AC Milan’s 2024 could hardly have started any better: two wins obtained across the Coppa Italia and Serie A, seven goals scored and one goal conceded.
MilanNews recall how the victories against Cagliari and Empoli were not just thanks to the big names like Rafael Leao, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Olivier Giroud – each of whom scored – but also the contribution of some Primavera players.
The injury emergency certainly facilitated the inclusion of some of these players, but if they appeared ready then it is because the Primavera have been doing excellent work for some time now.
With Geoffrey Moncada, Paolo Maldini, Ricky Massara and Angelo Carbone all doing their part, plus Elliott Management and RedBird Capital as owners, and now it is Vincenzo Vergine who has been head of the youth sector since the summer.
From Francesco Camarda’s record-breaking debut to Jan-Carlo Simic’s character, the goals of Chaka Traoré and the bursts of Alex Jimenez – plus Davide Bartesaghi and Kevin Zeroli coming on too – mean there is plenty to be excited about.
Obviously this is only first step of a decidedly long and complicated journey, which will be punctuated by many difficulties, but seeing the response when these teenagers were called into action can only be pleasing.
In the meantime, work continues ‘on the lower floors’ with Ignazio Abate, who last season got to the final four in the UEFA Youth League and this season topped the group.
There is a next step too: the club’s intention to create a ‘B-team’, or an U23 side, to put in Serie C as Juventus did their Next Gen side. They believe it will be a perfect intermediate step to the bring the talents into the first team.
It will have an initial cost but however would have very important medium-long term benefits, both technical and economic, but also with regards to the composition of squad lists which require homegrown players.
Real Madrid has their second team, Real Madrid Castilla playing in the lower divisions. Milan should definitely do this. It’s much more beneficial than a Primavera squad. Playing in the Serie B or C is more intense and can even generate a bit of revenue too.
That’s the equal to serieA u23 teams , which plays in serie C ,juventus and atalanta for example already created u23 teams ,but by the rules you must have all youth sectors , just as real have castilla, real under 19,real under 17 etc.. so we must have primavera or under19 team , we cannot just shut them down,but ofcourse we can additionaly create u23 team , that team just cannot participate in the same league as the senior team,for example if they menage to promote to serie A some day, they couldn’t play it as long as senior team is there
Of course, I’m not suggesting shut down the primavera team. They’re for the U-19 players. But a AC Milan B/II Team could be a great opportunity to develop further young talents, and not lose them.
To my knowledge the next gen team can’t get promoted to serie b whereas they can in the second best league in spain. Anyways its definitely of extreme importance to have such team as we will greatly benefit from it. Due to the regulations that limits amount of loaned out players some players would otherwise have to be sold or not renewed whereas having the next gen team we could keep some and see if they actually keeps developing and it could also help them later on getting loaned out or sold to other teams.
Exactly. And that’s a good point. I thought they used to be able to play in the Second Division but I guess I was wrong. Still even the third division (Serie C in our case) would be a better experience than us losing them entirely.
Yeah even Serie C would prepare some of the players better for Serie A/B or for that matter the first team. It would also be greatly beneficial to be able to train our players as we see fit while maybe even also using the same formation and philosophy of the first team to prepare them better for us. I simply cant see any downsides in having a next gen team and i was quite disapointed when we didn’t grab the chance when we had it the first time some years ago. It could also be used for some of our first team players who are out of shape and lacks some minutes to become ready again.
It is simply a pleasure to watch your youngsters enter the game and fulfill their dream. I don’t understand coaches who are afraid to give young players a chance.
If we’re serious about doing this then we need to adopt the model used by Barca, Real and Bayern.
These teams generally have long term strategies, focus on a few key, world class signings in the summer, and give their youth players room to grow alongside these world class signings.
This was the exact model used to build Guardiola’s great Barca side.
From 08/09 to about 14/15 they signed one or two key players each summer:
– Dani Alves in 08/09
– Ibra in 09/10
– David Villa and Mascharano in 10/11
– Fabregas and Sanchez in 11/12
– Alba in 12/13
– Neymar in 13/14
– Suárez 14/15.
Look at the calibre of those players. And they built their world class team slowly. The famous front three weren’t brought together until 14/15.
And all that time players like Valdes,
Pique, Pujol, Busquets, Xavi, and Iniesta flourished.
Pure speculation on my part but I don’t think even those players would’ve flourished at Milan.
There isn’t room for a scatter gun approach to transfers and constant resets AND youth development.
We have to pick one and stick to it.
Bro don’t do that. Don’t make it look like Barca had one singing a season. They bought a few players each season. Like $100 million worth…each season. The same thing u complain about all the time ie the constant transfers. They bought Dani Alves in 08/09 but also Hleb, Caceres and so on. It wasn’t just one or two players except maybe one or two of the gears. You may like to think churn only occurs at AC Milan but it occurs at many big clubs.
