Milan boss Stefano Pioli will try out several new signings against Juventus tonight, while Timothy Weah will be the only new face for the Bianconeri, but Lorenzo Bettoni argues the two Serie A clubs have had the same strategy this summer.
Milan and Juventus meet on the USA soil for the second time in history tonight, but while the Bianconeri’s line-up will be very similar to last season, Pioli will involve several new signings.
Tijjani Reijnders, Christian Pulisic and Ruben Loftus-Cheek are all expected to start for the Rossoneri with Luka Romero and Noah Okafor ready to come off the bench.
The Rossoneri have already invested more than €100m this summer but could afford such a big expense mainly thanks to Sandro Tonali’s sale to Newcastle for €80m including add-ons. Another new signing, Samuel Chukwueze, will be waiting for his new teammates in Milanello after completing his medicals on Wednesday.
Juventus have only signed Weah for €12m so far this summer and are now waiting to sell some of their players before making new purchases. The Old Lady announced a loss of over €200m for 2021-22 and Cristiano Giuntoli said last week that the Juventus transfer window is temporarily ‘closed’ waiting for sales.
The Serie A giants are ready to listen to offers even for their stars Federico Chiesa and Dusan Vlahovic. The Serbian won’t be involved against Milan as he’s been training separately due to minor physical issues.
Juventus and Milan have had the same transfer strategy this summer which, to be fair they shared with every other club in Italy’s top flight. Sell and then buy.
Inter could afford Davide Frattesi after sending Marcelo Brozovic to Al-Nassr and added Marcus Thuram and Juan Cuadrado for free and Yann Bisseck for just €7m.
Roma have signed Houseem Aouar and Even N’Dicka on free transfers, Diego Llorente and Rasmus Kristensen on loan. Napoli are yet to sign a replacement for Kim who has joined Bayern Munich for over €50m.
Likewise, Juventus are waiting for a big sale in attack to sign Romelu Lukaku from Chelsea and are pushing Denis Zakaria, Leonardo Bonucci, Luca Pellegrini and Marko Pjaca towards the Allianz Stadium exit after sending Arthur on loan to Fiorentina.
Aside from Weah, the only new faces for Juventus tonight will be those of players returning from loans, such as Nicolò Rovella, Koni De Winter and Andrea Cambiaso, plus youngsters Dean Huijsen, Joseph Nonge and Kenan Yildiz.
Twitter: @lorebetto