Home of AC Milan, Official Thread

Home of AC Milan, Official Thread

AC Milan will take to the field for the final time in the 2022-23 season tonight, hoping to end the campaign with a win against Hellas Verona.

As Tuttosport (via MilanNews) reports today, Stefano Pioli admitted in his pre-match press conference that he was not a genius at school, but gave a rating of 7 out of 10 to Milan’s season, stating that Paolo Maldini’s 8 had been a bit generous.

The reason for his rating was that it is an average between 8 in the Champions League and 6 in the league, which is essentially the opposite of what happened last year with the Scudetto win but group stage elimination in Europe.

Milan also lost against Torino in the Coppa Italia and Inter in the Supercoppa, adding to the domestic struggles with a title defence bid that never really got going. A great quality of Pioli, however, is that of not feeling sorry for himself and to immediately look to the future with optimism.

Pioli was even able to grasp the beauty that even such a fluctuating season can bring: “We will have to be good at learning from this complicated year. I haven’t made one single mistake, I’ve certainly made more. I’m already very, perhaps too much, self-critical with myself.”

The first error was that the summer transfer window last year did not bring the necessary reinforcements. Only Malick Thiaw managed to carve out a leading role in the Rossoneri squad with De Ketelaere, Origi and Dest disappointing on several occasions.

The foundations of Milan’s future are being laid as early as this summer by trying to adequately reinforce a squad which, this season, has shown all its limitations in trying to battle on two fronts.

In this sense, Pioli did not let names slip but in fact provided a sort of identikit of those who would be the players he would like to have in the squad.

“That they are strong and above all intelligent. I am not interested in being right or left-footed, tall or small, whether he is 18, 25 or 30 years old, I am interested in him being intelligent and able to play at certain levels,” he said.

The one name that was brought up by journalists yesterday – that of Daichi Kamada – drew an interesting response from the Milan boss: “I know he is intelligent.”

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Milan could be a good fit for Christian Pulisic and are among the potential destinations for the Chelsea winger, a report claims.

ESPN are reporting that Juventus are leading the race to sign the former Borussia Dortmund star who could be available for a transfer fee of around €23m, but his €15m-a-year wages are an obstacle.

They add that Milan, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Napoli have all enquired and have learned the figures required to do a deal, while Atletico Madrid also hold an interest in the USA international.

The latest update describes Milan as ‘a very interesting option for Pulisic’ given the pressure to get their summer signings right after Malick Thiaw, Divock Origi, Charles De Ketelaere, Sergino Dest, Aster Vranckx arrived last summer, with only Thiaw contributing.

Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara ‘will still look for players under the age of 25’ (Pulisic is 24) and with ‘a transfer fee of less than €40m, experience and a point to prove’.

Goalkeeper Mike Maignan, centre-back Fikayo Tomori and playmaker Brahim Diaz are examples of this transfer strategy, and the management believe Pulisic could have a similar impact.

Alexis Saelemaekers and Junior Messias have never fully convinced on the opposite flank to Rafael Leao, and they think that Pulisic can do a good job there, while it would also be a boost to the club’s marketing in the United States.
 
A crucial summer transfer window is coming up for AC Milan, and some ideas have begun to emerge regarding how the squad can be strengthened.

This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) writes that Stefano Pioli will have more say in the players that arrive and depart, working in conjunction with chief scout Geoffrey Moncada and waiting for the final word of CEO Giorgio Furlani.

It will be a sharing of ideas and every decision will be made collectively, with Pioli having more freedom to identify the roles that need strengthening and to highlight the targets he thinks will do best.

Midfield
The first step will be to indicate the areas of the pitch that need reinforcements. The defence is well covered given Malick Thiaw’s emergence, so the work will start from midfield especially after Ismael Bennacer’s injury.

The Algerian will only return in November and then in January he could then participate in the African Cup of Nations, meaning he could be missing for a large chunk of the 2023-24 campaign.

