AC Milan are set to hand a first-team debut to Alex Jimenez this evening against Cagliari as Stefano Pioli gets ready to rotate his squad for the Coppa Italia clash.
Jimenez is just 18 years old and he could be one of two 18-year-olds starting the match, as he should be joined in the defence by Jan-Carlo Simic who has enjoyed a handful of first-team appearances this season due to the defensive injury crisis.
There could also be two 19-year-olds starting in the form of Luka Romero and Chaka Traore.
As highlighted by Radio Rossonera, Jimenez arrived at Milan in the summer of 2023 from Spanish giants Real Madrid. He joined on a loan deal but took some time to start impressing his coaches.
He has now been on the first-team bench six times since October and now he is ready to make his debut.
Given Jimenez was the highest-paid player in Real Madrid’s academy and had played 13 times for Real Madrid Castilla, his departure raised eyebrows.
It seems he left the club due to a poor relationship with Castilla coach Raul Gonzalez Blanco and Alvaro Arbeloa, coach of the academy side.
As was reported by Relevo, Milan have the option to buy Jimenez at the end of the loan deal by coughing up €5m.
Milan would be willing to do that as things stand, but Real Madrid did insert a buy-back clause and it is not clear what that figure is.
Would be weird if he starts; not because he doesn’t deserve it, because I think he does. But because Pioli is a Heirarchical type of coach. It’s about the hierarchy and Bartesaghi is (or looks like is) ahead of him.
The hierarchy for the full backs at the beginning of the season was…
Calabria
Theo
Kalulu
Florenzi
Pelegrino/Bartesaghi (very close)
(Pobega)
Jiminez
The initial hierarchy depends on experience, expetience in the system, price tag (for new signings, which is used to somewhat place the potential; this was one of the reasons why Brahim and CDK were ahead of Adli ), past performance.
Changes in hierarchy are during the season are influenced by Injuries/Fitness, potential departure/commitment to the project (why Krunic is down the order and why Sale/Rebic were barely seen towards the end of last season. Brahim wasn’t sure to leave and he was evidently playing his heart out meantime so…), training performance and what you do in the 5-10 minutes you were given in the previous match.
Bottomline, Bartesaghi may be fatigued or on his out on loan. Or some other disciplinary issue we don’t know about.
P.S: Pioli is easy to understand if you’re not already biased. He’s not the best coach, but no need to demonise him either.
Bartesaghi has the flu.
Yes just saw that, lol.