Just a few days remain of July and with Milan’s first official game scheduled for August 17, it’s clear that Igli Tare will want to complete most signings by then. Looking at the current squad, it’s really only a right-back, a midfielder and a striker that are needed.
Having said that, Milan have been linked with Parma’s young centre-back Leoni, and reports published as recently as two days ago suggested they could overtake Inter in the race. The question is, however, whether it would be wasted money.
So far, the pre-season has been positive for the Rossoneri. The 1-0 defeat to Arsenal perhaps wasn’t ideal in the sense that Max Allegri’s men created very little in attack, but they managed to defend the goal well despite facing a very good side.
Above all, the core of the penalty box was well-defended and that was thanks to the centre-backs. Fikayo Tomori, Malick Thiaw and Strahinja Pavlovic have been the starting players for the role, while Matteo Gabbia has been brought off the bench every time.
Whether Allegri will stick with the three-man backline is a good question, but even if he does, there would be enough ‘manpower’ as Davide Bartesaghi can also play in a back-three. We have also seen some academy youngsters get the chance this pre-season, so there are solutions.
The current defence, as such, has the foundation to become a very good one and Allegri himself seems pleased with the players at his disposal. This is also why the Leoni pursuit has been put into question, especially since a sale of one of current centre-backs would be needed.
As we all know, sales can take time and starting that process now (we’re almost in August, mind you) feels like a bad move. More time should be dedicated to signing a right-back instead, as it’s more of an emergency, while you could even say the same for the No.9 role.