Ruben Loftus-Cheek was a target that Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara wanted, but given Pioli’s approval he is a name could come back into fashion in the next few days. However, Chelsea need to decide to grant the discount on the €25m asking price.

Playmaker
It is clear that after Brahim Diaz’s departure the team needs a new creative fore between the lines, and Daichi Kamada – already approved by the coach – is not necessarily enough.

The Japan international will arrive as soon as the agents untie some bureaucratic knots but there is also the possibility of another No.10 arriving.

For this reason, the profile of Tommaso Baldanzi is particularly appreciated because he talented and already knows Serie A we,, making him the perfect identikit of the Rossoneri’s project.

He could certainly enhance his potential with Milan – who are his boyhood club – given that he is just 20 years of age and scored four goals in Serie A last season, two less than Brahim Diaz.

Right wing
Moving out to the right flank, Pioli will ask for some improvements to be made. It is the same area he moved Brahim Diaz to because he was dissatisfied with the performance of Junior Messias and Alexis Saelemaekers.

The road leads back to London where Christian Pulisic is a target. The 24-year-old has had an eight-year career equally divided between Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea, with 127 appearances and 19 goals in Germany, then 145 games and 26 goals in England.

He has a Croatian citizenship and an American passport, so he could be useful both for the quality that he brings but also the fact that he would provide a boost to the Milan brand in the United States.

Centre-forward
Marcus Thuram is a target for the striker role. He scored 16 goals in 32 games last season for Borussia Mönchengladbach, one every two games, and he will leave the Bundesliga when his contract expires but there is competition from PSG.

The alternative lead leads to Ismaila Sarr, the 25-year-old Watford star who can play either as a winger or centre-forward. He has a value of €20m+, but that is discounted thanks to the fact he has a contract expiring next summer.
 
Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara were making moves to strengthen the team prior to their sacking, and they had a meeting planned over Domenico Berardi.

Tuttosport (via SpazioMilan) have a section in today’s paper titled: ‘Berardi was one step away from the Rossoneri’. They claim that Sassuolo winger could have been one of Milan’s new reinforcements, before the recent changes.

There was actually a meeting scheduled between the then-directors Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara for Tuesday, the day after their farewell, which is a sign that he was very much a concrete target.

The talks were obviously then cancelled and Berardi’s agent did not react well to Maldini’s departure from Milan, so the hypothesis has now vanished.

CEO Giorgio Furlani and chief scout Geoffrey Moncada have chosen Christian Pulisic to reinforce the attacking department. The Chelsea winger has a contract expiring in June 2024 and for this reason the cost of the operation should be affordable.

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Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara were making moves to strengthen the team prior to their sacking, and they had a meeting planned over Domenico Berardi.

Tuttosport (via SpazioMilan) have a section in today’s paper titled: ‘Berardi was one step away from the Rossoneri’. They claim that Sassuolo winger could have been one of Milan’s new reinforcements, before the recent changes.

There was actually a meeting scheduled between the then-directors Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara for Tuesday, the day after their farewell, which is a sign that he was very much a concrete target.

The talks were obviously then cancelled and Berardi’s agent did not react well to Maldini’s departure from Milan, so the hypothesis has now vanished.

CEO Giorgio Furlani and chief scout Geoffrey Moncada have chosen Christian Pulisic to reinforce the attacking department. The Chelsea winger has a contract expiring in June 2024 and for this reason the cost of the operation should be affordable.

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AC Milan are still feeling the effects of the transfer flops that were carried out while Leonardo was in charge of recruitment, a report claims.

La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write about how Charles De Ketelaere, Divock Origi and Yacine Adli have become the face of what many consider to be a bad 2022 summer window with money wasted, but their costs do not seem as bad compared to what came before.

The paper recall how Leonardo was in charge when the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Mattia Caldara, Lucas Paqueta and Krzysztof Piatek were brought to the club, resulting in over €130m being burned through.

