Milan were beaten 3-0 by Chelsea in their final pre-season friendly, failing to register a single shot on target, and the performance underlined how much work is still needed on the mercato before the season starts, according to Tuttosport.
There had been encouraging moments against Celtic and Inter, but Xabi Alonso's side exposed the gap between what Sérgio Amorim wants and what this squad can currently deliver. The scoreline could have been heavier still.
Amorim insisted afterwards that he retains faith in the group and expects them to be ready for the opening fixture against Torino. What the match made clear, though, is that both incomings and outgoings are required before then, with the exits arguably the more pressing issue given how bloated the squad has become.
The list of players who could realistically move on is long: Leão, Tomori, Fofana, Ricci, Estupiñán, Giménez, Athekame, Odogu, and possibly Loftus-Cheek and Musah too. Trimming that many names in roughly three weeks is a tall order, and every day spent evaluating is a day not spent trading.
The tactical picture is the root of it. Amorim wants a possession-based, high-pressing team that looks for verticality, and across all three friendlies little of that was visible, least of all against Chelsea. The read from Tuttosport is that a chunk of the current squad simply does not suit the system, which makes selling as necessary as buying.
Time is the problem. The evaluation phase has run long, and there are 14 days until Torino open the season. From here, the mercato has to move faster than it has so far, and that is on the club to deliver before Amorim's ideas can be judged fairly.