AC Milan will reportedly look to cut some fringe stars and offload a quartet of dispensable players in the summer.
The Rossoneri are hoping to compete for a top-four finish in Serie A this season in order to secure a return to the Champions League.
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Following the signings of the likes of Gonzalo Higuain and Mattia Caldara this past summer along with those who arrived last year, the Italian giants have certainly improved the quality in Gennaro Gattuso’s starting line-up.
However, question marks still remain over the depth in the squad, particularly given Milan are looking to compete on multiple fronts this season as they hope to make an impression in the Europa League.
With that in mind, Calciomercato report, via the paper edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport, that Ignazio Abate, Cristian Zapata and Riccardo Montolivo could all leave next summer given their respective contracts expire, while Andrea Bertolacci could also follow them out of the San Siro exit door.
There is a strong argument in favour of offloading all four individuals in question, as they are all set to continue to struggle for playing time moving forward and so their exits could create space and financial flexibility to go out and sign better replacements.
Abate will likely fall further down the pecking order when Andrea Conti returns from injury with Davide Calabria currently first choice, while Alessio Romagnoli, Caldara and Mateo Musacchio will keep Zapata out of contention.
Montolivo and Bertolacci both sit well down the order in midfield, and particularly given the fact that neither have been able to make a positive impact now for some time when given an opportunity to impress, it would make perfect sense to try and offload the pair.
Time will tell if those are the decisions made from the Milan hierarchy, but it could be seen as a first step towards more exciting transfer activity in the summer to bolster Gattuso’s squad further and give him a better chance of overseeing success moving forward.