The Brazilian was called in the summer of 2018, when Elliott Management had just taken possession of the club after Yonghong Li’s disastrous ownership. Paolo Maldini was appointed director of strategic development, and it seemed a good team to move forward with given their experience.

Higuain and Caldara arrived from Juve, presented on a terrace in Piazza Duomo. The Higuain operation was potentially gigantic: a loan of €18m with an option to buy for €36m, plus a salary of €7.5m. Then, €35m were invested to sign Caldara. To that sum must added the €14m spent for Diego Laxalt.

Six months later, Gattuso – at the time Milan coach – found himself fighting for a spot in the Champions League with none of the three playing a part. Caldara was always injured, Laxalt a reserve and Higuain was at Chelsea.

After a good start (4 goals in the first 6 matches across Serie A and the Europa League), the feeling between Pipita and the Devil soon faded away and the call from west London allowed Milan to limit the damage.

In January 2019, after having tried in vain to bring Ibra back to the Rossoneri, Leonardo decided to turn to Piatek of Genoa. He spent €35m on the Pole, who scored seven goals in his first month but his season ended in decline.

His time at Milan ended at the beginning of 2020, after five goals in 20 appearances, when he went to Hertha Berlin and Milan made a capital gain given the €27m received, albeit a minimal one.

Piatek was not the only failure of that 2019. In the same January window, Lucas Paquetà landed in Milano from Flamengo, costing €38.4m and becoming the third-most expensive signing ever in the club’s history as well as Elliott’s biggest expense.

It went very badly for him too as he never settled and said goodbye in September 2020, joining Lyon for €20m after 44 appearances and four goals in two seasons.
 
Pasquale Mazzocchi is leaving Salernitana this summer and AC Milan have been linked with a move, but Juventus now seem to have emerged as competition.

Calciomercato.com recall Mazzocchi has said goodbye to Salernitana fans on his Instagram profile despite having contract there which runs until 2026. The former Venezia player wants a change of scenery because he did not see eye to eye with head coach Paulo Sousa.

He is tempted by several clubs who have expressed an interest. Monza like him and may lose Carlos Augusto, Milan are also thinking about a move as they may need a new deputy to Theo Hernandez, but Juventus have taken the first concrete steps.

Mazzocchi’s growth has been exponential to the extent he has received a call-up from Roberto Mancini for the Italian national team, while Juve like him because he can play as a right-back or a left-back, and even as a wing-back.

The negotiation between Juventus and Salernitana began several days ago, so now they are discussing figures and the possible inclusion of Nicolussi Caviglia as a counterpart, who was on loan with the Granata from January.

The Bianconeri are thinking of an offer of around €4m plus Caviglia going the other way, but Salernitana director Morgan De Sanctis would like a bit more with developments expected in the coming days.

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Part of the work that the AC Milan management must do this summer concerns offloading players no longer deemed to have a position in the project.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) writes this morning, the proceeds from sales will be important for Milan to top up the transfer budget available for signings, as well as freeing up wages and spots in the squad.

Ciprian Tatarusanu, Brahim Diaz, Aster Vranckx, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Sergino Dest have already said goodbye to the squad, because their contracts or their loan deals expire at the end of the month. The total salary quota has already been reduced by over €12m net, therefore.

Then there is Divock Origi, who was a big disappointment. He scored just twice, and he did not really give the impression of being a leader despite his experience at Liverpool, while earning €4m net per season.

Three more years remain on his deal, unless the club manages to find him an alternative accommodation, with some Turkish clubs keen. If the offer is right, he will be sold without regrets.

Then there is Ante Rebic. Pioli excluded him from the squad list for three consecutive matches to end the season so his time with the Rossoneri seems destined to end after 123 games and 29 goals.

He may have a market in Germany or even in Turkey, but the problem for every interested club is his €3.5m net per season salary, which he earns as part of his contract that runs until 2025.

Yacine Adli is another case to be resolved. He was bought for €10m in the summer of 2021 but was left on loan at Bordeaux for a season, showing promising signs in preseason but only getting 140 minutes of playing time and one start.

