Pressure mounts on Milan‘s summer signings, with the Rossoneri eight points below Serie A leaders Napoli.
The Rossoneri hope to retain the title this term, but they are already eight points below the Partenopei, the only unbeaten team in Italy at the moment.
Today’s printed edition of La Gazzetta Dello Sport raises questions over the Diavoli’s transfer activity in the summer as all their new faces have been failing to impress this term.
Milan welcomed Malick Thiaw from Schalke 04, Aster Vranckx from Wolfsburg, Divock Origi as a free agent from Liverpool, Yacine Adli from Bordeaux, Dest on loan from Barcelona and Charles De Ketelaere – their most expensive signing – from Club Brugge.
Milan spent circa €49m, but their investments are not paying off at the moment, given that the Rossoneri’s new signings have only produced one goal (Origi) and two assists (Origi and CDK) so far.
Origi replaced the suspended Olivier Giroud in a 0-0 draw against Cremonese on Tuesday but wasted at least two chances, while De Ketelaere was introduced in the second half, but his impact was once again irrelevant, noted Gazzetta.
Adli has also failed to impress. The 22-year-old has returned from a one-year loan at Bordeaux but is the fourth option as an attacking midfielder and was left out of Milan’s Champions League squad in September. He has only made four appearances so far, one as a starter.
Dest must improve defensively, while Thiaw hasn’t played much but showed encouraging signs in games against Cremonese and Verona. Nevertheless, Milan need more from their new faces in attack to bolster Pioli’s option when Leao, Giroud and Theo Hernandez are not on their day or are not playing at all.
Unfortunately, all our new signings have flopped so far, while Napoli‘s new signings are performing off the charts. Credit to them.
I have faith that all but one of the players mentioned will improve. Dest is the odd one out for me.