AC Milan have presented their plans for ‘Milan Futuro’, an exciting new project aimed at giving our young players a pathway to the first-team squad.
While some of our Serie A rivals have benefited from having set-ups of their own in this vein in recent years, the Rossoneri have frustrated having failed to develop our Academy players into individuals capable of producing at senior level on a consistent basis.
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Further, when we have seen some make that breakthrough, they’ve often been sold to make room for signings of our own, and so for many, it has been a disappointing failure from the club to not have more homegrown players make the cut.
Fortunately, we’ve taken fundamental steps to address that now with the confirmation of ‘Milan Futuro’, with both Zlatan Ibrahimovic and head coach Daniele Bonera conveying an important message at the introductory press conference this week.
“Now, we will really start working with the aim of developing young players and bringing as many of them as possible through to the First Team,” Bonera told the media. “When they presented the project to me, we shared the desire to improve the lads to become men before footballers. It is also an opportunity to increase the number of Italian players, but talent and humanity will come before nationality. There will be a daily exchange with Fonseca; we will also fully share the philosophy in terms of preparation and tactics, and obviously I will do my part. For now, I haven’t spoken to Fonseca yet, I have a direct line with Kirovski and Ibrahimović.”
“Milan Futuro is a global message full of meaning,” Ibrahimovic added. “We are organised and prepared, with this initiative we want to demonstrate that we believe in our talents and in the possibility of bringing them through to the First Team. The gap between the Primavera was too large; Serie C is another thing, and with this project our young players will have more time to grow and gain experience.
“The Primavera will move to Vismara, Milan Futuro will be in Milanello and will work closely with Fonseca’s First Team. The team will be made up of 22-23 players; we will choose profiles of AC Milan standards, a mix of young and more experienced players to have balance. Those who will be part of Milan Futuro will also be available for the Primavera; the Youth League is an important competition, but rather than winning it, I prefer to bring more young people into the First Team.”
Importantly, the infrastructure and opportunity is now there for our youngsters to make an impression and earn their way to featuring in Paulo Fonseca’s squad.
Both Bonera and Ibrahimovic emphasised the synergy that will exist between the two squads, and so it’s vital that there is a shared identity and style of play to make that transition from youth to senior level as seamless as possible.
It’s a pivotal step in the right direction for Milan as we look to find the balance between adding world-class talent and developing our own players, but ultimately the project must continue to be driven forward with the same approach and enthusiasm that we’ve seen thus far.
Time will tell if we are able to bring through talented youngsters who will go on to have a long and successful career in the Milan shirt, but this strategy and vision is long overdue, and it’s a real boost to see it materialise finally as it will hopefully be an integral aspect of our progress in the coming years.
