The big money transfer of Mario Balotelli appears to be only the latest stage of AC Milan’s plan to rejuvenate their team.
Having already begun their revolution by bringing in the likes of Stephan El Shaarawy and Mattia De Sciglio into the first team, they have already wrapped up the signing of Riccardo Saponara from Empoli for the summer.
Now they are being linked with more promising young Italians. They have long been linked with Torino’s Italy international centre back Angelo Ogbonna, and are now also being linked with moves for Sampdoria midfielder Andrea Poli, as well as promising goalkeepers Andrea Consigli of Atalanta and Mattia Perin of Pescara.
And it’s not just young italians; there is also talk that they will move for young Spanish midfielder Pedro Obiang and young polish defender Bartosz Salamon from Brescia. If they were to make these signings, the average age of the team would drop remarkably from recent seasons which have seen the team average over 30. Recent club captain Riccardo Montolivo would suddenly be the granddad of the team at the age of 28.
The signing of so many young Italian starlets would also mean that it may be they, rather than Juve, who form the backbone of Prandelli’s Azzurri in the years to come.
Follow Marco Rinaldi on Twitter: @marcoarrinaldi
As a Milan fan I’ve been waiting for this for many years. For years I’ve had to watch them buy aging brazilian players, or players who were just useless. Its great that Milan now has a lot of italian players who can create the kind of unity that Juve has. Its a team that a fan can be proud of.