For the right price he will leave too, because the past few months have clearly made it clear that his characteristics do not work well with the coach’s ideas.

The most difficult solution to find is one for Charles De Ketelaere, who cost €32m plus bonuses to sign from Club Brugge and was the statement of the post-Scudetto smmer window.

He made 40 appearances, starting 13 times, with zero goals and one assist to his name. The Belgian is for sale but the right offer is needed: to avoid a capital loss it must be at least €28m.
 
Evan N’Dicka seemed to be one step away from joining AS Roma on a free transfer but AC Milan are trying they best to hijack the deal late on.

According to Calciomercato.com, the shock caused by the farewell of Maldini and Massara is still being felt but in the meantime chief scout Geoffrey Moncada, CEO Giorgio Furlani and head coach Stefano Pioli have a summer window to think about and a team to strengthen.

They seem to have fallen on N’Dicka as a concrete target. The French centre-back will leave Eintracht Frankfurt on a free at the end of the month and he ticks a lot of boxes for Milan, starting with his experience at still a young age (23).

He could be added to the centre-back ranks with Tomori, Thiaw and Kalulu but he can also play left-back too. Milan are firmly in the race, hoping to acquire the services of another former Eintracht player – in addition to Daichi Kamada – and to steal a goal from a rival at the same time.

Roma tabled a contract until 2028 and got a verbal agreement, and there was talk of it being made official imminently, but there may now be pauses for reflection given how concrete Milan’s interest is.

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Chelsea have used their ongoing talks with AC Milan to enquire about the possibility of signing Mike Maignan, according to a report.

90min are reporting that Milan begun talks with Chelsea over signing Ruben Loftus-Cheek and negotiations are ongoing with a deal possible around the €20m mark, but he was not the only player discussed.

With the dialogues ongoing, Chelsea asked about Maignan given they are in the market for a new number one goalkeeper, and given that Maignan has established himself as the best in his position in Serie A.

Despite this, the Rossoneri responded with ‘fierce resistance’ because they are not at all keen on the idea of selling the 27-year-old Frenchman given his important to the team and his status as a leader.

Chelsea are thus looking at alternative targets, such as Inter’s Andre Onana, Porto’s Diogo Costa and Valencia’s Giorgi Mamardashvili. Onana and Maignan are the two that the scouts believe are the best, however.
 
AC Milan owner Gerry Cardinale really is thinking about the idea of bringing Zlatan Ibrahimovic back to the club, according to a report.

The double sacking of Ricky Massara and Paolo Maldini by Carinale took away some certainties from the Rossoneri fans who in the space of a few days had to say goodbye to three key figures from their recent past, given Ibrahimovic’s retirement.

According to Corriere dello Sport (via SempreMilan.it) however, Cardinale’s intention would appear to be to bring the Swede back to the club by offering him a role close to the team, as a sort of go-between for the squad and the management.

This is a move that has also been given approval by Stefano Pioli, who has repeatedly mentioned the importance of the mere presence of Zlatan in the dressing room.

However, the idea is perhaps not really appealing to Ibrahimovic himself who – according to what Scaroni said in the morning – seems oriented towards taking a sabbatical period.
 
AC Milan and Paris Saint-Germain are the two teams fighting hardest to sign Marcus Thuram on a free transfer, a report claims.

According to RMC Sport, Thuram will leave Borussia Mönchengladbach on a free transfer and he has several suitors. As of Tuesday it seemed to be PSG and Inter who were the most keen, but now Milan have overtaken their city rivals.

The 25-year-old striker is also negotiating with Milan while continuing talks with PSG. The Parisians however are looking at Victor Osimhen of Napoli as the priority target or Randal Kolo Muani of Eintracht Frankfurt, even if he seems more likely to stay at present.

As mentioned, it seemed like Inter were the Italian club who were going to pose the most serious threat to PSG for the Frenchman, but instead it is the Rossoneri who have strongly entered the race to sign Thuram and developments are expected soon.
 
