Fly me to the States [Newsletter]

and

Jul 24, 2024

AC Milan officially kicked off their pre-season with the friendly game against Rapid Wien on Saturday evening. While it was far from a brilliant performance, which was also to be expected, at least we got to see a glimpse of Paulo Fonseca’s tactical ideas and how he wants the Rossoneri to play. Now, the manager and his players are preparing for the trip to the US.

Fonseca’s first friendly in charge of Milan ended 1-1 as the Austrian side scored a late equaliser. In truth, however, the Rossoneri were a bit lucky not to concede earlier. The change of XI for the second half was needed and the difference was obvious, with Alessandro Florenzi scoring the first goal of the gaffer’s tenure. A few more also impressed, such as Daniel Maldini and Alexis Saelemaekers.

The main takeaway, without a doubt, was the fact that Fonseca still needs a lot of time with this squad. Two weeks of intense training resulted in rather fatigued players and while this is part of the journey, it affected the game. Not to mention that several stars are still on vacation, though at least this gave the manager a chance to see some of the outcasts in action.

Focus has now been shifted to the pre-season tour in the US, with Milan scheduled to depart on Thursday afternoon. Man City, Real Madrid and Barcelona are the opponents and these will be three interesting tests for Fonseca’s men. Unfortunately for us Europeans, the games will be played very late and in the middle of the week as well, bar the Man City game which is scheduled for Saturday.

Luka Jovic is the first player to return from the extended Euros vacation, expected to travel with the team, while Yunus Musah and Christian Pulisic will join them directly on July 26 as they are in the US already. Rafael Leao is also expected to make the trip on July 28, though Noah Okafor will arrive two days later for some reason. The rest of the stars will only take part in pre-season at Milanello.

In short, Fonseca will not be able to rely on a full squad and that could be seen as a drawback. On the other hand, he knew this from the start and the feeling is that players such as Theo Hernandez and Tijjani Reijnders already know their roles in the team (and are quick to adapt if needed). Work is also ongoing on the mercato so there could be some additional arrivals.

Strahinja Pavlovic is seemingly the closest to joining the Rossoneri after agreeing personal terms with the club, while there have been contradicting reports on Youssouf Fofana. In any case, Milan are clearly looking to add a centre-back, a defensive midfielder, an attacking midfielder and perhaps a striker as well. As such, we just have to wait and see.

News Bulletin

➤ It has been a week full of news regarding Milan Futuro. There were three renewals as Maximilian Ibrahimovic, Christian Comotto and Francesco Camarda all extended, while Camarda and Kevin Zeroli scored for Italy U19s at the European Championship in what is an Azzurini side with a red and black tinge.

➤ There have been a couple of notable departures that both occurred on Tuesday. Firstly, Jan-Carlo Simic's move to Anderlecht on a permanent basis was confirmed - and he wrote a farewell letter to the Milan fans - then it was announced Luka Romero has gone to Alaves on loan with option to buy.

➤ Gerry Cardinale landed in Italy on Monday and he held a ‘marathon meeting' with the Milan directors regarding the summer transfer window. Whether this leads to a flurry of business or not remains to be seen, but he was also present with Zlatan and Loftus-Cheek at a Cincoro Tequila event.

➤ Youssouf Fofana has been reportedly close to joining Milan for what feels like weeks now, but a twist in the saga arrived on Tuesday. Di Marzio reported that competition has seen the asking price rocket to €35m, and the management are now looking into alternatives.

➤ In terms of outgoings, it is Malick Thiaw whose name is taking up the newspaper columns at the moment. Newcastle have apparently come back in, with La Gazzetta claiming Milan would sell for €30m and that there are two potential replacements already being eyed.

➤ In our longer reads over the past seven days, we took a look at how Milan's striker pursuit went from Zirkzee to Morata via Ibrahimovic and Bozzo, why the signing of the Spaniard could be a blessing in disguise and some early indications regarding a new corner approach under Fonseca.