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Massimiliano Allegri has done well to promote talents at AC Milan this season, as highlighted by a report, with a certain trio now becoming increasingly important for the team.
As stated by today’s edition of Gazzetta dello Sport (see featured image), the list of youngsters that Allegri has launched in his coaching career is growing. Virtually every season, he’s taken a chance on a young player, if not several of them.
Marchetti, Astori, and Nainggolan are examples from his time at Cagliari, while Merkel, Cristante, Petagna and De Sciglio can be mentioned from his time at Milan. Not to mention Kean, Nicolussi Caviglia, Soulé, Miretti, Iling Jr and Barrenechea at Juventus.
The 2025-26 season, as such, is a continuation of his usual work. Davide Bartesaghi has cemented himself in the starting eleven, Zachary Athekame has put in some strong performances, and Koni De Winter is proving to be a regular at a top club.
Bartesaghi earns imminent pay rise
Starting with Bartesaghi, he made his professional debut on September 23, 2023, when Stefano Pioli gave him the chance against Hellas Verona. The season after that, he amassed seven appearances between Paulo Fonseca and Sergio Conceicao, gaining valuable experience.
This season has been the big breakthrough, though, effectively replacing Theo Hernandez on the left-hand side. He has had both good and bad moments, but it’s the highs that have truly excited Milan, such as the brace against Sassuolo in December.
Gennaro Gattuso is now watching on with interest ahead of Italy’s World Cup play-off games in March, even if a call-up seems unlikely. The fact that he’s even in consideration, however, says a lot about how good this season has been.
Bartesaghi renewed his contract with Milan last summer until 2030, but a pay rise is on the cards and that should extend the deadline as well. In short, the Rossoneri will continue to put all of their focus on him, with Pervis Estupinan remaining on the bench.
De Winter rises through the ranks
Another player who has definitely made a big leap lately is De Winter. Allegri knew him well from his time at Juventus, having fielded him twice in the Champions League in 2021-22 against Chelsea (as a substitute) and against Malmö (as a starter).
The following season, he went on loan to Empoli and then moved to Genoa, while Milan obviously came knocking last summer. There were some initial difficulties, such as the poor display in the Supercoppa Italiana semi-final, but Allegri never lost hope.
Indeed, since then, he has started seven of the last eight Serie A games. Concentration doesn’t seem to be much of an issue anymore, and wearing the Milan jersey is less of a burden. He confirmed this when he had to replace Fikayo Tomori and Strahinja Pavlovic. He’s a key figure for Milan at the back.
Athekame takes his chance
Finally, we have Athekame, the former Young Boys wing-back. He has made 16 appearances so far but only two of them were from start. The most recent one was on Tuesday against Bologna, in which he was among the best with his crosses from the right.
The Swiss international also has a goal on his account, more specifically the one that sealed the 2-2 draw against Pisa. Brought in as a replacement for Saelemaekers, it was the intuition of the sporting director Igli Tare.
As opposed to the other two, he hasn’t been able to show as much but there is a lot of time, especially if he were to get more consistent minutes in this season finale.
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