He has gone from captain to a man expected to depart during the summer to a midfielder included in AC Milan’s Europa League squad.
When it comes to Riccardo Montolivo, things are never quite certain at the San Siro.
Last summer, the 33-year-old lost the captain’s armband after five years at the club with Vincenzo Montella opting to hand the honour to their star acquisition, Leonardo Bonucci.
Following a difficult campaign, he was expected to leave the club this summer, despite the fact that he was warmly welcomed and applauded by Rossoneri Ultras in July at their gathering with the team.
However, at the same time that he was being greeted with great affection by fans in spite of his fall from grace, those in the offices of power at Casa Milan were working on an exit strategy for the former Fiorentina man.
That is because he is a player whose contract now expires at the end of the season and it is worth €2.5 million for the year, putting him on more money than the likes of Hakan Calhanoglu and Giacomo Bonaventura, who are ahead of him in the pecking order.
Although competition for places became even more difficult after the arrival of Tiemoue Bakayoko, Montolivo opted against the offer of a move to Parma, by declining a proposal from Serie A’s new boys as he is convinced he can still play a part.
As things stand, he is currently sidelined with a thigh injury which has kept him out of action since early August and which isn’t healed yet, meaning he remains hard at work in the gym at Milanello.
There could even be hope for him to revive his Rossoneri chances too when he does recover as coach Gennaro Gattuso has included him in his squad for this season’s Europa League.
That will give him reason to come back all guns blazing and attempt to show that he can still play a part at the club and avoid becoming one of the squad’s great forgotten men.
