Ruben Amorim will be without 13 players for today's friendly against Inter in Perth, though the Portuguese has recovered a chunk of his squad since the pre-season opener.
The picture has improved noticeably from the 2-2 draw with Celtic in Glasgow ten days ago, when Amorim was working with a threadbare group. Six players are back from their post-World Cup holidays, and that changes what he can put on the pitch against the local rivals.
Rafael Leão, Gonçalo Ramos, Luka Modrić, Alexis Saelemaekers, Koni De Winter and Ardon Jashari are all available. Christopher Nkunku, who sat out the Celtic game with a minor muscle problem, has also come through and is fit to feature.
The absentees still outnumber the returnees. Most of the 13 are in Perth but cannot play through various physical issues: Mario Gila, Samuele Ricci, Zachary Athekame, David Odogu, Andrej Kostić, Lorenzo Ossola, Aurélien Guernier, Emanuele Borsani and Pietro Terracciano.
Two others have been at Milanello since late July working back from post-World Cup problems, Christian Pulisic and Santiago Giménez, the latter having attended Franco Baresi's funeral yesterday. The final two, Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot, are still on holiday after finishing fourth at the World Cup.
For a friendly, the names matter less than the fitness timeline behind them, and the number tells its own story about how far off a full-strength Milan still is with the season approaching.