From formation to fan support: The pillars the new Milan must be built around | OneFootball

The 2024-25 season has seen many of AC Milan’s presumed certainties evaporate into thin air, leaving just a few pieces to pick up and put back together.

Milan can still win a second trophy if they were to lift the Coppa Italia, yet at present it feels like it will be a very forgettable campaign. The Rossoneri currently sit ninth in the league table and were eliminated in the Champions League play-off round by Feyenoord.

The Supercoppa Italiana win out in Saudi Arabia feels like a distant memory, and such a sub-par season should lead to some major restructuring in the management with a new sporting director and head coach, and some big changes in the squad too.

However, shipping out absolutely everybody and rebuilding from scratch is never a realistic option in football. So, what can the new director and coach rely on as the pillars of the ‘new Milan’ moving forward?

The true stars

The two main pillars to construct the squad around are obvious, given their performances in the past few months. Christian Pulisic with his 15 goals and Tijjani Reijnders with 14 simply must be considered unsellable by the management.

The American forward and the Dutch midfielder have stood up and made their contributions when many others around them vanished, establishing themselves as two of the best players in their positions in Serie A.

Their futures shouldn’t be a worry, either. Reijnders recently renewed until 2030 and has publicly done nothing but express his love for Milan and a desire to stay, while Pulisic is soon expected to follow him with an extension and a well-earned pay rise.

Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

Rafael Leao is another player that the new director and manager will likely want to retain, and the feeling seems mutual. In another season of ups and downs, the winger seems to have changed gear a bit recently, reaching 11 goals and 11 assists for the fourth straight season.

The club would surely only let him go for a significant offer, certainly lower than his release clause (€175m) but certainly not at a bargain price, so no less than €100m. If Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez were to leave, he may even be a candidate for the captaincy.

Other players that should remain fixed points include Matteo Gabbia, often reliable when called upon and an important Italian component of the squad, as well as Strahinja Pavlovic, Youssouf Fofana, Santiago Gimenez and Warren Bondo who arrived in recent months and have shown enough to stay.

The new system

During the 4-0 win against Udinese on Friday night, we saw something that many have been calling out for: the use of a three-man defence. On paper, it seems to be well-suited to the squad, and the result showed glimpses of a platform to build from.

Obviously 90 minutes is not an adequate sample size to go off and further proof will be needed – perhaps against Atalanta and Inter in the next two matches – but without the possibility of unlimited funds to rip up the squad and start again, it makes a lot of sense.

Pavlovic, Fikayo Tomori and Kyle Walker are all capable outside centre-backs, while Gabbia and Malick Thiaw can play the anchoring role in the middle. Theo Hernandez and Alex Jimenez are undoubtedly more natural wing-backs due to their attacking predisposition.

Reijnders, although perhaps more ‘free’ in the No.10 role, can play in a double pivot alongside more of a defensive-minded No.6 (the mercato may need to help with that), and an extra centre-back behind for cover aids the balance.

Then, Leao and Pulisic playing as genuine wingers gives them the license to roam, to play off the centre-forward, bring Reijnders in and use the under/overlapping runs from the wing-backs.

It will obviously depend entirely on the coach, for example, Max Allegri may turn to a 3-4-3 while Vincenzo Italiano’s 4-2-3-1 is more rigid. Yet, in the search for defensive solidity that has evaded the Rossoneri for over two years, a three-man defence seems the safest bet.

The ‘Tricolore’

Speaking of safe bets, it is time for Milan to return to using more of a ‘homegrown’ core of players. The time for taking big gambles on coaches and players who (naturally) need time to adapt to Serie A is over: it is now the moment for ‘better the devil you know’.

There are options internally to begin doing this too. In addition to Gabbia, the Milan Futuro and Primavera sides include talents like Francesco Camarda, Kevin Zeroli, Filippo Scotti, Diego Sia, Davide Bartesaghi and Mattia Liberali.

The youth sector contains what could be a future Azzurri core of the team, and in the next few years. Inter, who have the likes of Francesco Acerbi, Alessandro Bastoni, Nicolo Barella, Federico Dimarco, Davide Frattesi, Matteo Darmian and others, demonstrate that Serie A experience helps to win.

Then there is the mercato, and this is where the biggest indications may arrive. For example, will the management go for Cristhian Mosquera of Valencia or Pietro Comuzzo of Fiorentina for the centre-back role? Both are the same age, but one is already showing he knows how to excel in Italy.

For the midfield, names like Samuele Ricci stand out and for one very good reason: they are excelling in Italian football, with all its peculiarities. Lorenzo Lucca and Moise Kean continue to be linked for the striker role, to lend a hand to Gimenez and also to compete for the starting spot.

An Italian passport isn’t a prerequisite, either. For example, the Danish Morten Frendrup has completed his apprenticeship at Genoa and is ready for a big move, and he ticks a lot of boxes for Milan. Dodo at Fiorentina could be a capable right wing-back, and Vanja Milinkovic-Savic could replace Maignan.

The common thread that links the aforementioned names is that they require no time to adjust to the Italian top flight. Perhaps each would need a few games to get used to playing for Milan, but nothing like a 20-year-old Yunus Musah faced, for example, when arriving from Valencia.

Of course, doing business with other clubs in Italy is often not cheap, and talents can be procured from abroad for less. What is embedded into the premium that must be paid is that the club, Milan in this case, are signing a ready-made player, who can be plugged in and played immediately.

Fan backing

If we were to say that there is a team playing in Milano who top the league in attendances and are the only club to average over 70,000 per home game, you would surely be correct in guessing it is the table-toppers and Champions League semi-finalists Inter, right?

Wrong. Milan are ninth in the table but top for attendances in league matches in 2024-25, despite having a fanbase that are largely angry because of a season that has fallen well short of expectations.

The chances of getting a Champions League place realistically vanished weeks ago, and the Rossoneri are on course for their worst league finish since the 2014-15 campaign under Pippi Inzaghi. Yet, the fans continue to show up in their numbers without fail.

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There are some caveats, such as offers on tickets and season ticket holders being counted who might not show up (though almost every game has looked near-full). What it shows, though, is that the enthusiasm and attention of the supporters is still there.

It must now be channelled in the right way. Stefano Pioli, Paulo Fonseca and now Conceicao have all spoken about the importance of creating a feeling of unity, which involves having the fans on side. Their patience is not infinite, though, and scepticism towards the ownership is understandably high.

So, a big summer awaits, one in which the ownership and the management have the chance to show -with smart decisions and smart investment – that they are interested in winning, and that there is that burning desire to bring back the good days.