– Dani Alves in 08/09, PLUS Caceres, Hleb, Keita, Henrique, Pique. Total in: 96m
– Ibra in 09/10 PLUS Chygrynski,.Maxwell, Kerrison . Total in: $113m
– David Villa and Mascharano in 10/11 PLUS Adriano, Affelay. Total in: $75m
– Fabregas and Sanchez in 11/12
– Alba in 12/13 PLUS Song
– Neymar in 13/14
– Suárez 14/15. PLUS Mathieu, Vermaelen, Rakitic, Ter Stegen etc
Maldinis Heir is the definition of subjectivity. Biased everything. Always leaning towards his (presumably a male) agenda. It’s tiresome.
I feel like he might have something interesting to say if he wasn’t so plainly one-sided.
I’m a bit lost about the male agenda!
I will say women’s football hasn’t been ruined as much by money and transfers which makes it more interesting!
Sorry you can clearly see the calibre of the star signings that complimented the youth players.
That is very different to selling Tonali and signing three new midfielders.
Yes, there were other signings, but these were mostly squad players and also noticeable is that many were utility players so covered multiple positions.
If only Milan had a utility player. I don’t know like a Bosnian.
Not sure if it helps or hinders my or your arguments tbh lol. But I do get what ur saying now. I don’t think we’re at the stage of fielding many players from the academy and signing a few stars. Also remember Barca was able to spend on players because they had Messi as a lure and they paid ridiculous wages. Wages they couldn’t actually afford. Surprisingly I’m actually ok with the stingy approach our owners restricted Maldini and Massara on as we had a valid reason for not moving to the next level. And it appealed to my sense of sustainability. But there are moments where exceptions were needed
Exactly !
Plus in the current football, with our stingyness and lack of money, we simply cannot go for players in the caliber of Suarez, Neymar, Villa,… even a single one. There are not a lot of them to begin with, and all of them will probably go to City, PSG, Real Madrid,…
Barcelona the chequebook club who were always among the biggest spenders every season? This is your brilliant example?!?!? They have nothing to teach us, Baresi, Maldini, Costacurta and Tassotti came through from our youth teams. We had a core from our academy long before Barcelona did. How many starters do Bayern and Real Madrid have from their youth teams? I think you’ll find the answer is not many.
Just a small correction Tassotti was actually brought in from Lazio at the age of 20 where he had played two seasons ahead of his move to Milano.
I think that there is a point though in regard of Barcelona at least in the sense if we were to play the same formation and use the same philosophy throughout the ranks which Barcelona had and i assume still practices.
Buying a few marquee players a year and promoting a few youth players as well should suffice in the long run obviously depending on if we sell some players as well. It should help develope the team and add something to the group dynamics as well so the enviroment doesnt become completely stale. Obviously the type suggestions by Maldinis Heir is currently beyond our reach but down the line a format like that isnt a bad move either in my view but that also demands that we consolidate our place in europe and build a new stadium.
Barcelona are no more of an example on youth development than Man United. Both teams had ONE exceptional group come through at the same time and supplanted them with signings. That’s no different to the strategy employed by most clubs, and we did it before either of them under Sacchi.
Im not discrediting that we have done it before but regardless of barcas golden generation they are nevertheless famed for developing many young talents and even though they never really reached that level of the messi/iniesta generations before they did in fact implement a model inspired by ajax and has developed great talents for decades and they did also implement a model where all teams under the unbrella of fc barcelona had the same style of play, Milan had great talent development in the 80ies but hardly much afterwards but maybe the new generation in the current setup might turn out great but we have far from it the same history in that department. Yes Utd’s golden generation is comparable to that of barcas as well but still they also has a bigger history of developing talents as i see it, busbie babies comes to mind and that goes back to the late 50ies. Anywas just my 2 cents on the matter.
Your posting this under an article that is talking about how Milan apparently have a golden generation……
My post is simply pointing out that said golden generation might get a bit rusty if we bury them under a load of new signings.
Do you actually disagree?
Man United have had two great generations, and a lot of drivel in between. Sacchi’s Milan are completely short-changed in this area, Maldini, Baresi, Tassotti, Galli and Evani were youth team developed yet that’s never mentioned.
Man United and Barcelona have been far more likely to give chances to youngsters than Milan and the other top Italian clubs have for that matter in recent decades, but their success is largely down to their massive finances, not their youth teams.
I will agree on the part that the two clubs have been more likely to give youngsters chances but i nevertheless think at least a club like barca simply has had a different profile than milan with a great emphasis on talent development just like ajax has been doing for at least the last 6 decades,
Well at least they spent wisely!
