This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) speaks of ‘eleven games for eleven players’. In the final part of the season, nine league games plus the double Coppa Italia derby, there is an entire team playing for their future.
Some in particular will have to prove themselves to be up to Milan. The young Alex Jimenez for example, judged too good for Milan Futuro but not quite ready to take the place of Theo Hernandez at left-back.
In the middle there is Fikayo Tomori: for Juventus and Tottenham he was a central defender worth €25m+ in January. In Sergio Conceiçao’s Milan he is on the bench. Moving up the field there are Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Yunus Musah and Samu Chukwueze all with futures to decipher.
With Theo Hernandez coming to the end of his Milan career, Jimenez must accelerate to gain space. He has shown good qualities and a great sense of application, meaning that at 19 years old he is a potential top-tier full-back.
Will Milan have time to wait for him? The club intends to intervene on the left with a significant addition. A true heir to Hernandez. And, above all, what do they think in Madrid? Real have a buy-back option for less than €10m. A meeting between the clubs is in any case in the cards.
Tomori’s condition is more complicated, as he has been watching from the bench for six games with not a single minute on the pitch between the last Champions League match and the most recent five league matches.
To earn a stay, he should first climb the hierarchy and earn his place on the field. With performances that are near the level of the Scudetto season, he would then convince the club to focus on him for the new course. It is more likely that he will be sold to boost the budget.
The duel begins in midfield: the recovered Loftus-Cheek, or Musah? For Conceiçao, the former has unique characteristics among the players in the department, and it would seem that he is intent on relaunching him among the starters.
RLC could even start against Napoli on Sunday because he and Fofana, a physically imposing pair, would free up Tijjani Reijnders’ to make those dangerous runs. The Portuguese coach is thinking about it.
Musah has played (and made mistakes) a lot this season. In the last period, however, he was irreplaceable, thanks also to his ability to be used on the wing. From here to the end there could be room for only one of them.
Whoever emerges victorious from the battle will also be the one with the best chance of remaining with the Rossoneri. Loftus-Cheek must provide physical guarantees, while Musah – despite the criticism – is wanted by French clubs.
The big question mark in attack is Chukwueze. He has never really integrated after being signed in a deal worth a total of €28m from Villarreal in the 2023 summer transfer window, but a crackling finale could change everyone’s mind.
His entire story at the club so far raises questions, given he has 62 appearances, but only 26 as a starter, with eight goals, four assists. For the investment made two summers ago, he has not repaid the expense and the wait.
There is time to change fate, also because showing off is a necessity: for Milan or for those who want to believe in him.
