CM: Milan’s failure to sign the right reinforcements could continue to hurt title hopes | OneFootball

A number of shortcoming and mistakes from AC Milan’s summer transfer window have begun to come to a head as the squad’s depth has been hit for a number of reasons, a report claims.

Calciomercato.com writes how last season’s title challenge was unexpected but the team showed that they are worthy of fighting for the title with a fantastic start to the current season, yet they have also shown that they are unable to take the next step in quality, due to a summer transfer campaign that did not strengthen the team.

First through the door was Mike Maignan and here Paolo Maldini deserved credit because he went out and secured a new starting goalkeeper of excellent quality which he needed to do after Gianluigi Donnarumma left on a free transfer.

Milan negotiated for a long time to get Alessandro Florenzi and despite the fact he won the Euros with Italy he struggled to begin with and is at best a deputy to Davide Calabria and a third choice on the right wing.

Fode Ballo Tourè has shown serious technical limitations and does not appear to be a reliable deputy to Theo Hernandez at this stage, while the report writes that Tiemoue Bakayoko’s return has been ‘sad’ so far as he is a ghost of what we saw under Gennaro Gattuso.

Olivier Giroud is scoring goals – all of them at home so far – but at 35 years of age he cannot guarantee full physical efficiency, missing a crucial period when Milan were also without Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Junior Messias started late due to previous injuries, but he still seems to be a valuable alternative moreso than a new owner.

It had been known for months that Franck Kessie and Ismael Bennacer would be engaged in the African Cup of Nations for a period where the fixture list threw up games against Roma, Juventus and Inter, so focusing on Bakayoko seems an oversight.

The limits of Milan’s squad are clear to see and perhaps the upcoming derby is a great gauge of this. The Rossoneri had a seven-point advantage over their city rivals when they met earlier in the season, but they can field Dzeko-Lautaro, Correa-Sanchez or a combination of them up front with much better depth, and their two point lead with a game in hand is testament to this.

There are tne days left of the January window and Pioli has not yet even had a reinforcement despite the fact signing cover for Kjaer seemed desperate. A bad result against Juventus could really turn the fanbase.

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