Youthful Milan plot title defence and potential era of dominance

By Sports Desk August 12, 2022

As their Serie A rivals attempt to turn back time, champions Milan are looking to the future.

Romelu Lukaku, Inter's 2020-21 Scudetto hero, and Paul Pogba, the winner of four straight championships at Juventus, have returned to their former clubs following ultimately unsuccessful Premier League stints.

Of course, this is a move that worked for Milan last season, as Zlatan Ibrahimovic had played for three different clubs in three different countries between featuring in the Rossoneri's two most recent title-winning campaigns.

Ibrahimovic, soon to turn 41, has signed up for another season, but there is a young, exciting core to the Milan team who secured that latest title and will now bid to defend it.

Young stars repay Pioli's faith

Milan had the fourth-youngest average age of their starters in Serie A last season (25y 337d), older only than Empoli (24y 325d), Spezia (24y 334d) and Torino (25y 189d).

And this average was dragged up significantly by Ibrahimovic and Olivier Giroud.

Among the 10 outfield players to start 20 or more league games for Milan in 2021-22, nine were below that average age at the end of the season, with Giroud (35y 233d) the exception.

Giroud scored 11 goals, including two the day the Rossoneri won the title at Sassuolo, but even he made only 22 starts as Stefano Pioli showed faith in his young charges.

Pierre Kalulu (21 starts) was 21 on the final day; Rafael Leao (31 starts), Sandro Tonali (31 starts), Brahim Diaz (25 starts) and Alexis Saelemaekers (22 starts) were all 22; Theo Hernandez (30 starts) and Fikayo Tomori (30 starts) were both 24; and the now departed Franck Kessie (25 starts) was 25, along with Davide Calabria (24 starts).

Of those, only Diaz was not in the XI at Sassuolo, with the 28-year-old Rade Krunic preferred.

 

That this young Milan side held their nerve on that day – needing to avoid defeat to ensure they could not be pipped at the post by Inter – justified Pioli's approach, and the club have seemingly sought to get even younger ahead of their title defence.

Milan boosted by Belgium pair

Realistically, given the financial power of other clubs across Europe, Milan have had little choice but to pay for potential rather than proven performers.

Yet their early moves in this close season sought to find a blend of the two, as Milan honed in on two stars of Lille's shock 2020-21 Ligue 1 title success.

Centre-back Sven Botman, only 22, was a favourite of Paolo Maldini, while Renato Sanches, 24, appeared a good fit for a midfield set to be robbed of Kessie following his move to Barcelona as a free agent.

Unfortunately, Newcastle United and Paris Saint-Germain – backed by Saudi Arabia's PIF and Qatar's QSI respectively – outmuscled Milan in both cases.

Instead, Kalulu could be set to start again alongside Tomori, and Tommaso Pobega, returning from a loan at Torino and now 23, is a likely replacement for Kessie.

Milan have preferred to focus their limited budget on the attack, successfully holding off rival interest to sign Charles De Ketelaere.

 

The Belgium international, who turned 21 in March, contributed 14 goals and nine assists in 39 First Division A matches for Club Brugge last term.

De Ketelaere was the second-youngest player in the Belgian top flight to tally at least five goals and five assists for the season – after Anderlecht's Bayern Munich loanee Joshua Zirkzee (16 goals, nine assists).

He will now link up with Leao (11 goals, eight assists), who was the second-youngest to achieve that feat in Serie A in 2021-22 – after Sassuolo's Giacomo Raspadori (10 goals, five assists).

Even De Ketelaere's Belgium team-mate Divock Origi – another new forward signing, set to become Milan's latest experienced option up front – is only 27.

Still young, now experienced

The signing of Origi, an elder statesman in the Milan dressing room, would actually have made Serie A rivals Juventus (27y 319d) and Inter (29y 73d) younger.

Indeed, Inter were the third-oldest team in Serie A last season – after Sampdoria (29y 212d) and Lazio (29y 217d) – with their squad already in need of regeneration a year after winning the Scudetto.

There is no danger of Milan being in the same position, with their young side getting younger and extending their window in which they can expect to contend for further titles.

The Rossoneri were comfortably the youngest champions across Europe's top five leagues last season, with Champions League victors Real Madrid (28y 95d) the oldest.

 

Milan's title winners will undoubtedly benefit from their 2021-22 experiences, too.

Leao (85), Tonali (60), Diaz (47), Saelemaekers (45), Tomori (34) and Kalulu (13) had each played comfortably fewer than 100 games in Europe's top five leagues heading into the previous campaign. Kalulu had tallied a mere 727 minutes prior to his breakout year.

In the Champions League, they were even greener. Besides Giroud, who had played 41 games and started 25, those nine other Serie A regulars had made just 11 combined appearances and five combined starts in Europe's elite club competition up to that point.

Milan's European campaign did not pan out as they would have hoped, losing their first three group stage matches and finishing bottom of the table in a punishing pool, but there was a dramatic away win at Atletico Madrid, and the Rossoneri twice took the game to eventual finalists Liverpool.

