AC Milan’s work in the summer transfer market is far from done with over a couple of weeks still to go, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic confirmed as much today.
As Calciomercato.com recall, Ibrahimovic spoke to the journalists present at Casa Milan this morning during Emerson Royal’s press conference, and once again returned to his biblical analogy: “This is the fifth day of the seven that God created.”
Emerson joins Alvaro Morata and Strahinja Pavlovic to become the third summer signing, but there are still gaps in the squad to be filled and players to offload too, all while keeping an eye on the regulations.
Squad list reflections
The management must keep in mind the rules for squad list composition in Serie A and the Champions League. They can submit two lists of 25 players each for the competitions, and of those there must be four players who came through the Milan academy and four who came through an Italy academy.
There is another simple limit to observe: foreign players over the age of 22, which must not exceed the ceiling of 17. With the arrival of Emerson Royal, the Rossoneri have not only filled all the boxes but is also beyond the threshold.
Maignan, Tomori, Thiaw, Pavlovic, Kalulu, Theo Hernandez, Bennacer, Adli, Loftus-Cheek, Reijnders, Chukwueze, Pulisic, Okafor, Leao, Saelemaekers, Musah, Jovic and Morata are the names in the squad, and while Kalulu could still be removed, Emerson would take the spot instantly.
There is also the issue of Musah who counts as an Under 22 player for the Serie A squad list but would take a regular spot in the Champions League squad lists where the rules are slightly different.