The transfer market is reaching a fever pitch just as Milan prepares to take the pitch for their final two preseason matches. The first of those games is Saturday afternoon in Ireland vs. newly promoted Premier League side Leeds United. Despite Milan managing to defeat Premier League title holders Liverpool 4-2 in Hong Kong and destroy A-League side Perth Glory 9-0 in Perth, facing a newly promoted side might be just about the right level for a team that finished eighth last season in Serie A. Sure, Milan finally have everyone training with the team, including a couple of big new signings. But the team is far from complete, and there are important deals being negotiated as this is being written. It's all part of the fun of Milan's penultimate preseason challenge.
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| Ready to win... or something. |
I find it very sweet that a team like Leeds United are still referring to AC Milan as a "European Giant." Hopefully, that mentality helps to intimidate them and works out a little bit in our favor So far, under Leeds manager Daniel Farke. Leeds have drawn vs. Mancheser United, then claimed victories over SC Verl and SC Paderborn in Germany and drawn 1-1 with Villareal last Saturday at home.
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| Thiaw is in high demand, with an important offer from the Premier League on the table. |
For last week's friendly, Farke lined up: Darlow; Schmidt, Struijk, Rodon, Gabriel Gudmondsson; Ampadu, Sean Longstaff; Gnonto, Stach, Aaronson; and Nmecha. His available subs included: Meslier, Bijol, Gruev, Piroe, Byram, Tanaka, Ramazani, Harry Gray, Cairns, Charlie Crew, and Chadwick-Chaplin. Perri is recovering from an injury, and Bournaw andBogle are in doubt as well. Mateo Joseph and Patrick Bamford are in transfer limbo, so also may not feature. Charlie Crew left this week for a season long loan deal.
Allegri has some shiny new players to show off this weekend. Santi Gimenez returned from his vacation after winning the CONCACAF Gold Cup with Mexico. Of course, everyone is excited that the 2018 Ballon d'Or winner Luka Modrić has joined Milan, and began training with the team on Tuesday as well. The so-called Telenovela transfer saga with Club Brugge finally wrapped up this week, with Ardon Jashari finally being allowed to join the club he has loved since childhood. He, too, began training with the team, although it remains to be seen how much time these players will be given.
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| Our newest Swiss midfield reinforcement, Ardon Jashari. |
Unfortunately, Pulisic will not be traveling this weekend, as he is still recovering from the knock he picked up in the Liverpool match. Bondo is set to leave for Cremonese on loan, so was also not called up. But Allegri has called up some younger players to help fill in some gaps, particularly with the two matches in two days. The players who have traveled are:
Goalkeepers: Maignan, Pittarella, Pietro Terracciano, Torriani
Defenders: Bartesaghi, Coubiş, Duțu, Estupiñan, Gabbia, Magni, Pavlović, Filippo Terracciano, Thiaw, Tomori
Midfielders: Victor Eletu, Fofana, Ardon Jashari, Loftus-Cheek, Luka Modrić, Musah, Ricci, Sala
Forwards: Chukwueze, Okafor, Leão, Saelemaekers, Diego Sia, Gimenez
* Milan Futuro or Primavera players are indicated with italics, new players are indicated with bold italics
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| Two of our new Balkan Brothers contingency. |
In other transfer news, Victor Eletu finally signed his renewal with Milan Futuro after his contract had expired, while Christian Comotto completed his loan deal to Spezia for the season. Luka Jović, his contract expired at the end of June, signed with AEK Athens this week as a free agent.
The eighth Milan Futuro player to leave this summer for free, with only a 50% sell-on fee, was Mattia Liberali, who signed for Catanzaro, where Gabriele Alesi also joined. Milan made a last-ditch effort to renew him or get some cash up front, but the only additional agreement they were able to make was a €1 million bonus for Milan should Catanzaro be promoted.
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| Gimenez meets Ricci on Tuesday. |
This mass exodus of these players is criminal in and of itself, as Milan need club-trained homegrown players if and when they ever return to the Champions League. But to reportedly gift them all for free, only retaining rights to 50% of the fee these Serie B teams will sell these players for, rather than keep and develop the players and eventually gain 100% of the profits a club like Milan can negotiate is actually criminal.
Not to mention the bright idea someone in this management had to schedule back-to-back away friendlies six days before our first competitive match of the season. It's as if we have a portfolio manager for a CEO and a scout as our technical director or something. Nonetheless, here we are. The guys have traveled to Ireland and ready to face Leeds United Saturday afternoon. Let's hope for some debut playing time for our new players, a good practice match, and no injuries. After all, those should be the priorities for Milan's penultimate preseason challenge vs. Leeds in Ireland.