Massimiliano Allegri is delighted with the arrival of Nigel De Jong, but still says that Milan may only be targeting a top three finish this season.
Massimiliano Allegri is delighted with the arrival of Nigel De Jong, but still says that Milan may only be targeting a top three finish this season.
Earlier today upon completing the capture of Dutch midfielder De Jong from Manchester City, Vice-President Adriano Galliani had asserted that the club’s ambition remained a fight for the Scudetto.
“We are playing for one of the first three positions in the League, whilst the minimum target to make the group stage of the Champions League,” reflected the tactician in response.
“Juventus remains the favourite for the title, but we will try to fight with them for it.
“I’ve never lost enthusiasm, otherwise I would have gone. It is normal that when a team has completely changed that it will take time. We must forget Milan of the past few years, we now have a very young team.
“It is normal that I am angry at the defeat from Sunday, but we did not deserve that defeat.”
Tomorrow the team travel away to Bologna.
“They are a difficult team to deal with and they have a very good Coach. [Alessandro] Diamanti is definitely their most dangerous man, whilst [Robert] Acquafresca and [Alberto] Gilardino are a formidable attack.
“Certainly we will have to play better than we did last week. Bologna have lost some important players like [Marco] Di Vaio and [Gaston] Ramirez, but they will certainly cause us some difficulty.”
The Coach was asked his view on this week’s arrivals so far, De Jong and Bojan Krkic.
“Bojan is a great young player, he did very well at Barcelona and just as good for Roma. De Jong is the element that was missing in midfield, because in that role we had only had [Massimo] Ambrosini.
“We needed to increase the technical level of the team and De Jong is a very good buy, especially in light of our game, as a midfielders that fits in.
“Our midfielders also score a lot of goals on average. We must continue along this path. To win games we will need our champions, as it was when Zlatan Ibrahimovic was here.
“Not all teams have champions of the highest level, only a few teams can afford them.
“Now we are pretty covered in all roles, there are still a few hours until the end of the window, but I do not think there will be any more news.
“With the players I have available I can now try out some different tactics.”
However, Allegri appeared reluctant when asked if one would include adopting the popular three-man defence.
“We definitely have the players to play three at the back, but it is not a matter of formation, but rather a question of mentality.”