All things considered, it has been a fairly positive start to the campaign for AC Milan under new manager Massimiliano Allegri. After kicking off the season with a 2-0 win vs. Bari and a 2-1 loss to Cremonese, Milan would win five matches in a row before drawing at Juventus and beating Fiorentina. They would draw their next two to Pisa and Atalanta before beating Roma 1-0, only to fall to a 2-2 draw at Parma.
Despite this recent cold streak in form, Milan nevertheless find themselves in third place, level on 22 points with defending champions Napoli and two points behind Roma and Inter. They'll be looking to close out November with victories against Inter and Lazio and add to their credentials as genuine Scudetto contenders before traveling to Lazio for a Coppa Italia fixture.
"I think it's gonna be a really interesting year in Italy," stated ex-Football Italia anchor James Richardson in an exclusive Milan Reports interview. Richardson lived in Italy for a decade and served as the voice of Italian football for millions of British viewers, before eventually returning to London in 2002, where he has expanded his legacy as one of the best presenters in the game alongside the likes of Dave Johnson and Kate Scott.
"Juve are going to be in the mix, Roma under Gian Piero Gasperini are also going to be super exciting, and if they can start scoring, they're going to be great. Milan are a much better team now, and I think Theo Hernandez not being there helps. They've finally got a proper sporting director in, and I think there's a level of football expertise, both in and around the boardroom as well as on the touchline with Allegri. They're not the best team, but they've got some great players. I would say that Napoli and Inter are the two best, and then you've got Milan, Juventus and Roma in behind, so I think it's going to be a really interesting season."
All things considered, it's shaping up to be a jam-packed Scudetto race, and with Milan not competing in European football, they have the chance to use this lightened schedule to their advantage and vie for the league title. However, it's undeniable that they have at least one Achilles heel: the center forward position.
If you want to win league titles in Italy, you need an elite-level goal scorer. It's no surprise that, ever since Cristiano Ronaldo's departure, Juventus have gone from dominating Serie A to challenging for the final European spots. When Inter won the league in 2021, they did so with Romelu Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez and Marcus Thuram leading the line. When Napoli won the league in 2023 and 2025, they did so with Victor Osimhen and Lukaku scoring for fun.
Milan, meanwhile, simply don't have an elite-level striker. It hasn't been for a lack of trying: Since the start of the decade, the Rossoneri have brought both players who are in their peak or approaching their peak, like Alvaro Morata, Divock Origi, Luka Jovic, Pietro Pellegri, Noah Okafor, and Tammy Abraham.
Their latest purchases have been massive overpays; after joining from Feyenoord in January for €32 million, Santiago Gimenez scored 3 goals and 1 assists in his first 5 matches. Since then, however, he's scored just 4 goals and 4 assists in 25 appearances. These unconvincing displays prompted Milan to sign Christopher Nkunku from Chelsea for €40m, with the Frenchman scoring just 1 goal and 1 assists in his first 8 appearances.
Barring a major turnaround in either's fortunes, AC Milan will need to sign a center forward this summer. In terms of players who meet their budgetary restrictions as well as fit the need for an elite-level 9, there isn't a single player who checks all the boxes quite like Robert Lewandowski.
After cutting his teeth in Poland, Lewandowski emerged as one of the greatest strikers in football history during his time with Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. And he hasn't shown many signs of decline since joining Barcelona in 2022, scoring a whopping 108 goals and 20 assists in 159 appearances for the Spanish side. However, with Lewandowski's contract set to expire in June, Barcelona have started to phase him out of the team and start Ferran Torres up top, at the expense of their own form.
At 37 years of age, Lewandowski is still going strong for both club and country and showing that he is still one of the best strikers in Europe. “Even though Lewandowski isn’t the youngest player anymore, he still performs at a very good level,” stated Poland striker Adam Buksa in an R.Org Sports interview. “You have to have certain abilities to be a killer, be that talent, work ethic, intelligence, and skill, and he has it all. There are very few strikers in the world who are as deadly as him…that’s simply his nature. It’s great to see him play or to play alongside him….he’s been great, and the national team needs him.”
Milan's two best center forwards of the past few years have both been players who were signed on free transfers, both of whom were winding down their career: Olivier Giroud and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Similarly to Zlatan, Giroud and recent arrival, Lewandowski is in the twilight of his career, but he still has plenty of oil left in the tank. And after finishing as the top scorer in Poland, Germany and Spain, who's to say that he can't finish as the top scorer in Italy?
The bottom line: Milan needs a proven goal-getter, not an experiment. They need someone who'll be able to step up and deliver the goods, and they need someone who's a proven upgrade over their current options. The smart move for Milan is to sign Lewandowski on a free transfer and invest in a young, promising striker who can learn from Lewandowski and be ready to replace him when it's all said and done. However, Milan haven't always been known to make the smart move.
Will Milan's lack of attacking firepower cause them to come up short in the Scudetto race? Rossoneri supporters will certainly be hoping that's not the case as they look to win their first league title since 2022.
