It’s amazing how time flies in the soccer world. It seems like the Champions League just ended, but the soccer season is again about to get underway. With the preseason schedule set to get start, the work is ramping up for club teams in preparation for a new season.
AC Milan is a team in transition after missing out on European competition and you can bet that pressure is on to make sure the slide ends. That might start with the young guns, and there are three players in particular that will have a real opportunity to impress new coach Sinisa Mihajlovic during exhibition play.
Here is a look at the names to keep an eye on:
M’Baye Niang
Winger
The 20-year-old Niang might have the best chance of any player on this list to make a major impact with Milan next season. He’s a talented winger that blossomed while on loan at Genoa last year where he scored five goals in 12 starts. Niang talked about returning to the Rossoneri in a different state of mind than he was when he left the team last season. His recent contract extension until 2019 is a testament to the team’s belief in him, so they are expecting growth. Carlos Bacca, Adriano and perhaps even Jeremy Menez are all slotted ahead of Niang on the pecking order up front, so he’ll need to capitalize on this preseason schedule.
When you take a look at what AC Milan was able to do on offense last season, they only managed 56 goals. While that’s not bad, it’s still nowhere near the 65-70 they need to compete with the big boys like Juventus (72 goals last season), Lazio (71) and Napoli (70). Niang could be one of the solutions to the problem but he’ll have to prove that he can be the attacking winger that provides the type of secondary scoring this team needs up front.
Suso
Midfielder
The 21-year-old attacking midfielder made only two starts for the Rossoneri last season as he spent most of the second half of the year glued to the bench under former head coach Pippo Inzaghi. Suso has shown the resolve and work ethic to sway his doubters wrong and he will have the opportunity to prove that he can be a regular with the squad beginning this preseason. There is a little more room for Suso to earn his position with the club following Stephan El Shaarawy’s departure but the threat of the club adding from outside is very real. A number of names are in the rumor mill, so Suso will have to make the most out of his opportunities in exhibition games against Lyon, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich. If he can, then the team might opt to give him a bigger role rather than transfer a veteran in.
Hachim Mastour
Midfielder
Mastour is easily the most popular young player on the Rossoneri’s roster as his media rights alone have value to them after attracting sponsorship deals as a teenager. However, the 17-year-old Mastour has yet to make his senior debut with the exception of friendlies and the team is hesitant to push him before he is ready. Given his age, putting heavy pressure on him might not net the results they are looking for.
The kind of pressure they put on El Shaarawy is exactly the type that might stunt Mastour’s development. The soccer world is waiting to see what the kid can do, so it won’t be a surprise if he gets some playing time during the preseason tour with a chance to make a strong impression in front of Mihajlovic and the entire Milan fan base as they continue to await his arrival at the highest level. The youngster has already attracted plenty of attention from other clubs that want to buy him and his value could skyrocket further with a couple of strong appearances in exhibition play.