There may be departures along the way – and Milan will hope to receive a fee, unlike in Kessie's case – but this team should continue to grow together.

If Milan's players progress as they have done so far, there will be plenty more title challenges – and perhaps even a tilt at an eighth European crown soon enough.

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    West Ham have won just one of their last 14 away games in the Women’s Super League (D3 L10), conceding in each of those matches; the Hammers could now equal their longest run of away matches in the competition without a clean sheet (15 in December 2020).

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    Following their 5-0 win over Brighton, Arsenal will be looking to win back-to-back WSL games for the first time this season. This is the Gunners’ longest wait for consecutive wins from the start of a WSL season since 2016 (ninth game).

    Tottenham have won only one of their nine meetings with Arsenal in the WSL (D1 L7), but that sole victory did come in this fixture last season, winning 1-0 thanks to a Martha Thomas goal.

    Only Vivianne Miedema (eight) has scored more WSL goals in the North London Derby than Arsenal’s Caitlin Foord. She has netted seven times in just eight league appearances against Spurs and will be looking to build on her goal against Juve in midweek. 

     

    CHELSEA V MAN CITY

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    Despite Gareth Taylor's side sitting at the summit of the standings, they are handed a 22.5% win probability, with the Blues' hopes of salvaging a point ranked slightly higher at 23.7%. Chelsea, meanwhile, won 53.7% of Opta's data-led simulations. 

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    City have also won 17 of their 19 WSL games in 2024 (D1 L1) and could win 18 top-flight games in a single calendar year for the very first time.

    ASTON VILLA V CRYSTAL PALACE

    Aston Villa are one of only two sides in the division yet to record a win this season, but are predicted to get their first three points on the board at home to Crystal Palace. 

    Opta's data-led simulations favoured the Villans in 51.1% of instances. A draw is given a 24.8% chance of happening, with Palace handed a win probability of just 24.1%. 

    This will be the second meeting between the two sides already this season, with the Villans winning 2-0 at home in a League Cup group-stage game in October.

    This will, however, be the first time Palace have faced Villa in a league game since September 2019, when the Eagles suffered a 6-0 home loss to the eventual 2019-20 Championship winners.  

    Crystal Palace have won four points from their three away games in the WSL so far this season (W1 D1 L1), becoming just the third newly promoted side to do so after Tottenham in 2019-20 (six) and Aston Villa in 2020-21 (six). No such team has ever picked up seven points from their first four matches on the road in a single campaign. 

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    EVERTON V LIVERPOOL

    Everton's 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace saw them pick up just their third point of the season, but they will be hoping to earn their first three points of the year against rivals Liverpool.

    The Toffees are handed a 32.6% win probability compared to Liverpool's 41.9%, the closest margin between any two sides on matchday eight. A draw is given a 25.5% likelihood. 

    Everton, however, have won four of their last seven meetings with Liverpool in the WSL (D2 L1), more than they managed in their first 10 Merseyside Derbies in the competition (W3 D3 L4).

    But they have struggled at Goodison Park. They have not won a WSL game in four attempts at the iconic stadium (D2 L2), failing to score in three of those games. Their most recent such match came earlier this month, losing 5-0 to Chelsea.

    While the Reds are winless in their last three trips across Stanley Park, they are enjoying their longest ever unbeaten run away from home in the WSL, going eight without defeat since losing to Man City in January (W6 D2). Only Chelsea (nine) and City (eight) have won more times on the road in the top flight in 2024 than the Reds (six).

    The Reds' Marie-Therese Hobinger will be the player to watch. She has created more chances from set-pieces than any other player in the WSL this season (10), while each of her seven assists in the competition have come via corners.

    LEICESTER V MAN UTD

    One of two games that conclude the weekend's action takes place in the East Midlands, with Man United, the third team without a loss this term, taking on Leicester. 

    The Red Devils are, unsurprisingly, favoured by Opta's data-led simulations and are handed a 66.7% chance of emerging victorious. Leicester are given just a 15.2% chance of winning, with a draw valued at 18.1%.

    Though they are unbeaten in the WSL this season, United have drawn their last three league matches. The last team to draw four in a row in the competition was Aston Villa in May 2021 (five in a row).

    United have conceded just twice in their opening six league games this season, with only Man City in 2016 (0) and 2019-20 (one) and Arsenal in 2022-23 (one) ever leaking fewer goals at this stage of a campaign. The Red Devils’ opponents have by far the worst conversion rate in the competition this term, however (2.9%).

    The Foxes are winless in six previous meetings with United in the WSL (D1 L5), only facing Arsenal (P7 L7) and Villa (P7 D2 L5) more often in the competition without winning.

    Elisabeth Terland has scored three goals in her last two WSL appearances against Leicester, with the striker only netting in more games in the competition against Tottenham (four different games).

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