Ruben Amorim set the Scudetto as Milan's target for the coming season, speaking to journalists ahead of tomorrow's pre-season friendly against Chelsea.
The match follows draws against Celtic and Inter, and it gives Amorim a stronger test of where his rebuilt squad stands before the season opener against Torino. With a new coach and a reshaped group, pre-season is doing double duty this summer: fitness work and a first read on who fits the system.
Amorim did not soften the league ambition when asked. "There's a lot of work to do, given that there's a new coach and there have been changes to the squad, but when you're at a club of Milan's caliber, you have to aim for the title," he said. He added that Champions League qualification matters "for everything to do with our club," pointing to the financial and prestige factors, but framed the immediate aim game by game: "until the season is over, our goal will be to win every match we play in, in every competition."
Against Chelsea, Amorim wants to see specific gains. "I expect to perform well on set pieces, which is an area we need to work on, and it's important to face an English team because they're very strong in this regard," he said, adding that he expects his side to "struggle a little more physically" and considers that useful at this stage. He named Comotto and Diawara among the players he wants to assess, with decisions on the oversized group coming next week.
On the tactical demands, Amorim tied the physical work to how he wants Milan to play. "If we want to press high, we need to be really strong in individual duels," he said, describing pre-season as the window to prepare players to keep the ball well "even when they're tired." He was candid that the finished product is some way off: "On the first matchday of the season, we'll be a different team," he said, though "we'll certainly still be far from perfect."
Asked about the comparison with Xabi Alonso, now at Real Madrid, Amorim leaned into the parallel. "We both had difficulties in our last jobs, so we have a lot in common," he said, referencing his own exit from Manchester United and Alonso's from the Bernabeu, before wishing his counterpart well since the two are not in competition.
On tomorrow's line-up, Amorim confirmed rotation. "Leao, Modric, and Ramos will play more than in the first match," he said, without committing to using all three together, and pointed to roughly 45 minutes for players like Leão, Modrić and De Winter given their recent workloads. He singled out De Winter as a player he rates highly and welcomed the returns of Camarda and Comotto to the pitch.
From here, the Torino opener is the real deadline, and Amorim has one more week to turn a large group into the eleven he trusts.