5 Things you need to know about AC Milan ahead of the Serie A season

1. Next up in our Serie A previews for the season is AC Milan who are led into the new season by who else but Ruben Amorim, if you read my articles post-United matches last year you know what I think of Ruben Amorim as a manager already but to cut a long story short I thought he was nowhere near the level needed as a manager of a top club. He somehow finds himself at AC Milan this season so it’ll be interesting to see how he adapts to Italian football, last season was full of turmoil at Milan under Massimiliano Allegri with fans unhappy with the playing style throughout the season that didn’t suit their best players. Their goal of Champions League football looked certain throughout the season up until the start of May when they dropped points to the likes of Sassuolo and Atalanta that left them needing just a draw at home to Cagliari to secure a top 4 place, a result that they shockingly didn’t get losing 2-1 which left them in 5th place with Europa League football for this season. Milan didn’t find much success in the Coppa Italia either losing 1-0 to Lazio in the Round of 16 whilst Napoli beat them in the semi-finals of the Supercoppa in Riyadh, the pressure was mounted on Allegri after the Cagliari loss which eventually led to him losing his job shortly after the end of the season. Can Amorim inject some life into this team this season? It’ll certainly be interesting.

2. How has Milan’s transfer window gone so far? Milan have been pretty busy in the window so far bringing in Goncalo Ramos from PSG as a striker, Diego Moreira from Strasbourg who’ll probably be playing left wing-back, Mario Gila from Lazio as a centre-back along with a couple of young players like Andrej Kostic and Sankhoun Diawara who we probably won’t see much off this season with Kostic already going on loan to Sparta Rotterdam. There’s a couple of outgoings to take note of with Alex Jimenez moving permanently to Bournemouth after spending last season on loan there, the same for Alvaro Morata who spent last season on loan at Como and now has moved there permanently, Lorenzo Colombo has moved to Genoa and Tommaso Pobega has gone to Bologna. Do you think Milan need anymore incomings before the end of the window? I still think they could do with another attacker.

3. How has Milan’s pre-season gone so far? Milan have had a pretty shaky pre-season to say the least with first game coming against Celtic finishing 2-2 despite Celtic leading 2-0 at half-time, Francesco Camarda scored both Milan goals to save the draw. Next up was a 1-1 draw against their arch rivals Inter with a late Christopher Nkunku penalty saving a draw yet again for Amorim’s side, after that came a bruising 3-0 defeat against Chelsea which had some Milan fans questioning Amorim already without even playing a competitive game yet. Questions that soon disappeared as Milan beat Man United 4-2 in their final pre-season game with Samuel Chukwueze, Alphadjo Cisse, Goncalo Ramos and Ruben Lofttus-Cheek all getting on the scoresheet for Milan, a great performance from Amorim’s side which should give them momentum heading into their first Serie A game away at Torino on Sunday.

4. Who are the players to watch for Milan this season? The first player I think is going to have a massive season coming up is Samuel Chukwueze, there was glimpses last season at Fulham where he showed his quality but I think Amorim has found his perfect position at right wing-back in this team. We saw it in the game against United where he was by far the best player on the pitch and I think he’s going to have his breakout season this year in the Serie A, keep a close eye on this one. The next player to watch this season for Milan is Ardon Jashari, last season was plagued with injury for Jashari but in the bits we saw I think he looked a really competent midfielder alongside Luka Modric who is the perfect mentor for a young player. I think in the pivot alongside Modric Jashari is going to have a really good season as long as he can stay injury-free, the final player to watch this season for Milan has to be their record signing Goncalo Ramos. Free from the bench at PSG he’s got a big move to Italy where he can be the main man starting week in week out and I think he’s going to have great season for Milan this year, I think if Amorim is going to be successful in Milan Ramos is going to be the cornerstone of that success so I’m looking forward to seeing how he gets on in the Serie A this season. I’d obviously love to put Rafael Leao here as well but I can’t see him still being a Milan Player by the end of the window, I suppose we’ll have to wait and see.

5. Predictions for Milan this season? This is a tough one as I absolutely despised having Amorim as a manager when he was at United but I do think he has players that suit his system better in this squad, first of all Moreira and Chukwueze are perfect wing-backs in this system and undoubtedly will be the most important players in the team this season. The same goes for Goncalo Ramos who I think is going to have a great season up front for Milan, all that considered though I find it hard to see them fighting for the league this season. My issue is the players behind the strikers at the minute, who’s going to play in behind Ramos and support him in the attack? You have Pulisic who isn’t comfortable centrally, Leao isn’t either and is probably leaving, Loftus-Cheek isn’t a natural attacker and that’s about it as of right now. Amorim has to get into the top 4 this season along with going far in the Europa League given the strength of the team he has at his disposal, if he can bring a trophy along with Champions League football back to the San Siro I think that would be a perfect first season. Do I think he’ll do that this season? No but there’s definitely a chance.