Milan Reports' own Vito Angele and Matt Santangelo were on site last night in New York for Milan's summer friendly match against Premier League champions Manchester City, with the Rossoneri picking up an exciting 3-2 win in front of a sold out crowd of 46,122 attendees.
Samuel Chukwueze provided two assists to Lorenzo Colombo, while Alexis Saelemaekers feeding Marco Nasti for the decisive, match-winning goal in the Bronx.
Here are four key takeaways as observed live from Yankee Stadium.
Fonseca's ideas beginning to show themselves
Trotting out a 4-2-3-1 formation, Fonseca stuck to a familiar shape for this current squad.
Alessandro Florenzi, who later left the game with an apparent knee injury, sat in the double pivot with Ismaël Bennacer; a less than ideal pairing. However, the two did well in the collectively dominant possession Milan enjoyed.
As a group, there was obvious enjoyment in retaining the ball and selectively forcing City to overcommit before sharp, incisive passing up the pitch to drum up key attacking moments.
Though it is very early, the ideas and vision for how Fonseca wishes to play showed themselves throughout. There is a positive feeling amongst fans and the players in the way the Portuguese will setup.
While it is not lost on anyone that the Coach needs more reinforcement on the market one month out from the first Serie A match, a clear strategy is beginning to take shape.
Liberali 'wows' in limited action
Fresh off a superb tournament for the UEFA U-17 European Champions Italy, Liberali was selected to make the trip for the U.S. tour and seemingly picked up right where he had left off.
The 17-year old entered the match in the 63rd minute and almost immediately asserted himself with some shifty play in possession to escape pressure and advance play from deeper areas.
Despite playing only 26 minutes, Liberali completed 10 of 11 passes and the most successful dribbles in the match with 4. His control in close quarters to evade his marker and release the key progressive passes forward stood out, as did his quick decision making with and without the ball to help Milan see out the win.
Compared to Phil Foden by Alessandro Costacurta due to contrasting play styles and movement, Liberali is undoubtedly a promising talent to keep a keen eye on from here on out.
Chukwueze hungry for redemption
To say Samu's first year in Italy fell short of expectations would be an understatement, as fans yearned for much more from the talented Nigerian winger acquired from Villarreal.
Christian Pulisic's breakthrough campaign as the primary right winger seemed to make Chukwueze an afterthought most of the campaign, though many lamented former manager Stefano Pioli's mishandling of the 'Super Eagle' as one of the causes for disappointment.
Now entering his second season for the club, Chukwueze looks very motivated to prove his 2023/24 was an anomaly - and last night supported that.
Starting at right wing, the 25-year old played 65 minutes, completing 80% of his passes and provided two assists to Colombo.
More so than anything statistical, he oozed confidence to receive the ball in space and take on multiple defenders with subtle feints and dribbles to create windows for crosses.
If Chukwueze brings this level of desire and play regularly, Fonseca will find it extremely difficult to keep him out of the starting XI. Or, perhaps it could signal a change in Pulisic's role to help accommodate his attacking options.
Saelemaekers' versatility warrants further evaluation
Amidst all of the transfer talk surrounding his future, Alexis Saelemaekers continues to be one of the more intriguing fringe players in Fonseca's current squad.
Returning from his season-long loan at Bologna in which he played a pivotal role in Thiago Motta's unprecedented UEFA Champions League berth, the Belgian found himself back with his parent club and an undetermined future.
In between all the noise though, Fonseca slotted Alexis into his XI vs. Manchester City as a left-winger before then giving him a look on the right where he played mostly under his previous boss Pioli.
The 25-year old turned in a blue-collar, steady performance over 80 minutes of action. Stretching the opposition wide to the touchline and inviting others to make inward runs, Alexis' top work-rate and versatility remain his most appreciated qualities, both of which Fonseca spoke highly of in the post-match press conference.
"Alexis is a player I love a lot, I think he is a player I would love to keep in the team", explained Fonseca to Angele of Milan Reports (read here)
The former Anderlecht youngster was one of many Fonseca remained undecided on and required more evalution before reaching a solution on where he will play this upcoming season. However, based on the vibe received from his response last night, Fonseca could be leaning towards keeping the often under-appreciated Alexis as a hard-working, positionally-flexible option.
That is unless of course an offer too rich comes across the table, tempting management. No doubt, it remains to be seen which shirt he wears in 2024/25.
