Massimiliano Allegri’s Second Era At Milan Could Start With The Return Of Former Serie A Star

Written By Onyeka Daniel

With the position of their manager finally sorted out, it is time to start dealing with the squad for Italian giants, AC Milan as they look to build a befitting team for Massimiliano Allegri, who recently returned to the club to replace Sergio Conceiçao after six months on the job.

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Upon his return, Allegri signed a two-year contract with an option for a further 12 months and while they’re already looking at some of the players that they can sign, they must first sell off at least one player to bring in the much needed funds after missing out on European football.

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For now, Tijjani Reijnders is the most likely candidate to be sacrificed with Manchester City ready to pay over €70m to sign him. The Rossoneri may have targeted Torino midfielder, Samuele Ricci as his direct replacement, but they’re also looking at other options.

This could mean bringing in a familiar face for Allegri as former Juventus star, Adrien Rabiot has hinted that he would be open to joining Milan after the appointment of his former Bianconeri manager, whom he probably played his best football under in the Serie A before his exit.

Rabiot spent five years with Juventus, three of them under Allegri. He then left Turin last summer, not long after the coach was given his marching orders. The Frenchman has gone on to play a key role in Roberto De Zerbi’s Olympique de Marseille side, who placed second behind PSG.

He scored 10 goals and six assists from 31 matches in all competitions this season. While he remains under contract with the Ligue 1 club for another year, until the summer of 2026, Rabiot says that he will ‘always be available to talk’ with Allegri at any time.

In an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport earlier this week, the midfielder revealed that colleagues often refer to him and Allegri as being like father and son. “Chosing Marseille without Champions League was not a guarantee.”

“Now that we’ve qualified, it would be great to be able to play in that stadium in that environment,” Rabiot said when asked if he would be open to joining Allegri in Milan. “I talk with Allegri often,” he continued. “Giovanni Rossi, De Zerbi’s advisor, also works with him and when he calls, he says ‘come here, I’ll pass you onto your dad’.

“I can talk about everything with Allegri, not just football. I really appreciate him as a person. He has a winning mentality and of course, if he calls me, I will always be available to talk to him.” He further added, even though, it will be hard convincing Marseille to let him leave now.

In a related development, Gian Piero Gasperini and Roma are expected to rival Milan in negotiations with Udinese for centre-forward and Italy international Lorenzo Lucca, according to recent reports from Italy. Lucca is in line to leave Udinese during the upcoming summer transfer window.

This is in order to ‘step up’ to a club challenging for European positions and Milan have been linked with a move for the 24-year-old, and new sporting director Igli Tare has already held discussions with the player’s representatives according to reports at the end of May.

However, with Gasperini taking over from Claudio Ranieri as head coach of Roma, the Giallorossi are now also expected to step forwards for Lucca. Gasperini has been a long-standing admirer of the towering centre-forward, and had asked Atalanta to bring the player to Bergamo towards the end of the January transfer window.

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Milan had also considered a bid for Lucca in January, but ultimately settled on the signing of Santiago Gimenez from Feyenoord instead. Juventus and Napoli have also expressed an interest at various stages and it is expected that the Friulani will demand at least €30m for Lucca this summer.

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