AC Milan president Paolo Scaroni has admitted that he is expecting some sales to take place during the summer, but also some ‘significant signings’.

There is an awful lot of uncertainty surrounding Milan at the moment after Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara were sacked from their respective roles as the technical and sporting director, with owners RedBird Capital opting to move forward with a new management group.

Scaroni was interviewed by Corriere della Sera (via SempreMilan.it) this morning and spoke about the decision to sack Maldini, what the future holds and how RedBird want to operate.

You can read the full interview here, but one of the most important points that he touched upon was the plan for the summer and he seemed to suggest that there must be some outgoings, without detailing if this means dead wood or key players.

“I think we will have to make some sales and complete some significant signings: we are ambitious,” he began.

“Who will take care of the market? It will be in the hands of a team that integrates different skills, with CEO Giorgio Furlani who also has the sports area to coordinate with, together with professionals such as Geoffrey Moncada and coach Pioli.

“We expect him to have his say in these choices. In addition to the international experts of RedBird.”

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Davide Calabria has become the latest player to bid farewell to Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara with a post on social media.

Through a statement on their official website earlier today, Milan confirmed Maldini’s departure and one is expected to follow for Massara too, meaning the club are now without a technical director and a sporting director.

We attempted to break down how things went from a position where Maldini had autonomy in the transfer market to all of a sudden losing all the trust of Gerry Cardinale in a feature published yesterday.

Meanwhile, the players continue to give their reaction to the news that Maldini and Massara have left, which is understandable given that they were very close to the squad and were at the training ground almost every day.

Calabria put out a post on his Instagram profile thanking the duo, stating: “Paolo and Ricky thank you for what you have done in these years and for the journey we have taken together and the goals we have achieved.

“It has been an honour and a pleasure to work with people like you. Wishing you all the best and the best in life.”
 
AC Milan have given Geoffrey Moncada more power when it comes to transfer business and he has drafted up a list of targets, a report claims.

According to the French source SportsZone, Moncada has in fact been promoted to the the role of sporting director and has been partly tasked with the big responsibility of replacing Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara’s duties.

The first thing they mention is that he refused a return to France, with Lyon and Monaco very insistent in their attempts to lure him back to his home country in previous months. Now, his mission is underway to construct a squad that can win the Scudetto again.

The negotiations over Eintracht Frankfurt playmaker Daichi Kamada (on an expiring deal) and Chelsea midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek have been put on stand-by for the time being.

The source adds that Youri Tielemans is a target for the midfield given he will leave Leicester City when his contract expires later this month, having already worked with the Belgian during his time at Monaco.

Meanwhile, Moncada is aiming to convince Borussia Mönchengladbach striker Marcus Thuram and Eintracht Frankfurt defender Evan N’Dicka to join, and they would also both be free transfer.

Moncada greatly appreciates RB Leipzig centre-back Mohamed Simakan, whom he already wanted to bring to Monaco, but his price is out of reach. Brentford winger Bryan Mbeumo is another player he likes a lot, but he has thus far been declared unsellable.

The Frenchman wants to adopt an aggressive recruitment strategy for young profiles in France and South America, believing that is where the best talent is.
 
One of the mysteries that AC Milan must untangle going into the summer window is what will happen with Charles De Ketelaere.

Calciomercato.com write about De Ketelaere being the ‘tactical misunderstanding of an entire season and the ‘scandal stone’ that didn’t help the already problematic relationship between Paolo Maldini and RedBird Capital.

De Ketelaere above all a big question mark which could also influence the choices made in the summer window, given he registered zero goals and just one assist in 32 league games in which he seemingly failed above all to get to grips with Stefano Pioli’s tactical ideas.

In the new managerial set-up after Maldini and Massara’s exit, the thoughts of the head coach will be taken into greater consideration and the statements made in recent weeks cast more than one doubt on the Belgian’s future.

