With things finally starting to slow down this summer for me, I’m getting more and more anxious for the season to start. Now, that doesn’t mean any of these friendlies are wetting my appetite. Quite the opposite actually. Let’s dive in…
Current News
Milan had 2 friendlies last week, the first a 1-0 loss to Arsenal after a Bukayo Saka goal in the 52nd minute. The teams had agreed to a penalty shootout after the game regardless of the outcome and Milan won that 6-5.
Milan came out in 3-5-2 with Leão and Pulisic up top. With only Colombo available as a striker, Allegri decided to run with the unorthodox attacking duo. This to me is really the crux of my lack of interest in these preseason friendlies. How are we to know what’s good and not good when we aren’t seeing players play in their best or more natural positions? So I generally like preseason friendlies but not under these circumstances. I’m sure the practices are much more useful to Allegri than these games.
As to the game itself, it was very blasé. The team couldn’t really produce much, and while the defense was decent, Arsenal wasn’t exactly going at Milan at full strength. The 1-0 score seemed fitting.
The second game this past week was vs Liverpool and admittedly was more lively but I’m still hesitant to take much away from it. Milan won 4-2 on the backs of goals from Leão, RLC, and a brace from Okafor. Milan was much more counter-attacking in this game, only owning the ball 32% of the time compared to 44% vs Arsenal, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Allegri does a lot of this as it fits his general approach of defense first. But, like I said previously, the lineup and formation, this time a 3-4-2-1 with Leão up top, and Pulisic and RLC behind him, makes it hard to take anything away from the game. Like, how likely is it that we see anything like this in the regular season?
Clearly I’m happy to see Milan score some goals and there was some nice finishing, especially Leão smoking one past Virgil van Dijk and Okafor’s smooth finish on his first goal, so I’ll take it. But, I’m not about to make any season predictions just yet and I probably won’t be able to until very close to the season. I encourage all of you to do the same because none of this is going to transfer over to the season.
One last little bit is that Pervis Estupiñan did officially sign for the numbers reported last week (and you can find it below) and he even made the trip to Hong Kong to meet the team and got a few minutes in vs Liverpool. I went over some of the observations I saw via FBREF last week, but you can also get a good little tactical rundown from Rohit over on Twitter as well.
In summary, the narrative around what I said last week about Estupiñan and the tactical review from Rohit seem to point to a like-for-like replacement for Theo. He obviously won’t be as good getting forward but is probably more solid defensively. Oddly enough, Bartesaghi has been pretty solid so far, especially defensively, so I don’t know if for the price that this was exactly needed. I guess it all comes down to what Allegri is thinking tactics-wise.
Training News
The team made the trip to Perth, Australia and is prepping for their next game on Thursday vs Perth Glory. Interestingly, Lorenzo Colombo, the only striker on the Asian preseason tour, has been loaned out to Genoa and will have a mandatory buy clause under certain conditions (I’ve read that if they stay up then they have to buy but I can’t confirm this just yet). With Giménez not arriving to the club until after they return from this trip, more false 9 formations and lineup sections come Thursday.
Finally, I’m going to hold off on posting matchday posts as I’m just not convinced we’ll see anything we can take with us into the season since Milan doesn’t really have a striker yet. But I’ll still have another Milan Musings next Monday as usual.
Here’s the preseason schedule again for your convenience:
– July 31: Perth Glory v Milan – Perth, Australia – 6:20am EST
– August 9: Leeds United v Milan – Dublin, Ireland
Here’s who made the trip for the team (reposted from last week with the inclusion of Estupiñan):
GOALKEEPERS: Maignan, Pittarella, P. Terracciano, Torriani.
DEFENDERS: Bartesaghi, Duțu, Gabbia, Estupiñan, Jiménez, Magni, Pavlović, F. Terracciano, Thiaw, Tomori.
MIDFIELDERS: Bondo, Comotto, Fofana, Loftus-Cheek, Musah, Pulisic, Ricci, Saelemaekers.
FORWARDS: Chukwueze, Colombo, Leão, Liberali, Okafor.
Summer Signings/Transfer Activity
Signings
– DM SAMUELE RICCI (Torino, €23M + €2M add-ons) – Signed until June 30, 2029 (€2M + bonuses per year)
– CM LUKA MODRIĆ (Free, last at Real Madrid) – Signed until June 30, 2026, option for 2027 (€3.5M per year)
– GK PIETRO TERRACCIANO (Fiorentina, free) – Signed until June 30, 2026, option for 2027 (~€1M per year)
– LB PERVIS ESTUPIÑÁN (Brighton, €17M + €2M add-ons) – Length of contract and wage not disclosed as of this writing
Departures
– RB/CB PIERRE KALULU – Juventus, €14.3M
– CB MARCO PELLEGRINO – Boca Juniors, €3.5M
– MF TIJJANI REIJNDERS – Manchester City, €55M plus €10M easy add-ons, plus €5M more difficult add-ons
– CF FRANCESCO CAMARDA – Lecce, Loan with €3M buy option, €4M buy back clause
– LB THEO HERNÁNDEZ – Al Hilal, €25M
– GK MARCO SPORTIELLO – Atalanta, €1M
– CM TOMASSO POBEGA – Bologna, Loan with obligation, €7M
– RB EMERSON ROYAL – Flamengo, €9M
– GK DEVIS VÁSQUEZ – Roma, Free
Total Outgoing: €40M/possible €44M
Total Incoming: €114.8M/possible €129.8M
Total Overall: +€74.8M
Rumor Mill
Some names with a sentence or two on each. Listed in order by the completely objective and scientific method of my loosely informed opinion of most likely to arrive:
MF ARDON JASHARI As mentioned above, some news here as Igli Tare said to Gazzetta that Milan increased their offer to €33.5M plus €5M in easier to obtain add-ons. He also said it’s Milan’s final offer. I’m guessing we’ll have some resolution on this one way or the other by week’s end.
*Previously mentioned: One more thing: there’s been some confusion (including from me) about what type of player he is and what he will bring. I did read up and he appears to be a sturdy, high work rate midfielder with good ball carrying and vision. The most common comparisons I saw were to Barella and Declan Rice. Click here for a nice little summary.
CF DUŠAN VLAHOVIĆ Moving this up again this week, in part because the rumor mill has mostly dried up. Like seriously, aside from Jashari, Milan isn’t really tied to anyone else. It’s straight up crickets out there.
As to the move itself, I tend to lean that it’s all nonsense AND Milan really need another striker. So I’m beginning to think this has more legs to it than I might otherwise give it.
RB GUÉLA DOUÉ In theory Milan are looking for a RB but I don’t really think they are. They ended up spending more on LB Estupiñan than they probably wanted to and are likely to stand pat now at RB. I don’t know if Jiménez or Saelemaekers or even Terracciano are the answer there as it really depends on the formation, but I’m leaning more and more than Milan doesn’t make a move at RB at least to start the season. Maybe they change course come the winter mercato.
CF VICTOR BONIFACE Nothing new. Probably never was a serious consideration but again, as long as there’s a need at striker I’m going to leave this up.
CF GABRIEL JESUS Saw this today and it made me laugh. Like, what? I think it’s garbage…I HOPE it’s garbage…
Wrap Up
Ok, last preseason game on the Asian tour this Thursday. No new post so we’ll be here for that. Until then…
Forza Milan
gillis