Ruben Amorim will use the opening block of preseason to take a proper look at Lorenzo Ossola, with a decision on the young forward's summer to follow, according to MilanNews.
For a Milan Futuro project that has cost the club real money without yet producing a first-team graduate, moments like this are the whole point. A 19-year-old getting ten days under the new head coach's eye is exactly the pathway the B-team was set up to create, and with clubs already circling for a loan, the alternative is another season of development somewhere he plays every week.
Amorim will assess Ossola during this first training block and make a call before the squad flies out for the Australian tour. Milan tied him to a new deal earlier in the year, a sign of how highly the academy staff rates him, and the interest arriving now, expected to be loan enquiries, backs that up.
The numbers behind the hype: 16 goals in 27 games at U17 level, then five goals and seven assists in 49 Primavera outings, and three goals and five assists in 23 games since stepping up to Milan Futuro. For an attacking midfielder progressing a level at a time, that's a steady rather than explosive curve, which is why a loan to senior football probably makes more sense than another year in the Futuro.
The tactical hook is that Sergio Navarro's Futuro is expected to mirror Amorim's 3-4-2-1, meaning Ossola would be developing in the exact shape the first team plays. That's the argument for keeping him in-house.
Amorim has the next ten days to decide which route helps the kid more.