Samuel Chukwueze put in one of Milan's best individual displays in the 2-2 friendly draw with Celtic, and the timing could not be better for a player whose future is still unsettled, according to Fabrizio Romano.
This matters because Chukwueze arrived last summer as a €20m-plus signing from Villarreal and never settled, then spent the second half of last season on loan at Fulham, where a permanent move looked close at one point. Pre-season under a new manager is exactly the window where a player like that either forces his way back into the picture or plays himself out of the club. Amorim is running the ruler over everyone right now, and the ones linked with exits are being judged hardest.
Romano says Milan are still evaluating the Nigerian rather than pushing him out, and the Celtic performance was a genuine step forward. "Some things became clear in the Celtic friendly. The first is how Amorim wanted to show his faith in Chukwueze, and his performance was very good," he said in his latest YouTube update. "When a manager believes in a player, it shows, and Chukwueze has understood that this is an opportunity."
The interest is real, though. Romano notes that Chukwueze's agents have fielded calls in recent weeks, which tells you clubs sense a winger who could be moved at the right price. For now Milan are choosing patience, letting him work under Amorim before any decision is taken.
There is a squad logic to keeping him too. Milan are thin for pace and dribbling out wide, and a right-footed winger who can beat a man gives Amorim something the rest of the forward line does not. If he keeps producing like this, the calls to his agents will matter less than what Amorim sees in training. For now the decision sits with the manager, and the audition continues.