AC Milan Primavera star Jan-Carlo Simic got the chance to prove his worth in the first team on Monday morning as Stefano Pioli selected him from the first whistle against Real Madrid.
The 18-year-old impressed fans as he played with the sort of composure not expected from such a young player against the likes of Vinicius Jr, Jude Bellingham, Brahim Diaz and Rodrygo.
A compilation (as seen below) was posted on Reddit which shows his best moments during the 70 minutes that he spent on the pitch in California.
[Video] Jan-Carlo Simić (18, CB) Vs Real Madrid
by u/mercurialsaliva in ACMilan
Just in one match this kid looked better than all Gabbia’s career. I love Matteo, he looks like a genuine good kid, but he is not good
Looked better than Gabbia AND Tomori.
As much as I am a CDK fan, I must say the same for Luka Romero in comparison to CDK.
I really like this kid , the confident is there
In more ways than one, Simic reminds me of Fabio Cannavaro. Of course it’s to early to tell how his career would pan out but he has that same composure, sense of positioning, and willingness to be physical and throw his body around.
At a mere 18 years of age, he was one of the most impressive players on the field last night, for either team.
This I can agree with. He does remind me of Canna..hope he’s still able to grow some more though. He’s only 18
This kid is class. I mean this is Real Madrid he’s playing against and he played like he does this all day… Even Tomori and Kjear were peeing their pants.
Sadly, Pioli is most likely going to let this talent go to waste.
He’s not ready
Lol he surely isn’t. Don’t get caught up with the crowd
Lots of Rossoneri tinted glasses in here. I kept a keen eye on him because I knew the overrating was going to come. These “high”lights are exactly that, the good parts. It does not show the times he was out of position which were many. Or the times Timori had to bail him out. Out the gate he got caught out of position upfield and was lucky not to concede a goal from the counter for instance. There are other times where he seems to take the bait on the quick one-twos RM were playing, they sucked him into being out of position and then passed off quickly causing Timori or another defender to bail him out (they obviously targeted him with decent success). He is short which when he went up against taller player like Joselu was a complete mismatch and he had to foul him. On quite a few occasions he was out of position for the offside trap which we play often..it resulted in situations where he effectively kept players onside from where the other line of defenders were and this disorients the others in the defensive line. I believe the reason he does this is because of the lack of pace (I do it all the time too as I’m an old fart and lack pace so I concede space or risk getting burned) as he is after all an 18 year old Primavera player. It is what it is. He’s fine as an emergency aka 5th CB backup if Gabbia goes but we really shouldn’t be expecting much of this guy. Those who say he’s done more than Gabbia needs their eyes checked. Gabbia is better simply through reading of the game and experience. Simic has potential though.
Post contains with good observation like this aren’t doing well on this site where most commenters are just brainless fans.
Yea it’s sad really. It does more harm than good overhyping too early.