GdS: Zero players out of 34 – Milan once again left without Italy representation
AC Milan are once again experiencing the strange situation of not having a single member of the Italian national team.
La Gazzetta dello Sport write how once upon a time there was a core group of Italian players at Milan who played a vital role, regardless of whether they were playing or sitting in the dressing room. They were senators, an Azzurri platoon formed at the express behest of Silvio Berlusconi.
Today, there is not even a single member of the senior Italian national team that wears the Rossoneri shirt at club level, as has been the case in the recent past too. The highest level of representation is the U21s.
A globalised squad
Why? At first glance, one of the most obvious reasons, quite simply, would seem to lie in the composition of the squad. It’s well known that Milan have increasingly looked into the foreign market for players in recent years.
Yet, this is only partially true, revealed simply by looking at the percentage of Italians in the total squad. This season, 19 out of a total of 27 players are from abroad, but a comparison with other clubs reveals a surprise.
Inter, for example, have a higher percentage of foreign players (75 percent), yet among Mancini’s 34-man squad four Nerazzurri players are included. There’s even one player (Kean) from Como, a club expressly committed to a global vision of football (77.8% foreign players).
The explanation from the Rossoneri’s perspective then becomes a bit more worrying: the Italians playing for Milan are not deemed good enough to even make an expanded 34-man squad, one hoping to head in a more positive direction under Roberto Mancini.
The last Milan players to grace the Azzurri jersey were Matteo Gabbia (who later fell victim to a terrible end to his season with the Rossoneri and subsequent injury issues), Samuele Ricci (who emigrated to Como), and Davide Bartesaghi (in the youth revolution spearheaded by Baldini).
It’s not so much a matter of squads built in the name of a fascination with foreign players, but rather the degree of desirability of the Italians playing for Milan. Something is moving though: Bartesaghi along with Comotto, Camarda and Cisse could form a future core, as they do now for the U21s.
