AC Milan are obviously not planning on the second leg against Roma being their final European game of the season, but it must still be on the minds of some players that this is their last shot at a trophy with the club.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport has a section titled: ‘The last dance for whom? Giroud bids farewell, Jovic almost. Adli and Bennacer: one will go’. The paper are talking about the possible exits in the summer for Milan.
For Stefano Pioli there is no need for a crystal ball: between tonight and Monday his fate will be clearer. Among the players there are those who already know their path and those who will find it in the next matches.
Olivier Giroud seems destined to head for Los Angeles FC, Luka Jovic is a crossroads, for Pierre Kalulu, Ismael Bennacer and Yacine Adli everything is still open. Mike Maignan and Theo Hernandez will not leave Milan unless crazy offers come in, but they cannot be ruled out.
A final swansong?
Giroud does not want the Olimpico to be the theatre of his last dance. In the summer of 2021 he arrived as a simple back-up to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and then went on to be the protagonist in the Scudetto season and beyond.
He hopes for a grand finale because in the summer, at the end of his contract, he will leave Milan. The Frenchman became ‘Mr. Derby’ after the brace that started the title charge. In two other derbies, the one tonight and the league one on Monday, he wants to close the circle.
Simon Kjaer’s deal will also expire and will not be renewed. Ibrahimovic’s arrival overshadowed his in January 2020 after the five goals conceded by Atalanta in what was a low point under Pioli.
Kjaer helped pull up the wall again but now it’s time to say goodbye. The Dane would also like a more celebratory outing than last time: as soon as Sassuolo conceded the third goal, he headed for the dressing room due to an injury that will prevent him from being there again tonight.
At a crossroads
The deadline on the contract, June 2024, is the same for Luka Jovic. Milan have the possibility of renewing him for another season, but why should they do it?
Jovic was a reliable reserve scorer in the middle (not so much in the first part of the season, but very much so in the second), and it is the last few games of the season that will be decisive.
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