Claudio Marchisio has been sensationally linked with AC Milan but the Juventus midfielder is not the type of player that the Rossoneri need.
Many Italian media outlets, especially RAI Sport, were linking the 31-year-old with a transfer from Turin to Milan on Monday amid speculation that the Bianconeri stalwart was unhappy with Coach Massimiliano Allegri but the Torinese giants consider the player to be unsellable.
A product of the Juventus youth system, Marchisio joined the club’s youth ranks in 1993 and the only season in which he hasn’t featured for La Vecchia Signora was in 2007-08, when he spent the campaign on loan at Empoli.
The experienced midfielder also allows Juve to meet the minimum quota for footballers from their own youth academy in the senior squad and he has been within the inner sanctum of the club for many years.
Although Juventus are portrayed as a club that focuses solely on winning as well as one that is run like a business, Marchisio is symbol of romanticism because of his long allegiance with the Turin giants and also because he is from the city itself. Since Alessandro Del Piero left the club in 2012, Il Principe – The Prince – has become the club’s bandiera or ‘flag waver’.
It seems unlikely that AC Milan could complete a deal for Marchisio anyway. The issues between defender Leonardo Bonucci and Allegri had been made public months before the transfer window opened and Bonucci’s family did not want to leave Italy so that made the Diavolo a probable destination.
Aside from the probability of the 31-year-old leaving Juventus, a player of his attributes is not required at the moment in Milan, especially with the signings they have made.
Throughout his career Marchisio has been a box-to-box midfielder but Allegri has recently turned him into a deep-lying playmaker, two roles in which the Rossoneri have enough players for.
Franck Kessie was acquired from Atalanta and the 20-year-old has boundless reserves of energy as well as the ability to make late runs into penalty area. Age will also favour the Ivorian enormously over the Italian veteran.
In the regista role, Lucas Biglia was signed from Lazio but he is sidelined due to a muscular injury. Despite the absence of the Argentine international, Milan coach Vincenzo Montella can still choose between Manuel Locatelli and Riccardo Montolivo.
Locatelli is 19-years old and a product of the youth academy that has already gained senior experience with the Rossoneri, while Montolivo has impressed in pre-season, also scoring two goals in the Rossoneri’s 6-0 victory against Macedonian club Shkendija in a Europa League qualifier.
On the left side of the central midfield trio, the competition for that spot would be between Giacomo Bonaventura and Hakan Calhanoglu and the duo can play in roles that Marchisio has not been successful in.
The former Atalanta midfielder can play on the left-wing and the Turkish international can play as an attacking midfielder whereas Marchisio has been trialled in those roles for Juventus and Italy but the experiments did not work.
A knee injury suffered near the end of the 2015-16 Serie A campaign has also impacted on his performances and he is not performing as consistently as he used to.
Taking into account his fitness and age as well as his loyalty to Juve, it would not be worthwhile for Milan to make a serious pursuit for Marchisio because they already have what they need.
