In recent years, AC Milan have had their fair share of issues when it comes to injuries. Now, this season is creating its own problems.

Attaching the word injury problems to Milan now feels like you’re reuniting a familiar couple. It feels like for every season, for the past however many years, the Rossoneri have had someone at some point struggle and cause a major issue.

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It was Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic for large parts of last season; picking one from 2024‑25 feels impossible, considering there were 33 across the season (it wasn’t much better last season) and before that was the defensive crisis. Need we go on?

As we say, it feels like you’re greeting an unwelcome friend again and again and again. Now, that friend has reappeared and it’s at a time, again, when Diavolo just do not need it.

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A recap of the injuries

If you’ve missed stories from recent days, there’s a lot to catch you up on. Alexis Saelemaekers sprained his ankle in training, but it was hoped that he’d be back in training around the time of the Sassuolo game (this weekend). However, the club stated that the Belgian’s ankle had ‘lost stability’ last night. Fears of him being out until 2027 were confirmed, with surgery likely on the ankle, which he badly injured two years ago, talk about sour luck.

Then, there was the brief scare about Pervis Estupinan. The Ecuadorian isn’t the go‑to choice for many anyway, but he’s proven to be highly useful to Ruben Amorim, playing almost 300 minutes already so far. He seemed to have a knee issue and whilst Marcelo Gallardo stated that the problem was minor, more tests will be needed there.

Finally, Strahinja Pavlovic has also begun to show signs of fatigue. He was forced to be a substitute for Serbia’s game against Germany in the international break after ‘limping’ off the field in the game prior. Now he has played since then, recording 90 minutes against the Netherlands in a 2-1 defeat. So, fears are lessened.

However, this brings us to the problem. As the image below shows, you’re now looking at several problematic areas across two formations where you’re already lacking options. It creates worry about the squad in areas where there were already concerns.

Amorim must pivot

Before the injuries, no one was looking at October with overwhelming positivity. In 21 days, they’ll play seven games , which is brutal; there’s no denying that. For that, you need a big squad and the Rossoneri do not have that already. Add a few injuries into the mix and you can see why a few groans were reading the international reports.

Referring back to that image, whichever formation Amorim decides to use, you’re missing out on several options across the board. Saelemaekers covers four roles in either system; that’s a substantial loss. It gets worse when looking at the fact that the Belgian was being considered to be a starter moving forward from here.

Estupinan may not be able to cover, so that leaves you with one natural left‑back in Davide Bartesaghi and two maybes (Strahinja Pavlovic and Diego Moreira) and no one  really  natural to play left wing‑back. However, that was an issue identified in the summer by many, too.

In attacking midfield, you’re forced to rely on Moreira, who could be looked at for several roles, Pulisic, who is just coming back from an injury and Alphadjo Cisse, who admitted that he is not at 100% currently . Of course, you also have other ill‑fitting options as well.

Unfortunately, these issues were not unknown and needed to be addressed in the summer. As most hoped wouldn’t be the case, Milan have somewhat shot themselves in the foot here.