2 days ago
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The summer mercato has drawn to a close, and AC Milan are being criticised for not fixing one of the big issues: the centre of the defence.
As MilanNews recalls, one of Milan’s priorities for the window was to sign two centre-backs. One was to be an experienced leader and the other a high-level replacement for a potential sale, as happened with Malick Thiaw to Newcastle United.
This objective was recently confirmed by sporting director Igli Tare, before the Lecce match, 72 hours prior to the deadline: “We need to do our best in the last 72 hours to bring in an experienced player.”
Trust in a teenager
The response to this statement from the director was the acquisition of David Odogu, a German centre-back born in 2006 who has made only three professional appearances in his career.
Obviously, there’s no intention here to undermine the young player, who deserves the full support and backing of the team and the fans for an adventure that will undoubtedly be crucial in his still young career.
However, a different kind of signing for the defence was certainly expected, especially given Tare himself had announced it publicly, just as he announced the need for a new centre-forward that didn’t end up coming.
Experience hasn’t arrived, and the quality hasn’t improved, so Tomori, Gabbia and Pavlovic remain the starters. Koni De Winter has joined but is yet to start a game, so he remains fourth choice at present.
The club tried to do what they said, firstly with Manuel Akanji – who wanted to play in the Champions League and earn a little more money – and then with Joe Gomez, who instead fell through when Liverpool failed to sign Marc Guehi.
Milan had the seventh-best defence in the league with 43 goals conceded, and the year before that they even had the 11th-best with 49, despite finishing second. The ‘Achilles heel’ has therefore been ignored again, so how must Allegri – a defence-first manager – really feel?
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