Milan didn’t add a new defender in January despite being linked to a multitude of options, but they’ll welcome back one of their own from the infirmary, Malick Thiaw, soon-ish. The defender suffered a severe thigh injury on November 28th. He’s expected to return in about 20 days, Corriere della Sera informs (via Fantacalcio).
The German center-back is the only one with a firm timetable. Instead, it’s still too early to tell for Fikayo Tomori and Pierre Kalulu. The latter needed surgery and will need significant time to heal.
Thiaw is tentatively targeting the Europa League clash with Rennes on February 22nd. He is nursing a myotendinous lesion of the biceps femoris muscle in his left thigh. In the meantime, Milan will lean on Matteo Gabbia, Simon Kjaer, Jan-Carlo Simic, and Theo Hernandez.
Coach Stefano Pioli explained why they didn’t acquire a new defender in his latest pre-game presser (via Gianluca Di Marzio).
“It didn’t happen because the options didn’t fit our needs. We were looking for a quality piece that was familiar with the League and ready right away. Marco Pellegrino needs to play and would have struggled to do that with us.”
Our Take on Milan and Thiaw
Their stance was fair, but their rearguard has been creaky in the last few weeks. Perhaps they should have settled with a veteran on loan to have one more reliable man while the emergency eases up.
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