Vitiello: Why Emerson Royal and Pobega were left out of Milan’s pre-season squad

Max Allegri named his squad for the upcoming pre-season friendlies yesterday, and there were some names missing from that list. The situation of two of these players is clear, according to a report. 

Milan will be up against Arsenal, Liverpool and Perth Glory during their Asia/Australia pre-season tour, and the goal is obviously for Allegri to start proper work on his game. Yesterday, the 26-man squad for the games was named, and the likes of Emerson Royal and Tommaso Pobega were among those missing.

It’s not exactly surprising to see these names left out, even if Pobega was mentioned as a possible ‘rotation player’ for Allegri this upcoming season, above all because he’s Italian. Emeron Royal, meanwhile, was never going to get on the list.

Sales on the cards

As reported by Antonio Vitiello, Pobega is very close to joining Bologna for around €8m and that’s why Milan decided not to send him to Asia. It’s a move that could have materialised much earlier but as the Rossoblue didn’t trigger the buy-out clause, the price had to be re-negotiated.

While a sale is likely for Emerson Royal as well, it’s not currently imminent. The Brazilian hasn’t even trained with the squad yet as he’s recovering from the injury sustained last season, which kept him on the sidelines for several months. Sending him to Asia wouldn’t have made sense, as such.

Milan are hoping that a sale will take place in the coming weeks but if he’s still on the club’s books by August, then he will join the rest of the squad in training, as Vitiello concludes.