Now I would value Tare much if he got what the coach asked of him. But he didn’t deliver. Why is Allegri doing emergency meetings after the first Serie A game? Because Tare didn’t do his job and there is little time. It isn’t a fabricated story but common sense…
Just to add. He is paid to do his job. Doing his job is what he needs to do. Any praise or saying he is a magician or whatever is ridiculous. I don’t dislike Tare as a person or anything like that. But I do dislike not having the players the managers asked for after Serie A begun. This is amateurism, whatever anyone says.
The Thiaw transfer was mostly the work of Paolo Busardo which is probably also why we got 40mil for him instead of 25. He has been involved in several of Milan deals, including also Ricci apparently.
Interesting video about it by Enrico Silvestrin on YouTube.
Allegri and Tares diagnosis of last year was that the problem was in midfield. This has shown itself to be wrong. The quality of the defenders is simply too low. For Milan-supporters this is no surprise, and it should not be for competent people either…
Fofana and RLC being at fault for both goals, while displaying awful football in the final third during the rest of the game, proves they’re right. Tomori and Gabbia literally didn’t make a single mistake. Pavlovic was shaky, but he at least made up for it with a goal.
They signed players who didn’t exactly excel in their leagues, now they’re going for young players who haven’t failed, rather players who have shown promise. That is not a reason to complain. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
Yeah it took several years to build a team competing for Scudetto and UCL and less than two years to destroy everything.
Looking more like a 2 Year Project… Ricci, De Winter, and Jashari all coming off the bench is beyond my comprehension given their estimated value coming in.
Musah claiming fatigue is laughable too.
It’s true. It felt like another game from last season.
How can that be??? With Emerson Royale gone and Musah not playing??? Wasn’t the team supposed to be much better without them? It does not appear so…oh it’s RLC and Fofana now? Got it!