Maldini was the one who green-lighted spending €35m on De Ketelaere and had he stayed then he would have insisted that the playmaker get a second season, but now new scenarios are opening up.

The 22-year-old is currently with Belgium’s Under 21 national team preparing for the European Championships which kicks off on June 14, but he is keeping an eye on his smartphone while waiting for possible news.

Milan are aware of the investment they made and the need to try and protect it, so they began to internally discuss over the last few months to possibility of loaning him out to a club where he could start consistently and grow with less pressure.

Now a difficult choice awaits the CEO Giorgio Furlani – strengthened in his position with greater powers – as well as the head of the scouting area Geoffrey Moncada and Pioli too.

De Ketelaere is linked to Milan by a contract until June 2027 and has a residual value in the balance sheet of around €28m, which are figures to certainly keep in mind in view of the coming weeks.
 
Inter’s financial situation is so dire that they have failed to make payments related to the shared stadium project with AC Milan, a report claims.

Milan and Inter officially launched their plans to build a new home together back in 2019 and they seemed to make a lot of ground, eventually choosing the Populous studio’s ‘Cathedral’ design. Then, a series of bureaucratic hitches slowed everything down.

Since Milan were sold to RedBird Capital it seems they have decided to build a new stadium on their own rather than continuing on the shared path with Inter, and the New York Times highlights just how bad their financial situation is.

They remark that there have been times where ‘cash has been in such short supply’ for the Nerazzurri that the club ‘has not been up-to-date on its share of the payments for the architects and designers working on the stadium it is intending to build, together with AC Milan’.

They speak of a ‘rolling financial crisis for several years’ for Suning, who in 2021 accepted a $1.36bn bailout – financed in part by local government – to help with spiralling debts. Their Chinese Super League team Jiangsu Suning dissolved months after it secured the title.

Steven Zhang, the 32-year-old son of Suning’s founder who serves as Inter’s president, was held liable for $255 million of debt and defaulted bonds in a Hong Kong court.

The sales of Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi helped to raise cash but the situation kept worsening and Suning secured a $294m loan from Oaktree Capital – a California-based asset management firm – to help with running costs.

Now, their main shirt sponsor DigitalBits – a cryptocurrency firm – failed to make scheduled payments on its $80m agreement. Paramount+ will have their logo on Inter’s shirts for the final on Saturday night in a last-minute $4.5m deal, but there is still a lot of money missing.

Repayment of the loan to Oaktree is due next May, and with interest payments it stands at around $375m. The revenue from Inter’s run in the Champions League will help but ‘another fire sale of talent’ is expected too.

If the club cannot repay the loan, Suning will automatically cede control of the club to Oaktree. Several parties have expressed an interest in buying the club but knowing their financial situation, nobody will come close to the $1.2bn asking price, not coincidentally the exact amount Milan were sold for.

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To say it has been a whirlwind few days for AC Milan might be an understatement, given the face of the club and the plans moving forward have seismically changed.

The removal of Paolo Maldini as technical director will not only impact Milan for the upcoming summer window but for many years to come, as the rug has been ripped out from underneath the successful five-year project.

In another piece we will cover this in more detail, but for now your favourite Milan tactics writer (hopefully me) is back to close the rather puzzling season Milan have had.

It has been puzzling because at many times it felt like this team – rejuvenated and buoyed by its comeback in recent years – definitely stagnated, as the pressure was turned up on manager Stefano Pioli.

Having said that Milan can be proud of the Champions League semi-final campaign and some of the big performances given, with a real stride forward taken in Europe which brings in much-needed appeal and revenue.

The analysis of the final game should be caveated by Milan securing Champions League football the week prior, but Hellas Verona really should’ve displayed more bite in light of their delicate position in the league.

Another low block to beat
Hellas Verona sat in a stubborn 5-3-2 low block and perhaps tried to nick a goal on the odd occasion they won the ball from Milan’s defence or the Rossoneri erroneously handed them the ball in build-up, but there was little rhythm from the away team.

