Francesco Camarda celebrated his 17th birthday on Monday, and he remains the shining light of AC Milan’s youth sector plus the great hope for the future.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport write, there was not much time for celebration for Camarda, because Milan Futuro were undergoing the final training session scheduled before the departure for Pineto, in Abruzzo, where they will look for vital points towards survival.
Doubts and certainties
There is an argument that Camarda’s season has not ideal for the growth of a player of his age given the constant shuttling between the first and second team, but it is equally true that difficulties shape and help you grow sooner.
If anything, more than a doubt remains about the ways in which the management have managed him. In the meantime, however, Camarda enters a new phase of his professional life and has two records in the bank already.
He was the youngest debutant in the history of Serie A (during Milan-Fiorentina on 25 November 2023, at 15 years, 8 months and 15 days) and the youngest Italian debutant in the Champions League, as well as in the European history of Milan (Milan-Brugge on 22 October 2024, at 16 years and 226 days).
He could have written more history in the Champions League if fate had been a little more on his side – a goal disallowed against the Belgian side, hitting the crossbar against Red Star – but Francesco’s personal balance is certainly objectively positive.
The teenager has a clear path, in the club he has always supported. Camarda sings the chants of the Curva Sud and has the symbol of the Curva tattooed on his thigh. He has a family that does not want to rush things and keeps him with his feet on the ground, just like his agents.
Those who observe him closely at Milanello always repeat it, like a mantra: Francesco is always the same boy, serious and focused on his path, aware that a small distraction is enough to find himself off track. A professional approach that – they assure – comes naturally to him.
The paradox
This year in the first team he has amassed 190 minutes spread over 13 appearances (nine in the league, four in the Champions League), one of which as a starter. He is yet to score but has four goals for the Futuro: two in the league, two in the cup.
In January he was close to joining Monza on a dry loan. It seemed all done until Zlatan Ibrahimovic took him off the market, explaining to Adriano Galliani that the Rossoneri club preferred to keep him with them.
The former CEO did not take it very well and publicly teased his old friend Zlatan, stating: “He still calls me ‘boss’, but after we agreed he said that for the boy’s path it was better for him to stay at Milan. I had to accept it.”
The discussion, if anything, will come up more heavily in the summer and this time the Rossoneri will have to have clear ideas from the start about the best path for Francesco. In essence, they must decide whether to loan him out, include him in the first team permanently or have him shuttle again.
Of the three hypotheses, the last one would certainly seem the least sensible, as the current season has shown where Camarda has often experienced the paradox of weekends without playing, taken away from the Futuro and called up to the first team, but without setting foot on the pitch. It is difficult to grow like this.
