Someone please wake up Carlo Ancelotti. AC Milan obviously believes that the elixir of youth is round the corner. Otherwise who would believe that their defense is anchored by veterans Paolo Maldini, turning 38 years, Cafu 36 years, and Alessandro Costacurta soon to be in his fourth decade. Lets not take away how great these players are, they are true legends. But has Ancelotti considered that these players may not have much cartilage in their knees left to do the job. Where are the youth players at Milan? Dario Simic is 31 years, Giuseppe Favalli 31 years, and Alessandro Nesta 30 years.
Looking at Milan’s roster, it is striking to see how many players there are approaching their mid 30’s. Goalkeepers Dida is 34 years and Zeljko Kalac almost 35 years. Striker Filippo Inzaghi is 34 years. Their midfield with Gattuso, Seedorf, and Pirlo is middle aged in terms of soccer years with only Kaka considered relatively young. Alberto Gilardino is the only young striker at the age of 24 years. The average age of the Rossoneri senior squad is 31 years of age. They are an old team. This is not a knock on AC Milan. They beat Juventus today 3-2 in the 16th Luigi Berlusconi championship but they had to insert one of their youth players, Willy Aubameyang to score their winning goal. The Rossoneri have a youth program but there seems to be no great desire on Ancelotti’s part to call up more of their youth squad to take part in the Club team.
2 comments on “AC Milan will soon be a spent force”
Costacurta is already 40, Inzaghi is 33 not 34, Kaka is 23 which is hardly relatively young, Gattuso and Pirlo aren’t even near their 30s. Youth by itself is no recommendation.
it is true that they are old but to say they are not adressing this problems is a bit wierd. They bought Yoann Gourcuff during the summer who is said to be the next Zidane, they bought Bonera who is not a youngster but at 25 or 26 i think and has a lot of football a head of him and many think was unlucky not to go to the world cup and thay just bought young argentine left back leandro Grimi who is highly rated and very young. they cant replace very one at once but they do realise that they need youth i think you may have ignored some of these crucial facts when writing your article