Besides the fact the game didn’t really matter it’s important to point out Milan were facing a deep/low block which is something they’ve struggled with all season.


At the moment Pioli doesn’t seem to have much of an answer to this problem. Of course the risk would be to commit more men forward, but you can’t instruct players to commit without a specific instruction.

The best teams in the world spend most of the season breaking down stubborn defences using a range of different methods.

With Verona defending deep, Milan smartly sustained pressure and camped in the opposition’s half. The goal came from a nailed on penalty but it must be said that whenever Sandro Tonali received the ball from Rade Krunic, he was able to carry the ball up the pitch.


This meant Rafael Leao could stretch the pitch to the left with Olivier Giroud pinning the Verona centre-backs on the last line and Brahim Diaz occupying the right wing.


Tonali the key
Of course Ismael Bennacer is injured and will be back part way through next season, but the key to breaking down for low blocks may be to focus on getting Tonali in these advanced areas with the build-up structure smooth enough and a midfielder marshalling in front of the defence.


Against low blocks you can throw more caution to the wind and Pioli’s move of advancing Tonali up the pitch last season paid dividends.


Obvious holes
Heading into the summer window though the gaping holes are in Milan’s attack on the right side and up front, another midfielder would give Pioli more options in terms of setting up against the lower-ranking teams.

This must come alongside developing the younger playmakers like Charles De Ketelaere or Yacine Adli, which would make Milan a better team overall and a more well-rounded attacking thread.

It’s hard to deduce much from the final game versus Verona where Milan had less to play for, but it’s been a consistent pattern throughout the season.

As Milan are now forced to recalibrate, re-think, re-adjust in terms of what team they want to be under whoever runs things off the pitch, they must also find an answer to breaking stubborn defences and the key is to unleash Tonali.
 
More information continues to filter regarding what happened leading up to Paolo Maldini’s sacking as the technical director by Gerry Cardinale.

The dust has just about begun to settle after the news broke over the last few days that Milan have sacked Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara and have chosen to start a new era of sorts with a different management team.

Journalist Franco Ordine provided everything he knew about the breakdown in a piece for Corriere dello Sport yesterday, talking about the differing stances regarding transfer strategy and the fall-out after an interview given following the second leg against Inter.

Now, Ordine has written a column for Il Giornale in which he offers a couple more details on two things that increased the tension between the duo, with his words relayed by our colleagues at SempreMilan.it.

“Behind the very lively confrontation that took place between Maldini and Pioli on the use of the recent transfer market, there was a trace of Pirlo’s involvement as his eventual successor,” he said.

“The two, Paolo and Andrea, team-mates at the time of Ancelotti’s coach among other things, saw each other and must have chatted for a long time during a short Easter break in Dubai. Pioli, here is the other piece of the mosaic, was not unaware of the plot.

“But there is another detail that should have made Paolo Maldini understand what the outcome of his relationship with the shareholder would have been.

“A few months earlier, the Rossoneri technical director sent Gerry Cardinale a draft of a three-year investment plan to be implemented at Milan following the model of sustainable football. He never received a response to that email.”

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The summer transfer window has not even officially opened yet but AC Milan seem to be linked with a new winger every day.

With the change of management, Milan could explore profiles that were not previously present on the list of Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara, and one of them could be Dodi Lukebakio of Hertha BSC who were relegated to the second division.

The Belgian played 32 games in the Bundesliga this season with 11 goals and 4 assists. He was predominantly used as a right winger – a role where Milan need an upgrade before the new campaign – but he can also play as a striker too.

As reported by Sacha Tavolieri, the Rossoneri are interested in signing Lukebakio this summer, but they face competition from their city rivals Inter who are ‘fascinated’ by the 25-year-old.

They contacted the Berlin club and could think about a move if Joaquin Correa leaves. However, Milan appreciate his profile too and could even challenge Inter for the player.

Lukébakio has scored 24 goals and has added 16 assists in 94 appearances since joining Hertha.

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