When it rains it seems to pour with regards to AC Milan’s injury situation, as Tommaso Pobega and Noah Okafor lasted a combined 30 minutes during the win over Monza on Sunday.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) reports this morning, both will be re-evaluated in a week but neither will see the field again 2023. Pobega risks a long stop – even two months or more, given it is to be evaluated if he will be operated on – while Okafor should return in four to six weeks.
The season record says it all: there have been 29 injuries since July, of which 21 are muscular, to 20 different players. With a concern that partly comes from the past: some players have historical problems – Okafor has often stopped in the last two seasons, Loftus-Cheek was out for a long time due to a ruptured Achilles heel – and for them the risk of recurrence it is always high.
The club and Pioli have said several times that they are working to solve the problem, a concept already expressed after the chains of injuries in recent years. This time, however, the proportion is even greater and in the coming months we will necessarily have to intervene, with staff in different areas needing to ask some very difficult questions of each other and their processes.
The most likely consequence? One or more changes in the physiotherapist team, which however cannot be the only or main explanation. We are only in mid-December but it is logical to imagine that from July there will be changes.
A new trainer or new methods of preparation? This will depend on the choice of coach. Pitches redone again at Milanello? A summer less focused on touring? All are possible – everything is in the hands of the club but they cannot wait six months to intervene.
The certainty is that Milan are heading towards the end of the year with many absences, concentrated in the centre of defence where Thiaw, Kalulu, Pellegrino and Caldara are out. Sportiello, Pobega and Okafor will be missing too, while news is awaited on Musah. Sportiello and Pellegrino have recovered, but are obviously not match fit.
Milan are therefore walking a tightrope. On Sunday Kjaer perhaps rushed his return a tad and there are only seven squad members yet to sustain an injury.
From February Pioli will need everyone. Between 15 February and 26 May, Milan could end up playing 26 matches in 100 days: 14 in Serie A, 9 in the Europa League, three in the Coppa Italia. It is impossible to do it with half a squad.
