Milan, Gila is not enough: they will go back in for Inacio in January

The Spanish centre-back is indispensable, but he alone is not enough.

Three league games in, one thing is already clear at AC Milan: Ruben Amorim's work is showing plainly in the starting XI. Everything changes, though, when he turns to the options on his bench, with one area in particular, the defence, operating at a different level depending on whether one specific player is on the pitch.

That player is Mario Gila, one of the club's major financial investments of the summer and, so far, the real fulcrum of the Rossoneri's balance. He cannot do it on his own, though, and in January they will inevitably return to the market.

With Gila and without Gila

Since the transfer window opened, the former Lazio man had stood out as the ideal signing to lift the squad's quality both in one-on-one defending and in playing out from the back, and the data underlined just how smart that move was. The problem is that Gila cannot do it on his own and, on top of that, the careful management of his minutes after the minor issues he picked up in the summer forced Amorim into significant rotation. It was exactly when he was off the pitch that AC Milan's defensive level dropped, with the two goals conceded coming in his absence.

Inácio targeted again in January

With Gabbia now down the pecking order, Tomori back in the fold after being shown the door and Diawara still an unknown, January will inevitably offer Cardinale and his men a way out in the market. Someone will have to go first, and Tomori will again be central to that, but then, Gazzetta dello Sport report, AC Milan will make another move for Goncalo Inacio, the long-time summer target who stayed at Sporting Lisbon.