Watching Emerson Royal play on the right flank, one of the most common refrains you can hear from the stands at San Siro is:
"But we had Kalulu... and we gave him to Juve!"
The AC Milan fans have never gotten over the sale of "Pierino" to the Bianconeri, especially because in that position (even though the Rossoneri management almost exclusively saw him as a central defender, a role already covered by Matteo Gabbia, Malick Thiaw, Fikayo Tomori, and Strahinja Pavlovic), the shortcomings have been evident in this first half of the season. Now, the nightmare of a repeat seems to be looming with Fikayo.
Juventus' Gleison Bremer injured
Indeed, Juve is on the hunt for a central defender after the serious injury that prematurely ended Bremer's 2024-25 campaign, and they’ve set their sights on the Englishman, who currently finds himself at the bottom of Milan’s bench. Tomori, in fact, last started in Serie A on October 6th in the 2-1 loss at Fiorentina. Since then, he’s played just 11 minutes in the league (9 at Cagliari and 2 at Verona). In the Champions League, he was in Fonseca's starting eleven for the first five matches, but he remained on the bench for the last home game against Red Star.
What about Matteo Gabbia - Malick Thiaw axis for AC Milan?
By now, it seems clear that the preferred pairing in the heart of the Rossoneri defense is Gabbia and Thiaw, which has indeed brought stability to a previously shaky backline. After conceding three goals to Cagliari, Milan has allowed only two in the following five matches—both at Bergamo against Atalanta, which boasts the best attack in the league (42 goals, tied with Inter, who have one game in hand against Fiorentina). In the other four matches, Maignan kept a clean sheet for the Rossoneri.
Source: Gazzetta.it
