One of the most contentious and debated issues regarding Milan recently is undoubtedly the lack of Italian players in coach Paulo Fonseca’s squad. Both the new coach and Zlatan Ibrahimovic have been asked about this, but the response has been that quality is the primary criterion, and players who can improve the team are sought regardless of nationality.
It all starts with the possibility of seeing an entirely foreign starting eleven next season, as suggested with this lineup: Mike Maignan; Emerson Royal, Fikayo Tomori, Strahinja Pavlovic, Theo Hernandez; Tijjani Reijnders, Youssouf Fofana; Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Rafael Leao; Alvaro Morata.
The subheading reads:
“The only exceptions will be Calabria and Gabbia, with a few chances. Pobega, Terracciano, Sportiello, and Florenzi will start from the back.”
The problem is that top Italian players, besides being objectively few, are also much more expensive. At the same time, Milan is also looking towards the future in this sense: the establishment of the Under-23 team, Milan Futuro, which will feature many Italian talents, is proof of this (Camarda, Zeroli, Liberali, Torriani, Bartesaghi, just to name a few).
