This morning’s edition of Tuttosport has taken a rather nostalgic look at AC Milan’s current moment, asking the question: what has happened to the team that won the Scudetto?
The paper (via MilanNews) begins by remaking that the only survivors of the Milan side won the league title in 2021-22 are Mike Maignan and Fikayo Tomori, but they say that because Theo Hernandez and Rafael Leao are causing controversy after what happened in the Lazio game.
Ismael Bennacer is no longer at the centre of the project, while Davide Calabria – captain of the current team, and vice-captain of the one that won the Scudetto – now has to fight for his place with the new signing Emerson Royal.
In short, there are enough of that winning block left (six in total), unlike for example the four remaining members of the 2020-21 title team that are at Inter, given the heavy player turnover that has taken place since Antonio Conte left.
The Milan owners have always flaunted that they have prosperous accounts, yet that winning block has been progressively dismantled. Pierre Kalulu and Sandro Tonali have gone, Franck Kessie left on a free transfer, Alexis Saelemaekers continues to be sent out on loan and Brahim Diaz went back.
Some choices clash with the main need expressed over the summer by Paulo Fonseca, that of finding balance to try to at least stop the defensive bleeding. From this point of view, the exit of Saelemaekers to Roma is ‘inexplicable’ in the eyes of the paper.
So, Tuttosport concludes, in this Milan there remains ‘the untouchable quartet of Maignan, Tomori, Hernandez and Leao. But the visual fracture of the Olimpico has made some creaking felt here too’.
Furthermore, only Leao has renewed his long-term contract (until 2028), effectively the last act of the Maldini-Massara duo a few days before being they departed. Maignan and Hernandez are on deals until 2026, so ‘even the signatures of the pillars of the 2022 Scudetto have jammed’.