Milan spent over EUR1 billion in the past 15 years!
And Milan produced those players when we had a transfer strategy v the scatter gun approach of the past 15 years!
We managed to let Cristante and Locatelli move to our direct rivals, and then sold their replacement Tonali to fund more pointless signings, and now have nobody with their characteristics!
Three failed attempts at solving one position. And that’s one position. The same has happened in multiple parts of the squad.
Why do people get so offended when I criticise the modern transfer market generally v the manager, the players or even the new transfers!
I’d get more kudos on here if I called for Pioli to be sacked than criticise the excessive and disruptive signings!
I’d get more kudos if I criticised individual signings over the actual transfer market!
Bizarre.
What’s controversial with what I’ve said?
Do you not want Milan to focus on key signings?
Do you not want Milan to develop youth players?
Do you not want Milan to be successful?
Or do you just love the transfer market?
Your take on Barcelona, Bayern and Real Madrid is flawed. They’re strong clubs because of the vast sums of money they generate, not because of youth development, nor have they in fact produced lots of exceptional players in recent years. Man City, Chelsea and PSG have, only for other clubs, but that’s another story.
Barcelona have only had one exceptional group of young players come through at the same time – Messi, Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets. Nor have they produced any truly great players since, despite the hype around Fati (on Brighton’s bench), Gavi and their new darling Lamine Yamal. We have nothing to learn from them.
The first team players that have come through Bayern’s academy over the past decade? Musiala and that’s it. Before that, you have to go back to 2008 when Muller and Alaba came through. We have developed more players in that time, what do we have to learn from them?
Real Madrid don’t have any academy players in and around the first team.
The reason they generate vast amounts of money is because they are well run clubs.
Juve returned from Serie B to win 9 back to back Scudetti built on the BBC defence (at least two of whom were bang average defenders who just played together for hundreds of games).
Meanwhile Milan just faffed around for 10-15 years constantly changing our minds about players after we gave them 5 minutes to prove themselves.
And we spent over $1 billion in the process.
In that period we produced numerous youth players many of whom now play for our direct rivals.
Darmian, Locatelli, Cristante, even bloody Matri and Borriello who went to Juve to win Scudetti.
Is it not absolutely infuriating to see our former players playing for our direct rivals?
As for Real: Carvajal, Nacho, Joselu, Valverde*, Vázquez, and Fran García are youth players (about a quarter of the 24 man squad (they only have a squad of 24 LOL)).
But seriously what are you hoping to achieve here with your glass half empty approach to this subject?
How does talking down our youth players, starring gaping eyed at the likes of Real, downplaying our achievements, pining for billions of Euros, a new squad of players and a new manager – help?
You’ve posted this under an article that talks about this golden generation.
So, what, are you writing them off already?
A youth team player is one developed in the youth team, not a young player signed from another club.
Carvajal, Nacho and Vazquez are squad players. They only play when one of the stars is injured, so let’s not credit Real Madrid’s success to them.
Joselu has played for about a dozen clubs and came from Celta.
Valverde was signed from Penarol.
Fran Garcia was dumped then resigned from Rayo Vallecano and, again, he isn’t playing if the stars are fit.
Barcelona are not a well-run club, they are over $1.2 billion in debt. In any other league, they would have been relegated for financial mismanagement, but because of their importance to La Liga, the league find ways to allow them to keep spending money they don’t have.
Man United have blew over £1 billion on players that have largely tanked, and they’re also £1 billion in debt.
Real Madrid aren’t an example to follow either, they’re we’re we were between 1986-2005, they’re the wealthiest club on the planet and consistently successful due to fantastic scouting and a policy of signing the best young talent, for enormous sums of money.
I said these are not the examples to follow because they operate in a different financial market to us. We cannot sign ready-made superstars, we have to sign prospects, and half of the crap we sign are inferior to the players coming through. We are now debt free and have one of the best youth teams in all of Europe. Our success rests on developing them and making 1-2, not 10, quality signings every season, and a stadium. The strategy in place now would be perfect if Moncada got over his fetish with foreigners and signed more Italian or at the very least, Serie A based players. The strategy in place is the correct strategy. The coach is the issue now, and that will be addressed in the summer.
@ MBM Are you seriously being this pedantic with your definition of ‘youth player’?
It’s very difficult to understand what it is you disagree with though when you say
“We…..have one of the best youth teams in all of Europe”
Ok.
So how is said best youth team in Europe going to be converted into best team in Europe?
This is the entire point of my post.
My seemingly controversial suggestion is that we focus on signing quality over quantity, we focus on key positions, and we don’t crowd out these players?
Do you disagree?
Or do you think we can develop youth players whilst signing 10 players every summer?
Alex Jimenez was not strong enough in defending after he moved to the right side. He was better at the left side.