F. Galli: “Milan’s academy is producing tangible results, 2-3 Primavera players may be useful for next year”

Filippo Galli believes Manuel Locatelli’s qualities fit Vincenzo Montella’s demands, says Niccolò Zanellato has recently been ‘put under pressure’ and thinks the work done in the youth sector is bearing fruit.

For years Milan were criticized for their old squad but this season the Rossoneri have one of the youngest teams in Europe.

The 17-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma is regular for Milan while Davide Calabria, 19, and Manuel Locatelli, 18, have been prominently featured so fa. All three of them grew up in Milan’s youth ranks and while Sinisa Mihajlovic and Vincenzo Montella deserve credit, the work of the Milan academy in recent years deserves even more compliments.

“Donnarumma, Calabria and Locatelli are the examples and reasons for pride for all those who work at the Milan Youth Sector,” Milan’s Head of Youth Sector, Filippo Galli, told Tuttosport. “It means that those who enter our academy, through a path of certain type which requires collaboration between all areas for the development of the player, can have a tangible result of getting a first team place.

“But it also takes a coach – also in the first team – that believes in young players and then the player on the pitch has to demonstrate that he’s ready for senior football. If it can be said that hard work pays off? The true mission of the young sector is to bring players to the first team.

“The work we are doing is producing tangible results. Locatelli? Montella wants a dynamic midfield and in his idea of football those working in the middle of the pitch must be able to recognize the situations of the game. Manuel has all the technical, tactical and mental skills to meet this demand.

“Who from this year’s squad of the Primavera can be ready to make the jump next season? We believe that there are 2-3 profiles that may be useful to the project of the first team but I cannot go further because it will be Montella and the management of the first team that decides who will be promoted.

“If Zanellato, who recently renewed his contract, is one of those 2-3 players? Montella used him a lot both in pre-season and in the last friendly. He can be one of the mentioned profiles. In the last period he has been put under pressure but we all want him to return to be as effective as before. Like him, we are trying to help other players are not experiencing the most brilliant moment.

“Not all Primavera players arrive to the first team but we’ve seen in recent cases that they can be an economic value for the club in the transfer market [referring to the likes of Bryan Cristante and Petagna among others]? It’s no doubt that it can be an added value for the club. If there’s a guy who can aspire to playing in a Serie A club but is not useful for our project, then he can be useful in some negotiations. But they must be players of quality and of Serie A quality because the biggest market is the top division. But these are things that relate to the first team, I would like to emphasize.”

On Saturday the Rossoneri face Chiasso for a friendly and due to the fact that 13 first team players will be on international duty, coach Vincenzo Montella is expected to use some Primavera players.