Ruben Amorim is looking inside his own squad before asking for more from the market, with five players trying to prove they belong in his plans, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport (via SempreMilan).
This matters because every internal solution Amorim finds is money Milan don't have to spend elsewhere. The club has already committed to Gonçalo Ramos up front and Mario Gila at the back, and the summer's real business now is sorting the players who arrived last year and underwhelmed. If Amorim can repurpose a few of them under his 3-4-2-1, the transfer budget stretches to cover the positions he genuinely can't fill from within.
Christopher Nkunku is the most interesting case. Milan spent €37m plus bonuses to make him last summer's marquee signing, then had him on the sale list within months, which tells you how badly the fit went under the previous setup. The change of system has changed the conversation. The attacking midfield role behind the striker in Amorim's shape is exactly where Nkunku did his best work at Leipzig, and a player who looked like a write-off is now closer to a starter.
Samu Chukwueze is the second. His loan at Fulham didn't look like a springboard back into the picture, but Amorim settled that on presentation day by saying plainly he wants to keep the Nigerian. The wrinkle is where he plays him. Chukwueze's natural home is in the front two off the striker, yet Amorim is trialling him at right wing-back, a bold ask for a player whose defending has never been the selling point. It's the same trick Amorim pulled with Amad Diallo at United and with wide players at Sporting, so there's precedent, even if the doubts are fair.
Yunus Musah is the third and the shakiest. His return generated little enthusiasm and he's the one most likely to still leave, with Lazio credited with interest. Amorim will look at him as another right-sided option in the system before deciding.
Then there are the two academy names back from loan, Francesco Camarda and Christian Comotto. Camarda is the one supporters care about most, a genuine centre-forward prospect who now has Ramos and the rest of the attack ahead of him, which makes another loan the likelier outcome if he's to play regularly.
The window is still open, so this list is a snapshot, not a verdict. Amorim decides who stays and who gets one more move out, and Musah looks like the name most likely to force the next update.