AC Milan boss Paulo Fonseca will welcome a string of key figures back to pre-season training in the coming weeks as our preparations for the new campaign continue.
The Rossoneri picked up a 1-1 draw against Rapid Vienna this past weekend, as the process of Fonseca implementing his ideas and philosophy is underway, albeit with a squad that’s still missing a number of players who were on international duty this summer.
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That will make it a trickier situation for the Milan boss as ideally he’d have the whole group together now to start the fundamental work of building his structure and style of play, but he’ll have a gradual increase in numbers in the coming weeks as those individuals start to report back.
As per Antonio Vitiello, Luka Jovic will return to Milanello on Tuesday, while both Christian Pulisic and Yunus Musah are back on Friday ahead of our pre-season tour in the USA.
Rafael Leao [July 28], Noah Okafor [July 30], Theo Hernandez, Mike Maignan [both August 2], Tijjani Reijnders [August 3] and Alvaro Morata [August 5], will be the last to re-join the squad, and although it’s frustrating that we won’t see them for the full pre-season schedule, they certainly need an extended break after their gruelling campaign last year, which culminated in a deep run at EURO 2024.
The expectation is that they will begin light training on an individual basis before either linking up with the squad in the US or returning to Milanello, and Fonseca may well have given them analysis and instructions to take into consideration during that period.
Further, it remains to be seen who follows Alvaro Morata as summer signings too, as the sooner we can bring in new faces that the Milan boss wants to improve and strengthen his side, the faster they can adapt and settle in as part of the squad and prepare for the upcoming season in the best way possible.
For now though, Milan will continue with restricted numbers as we continue our pre-season work, but it’s hoped we’ll be in a good place by the time we face Torino in our Serie A season opener on August 17 with as close to a fully-fit squad at Fonseca’s disposal as possible.