Just under a year ago I went to watch two Milan Futuro matches live in Serie C. The first, last January 19th, was Ascoli-Milan Futuro and it was the first time I was able to observe Davide Bartesaghi up close.
A match in which he took over in the 19th minute and where his strengths and weaknesses could already be seen: on the one hand the flying and difficult controls in the narrow; on the other, the suffering faced with the bucking of the right back from Ascoli, Manuel Alagna.
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On March 11th I went back to see Milan Futuro, this time in Pineto. In the meantime, the Rossoneri have changed technical leadership, moving from Bonera to Oddo, and to a more structured and ambitious game proposal. In the 3-5-2 Bartesaghi this time is deployed as the left arm of defence, for the first time in the season, and the move works. Milan always comes out of his side because they know they can rely on his technique and his vision of the game: in the initial construction phase he is very involved.
Bartesaghi, on that occasion, plays the role of assistant almost like a playmaker: Calafiori-style, so to speak. He leads the ball using his technique and his mastery of the body in tight spaces, he manages the ball favoring the positional fluidity of the team. In a short time it becomes clear that at least in that role, and in those characteristics, he is out of category in Serie C.
Camporese (the central defender of the three-man defence) widens out of the frame, Bartesaghi joins the playmaker Malaspina.
I started with these two matches, which today in light of the double against Sassuolo seem to us to be part of a forgettable past, because they tell us about all the strengths and weaknesses of Bartesaghi, the same ones that are being discussed now that it has become a reality of a Milan that aspires to the top places in Serie A.
Today that moment seems incredibly distant to us: on his debut with Milan Futuro, Bartesaghi seemed to be behind from an athletic point of view even compared to Alex Jimenez and for this reason it was more difficult for him to be included with continuity in the Milan of the greats. Today, thanks to impressive athletic growth, Bartesaghi is instead a cornerstone for Allegri.
An affirmation that goes well beyond yesterday’s brace – which made him the youngest Italian Milan defender to score a goal in Serie A since Paolo Maldini did it for the first time on 4 January 1987 – and which overturns our summer beliefs. When the Rossoneri sold Jimenez to Bournemouth on loan with the right to buy in August, the wing that seemed most exposed in the squad was the left wing. Now, thanks to the growth of Bartesaghi and some contemporary difficulties in adapting to Athekame, the one on the right seems to be the most unprotected, where Saelemaekers is essential.
The brace against Sassuolo, however, is important: because symbolically it marks a starting point, but also in itself. In the first goal Bartesaghi entered with a nice cut to the far post; in the second with another in-depth movement, this time internally, closing a triangle with Pavlovic and Nkunku. On both occasions, moreover, he perfectly placed the conclusion in the point of the goal least covered by Muric, demonstrating once again the precision of his left-footed shot.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BARTESAGHI IN MILAN
Even before being a talent to bet on, Bartesaghi is a boy from Lombardy who grew up in Milan: a sign that the Rossoneri club is managing to take root. A significant story, together with that of Gabbia, which gives another light to the project of the B team, which went through the disastrous relegation to Serie D this summer, but which perhaps should not be judged only on the basis of results.
“Playing the derby as a starter has been a dream since I was little, because I have always been a Milan supporter just like my father Daniele is,” Bartesaghi said a few weeks ago. “Hearing my name shouted from the corner… it gave me shivers,” he added after the brace against Sassuolo. Bartesaghi, as they say, is living the dream.
From this type of declaration the imagination of the fans flies and here instead I have to play the role of someone who brings everyone back down to earth. The statistics that place Bartesaghi alongside Maldini produce hasty comparisons, the same ones that stifled the best part of De Sciglio’s career a few years ago. We’ll see how things go but in short: better to keep this in mind.
For the moment, however, Allegri only used him as a fifth on the left, as Theo Hernandez’s heir, preferring him to Estupiñan probably because he considered him more reliable in the defensive phase. And to think that last season Bartesaghi didn’t really stand out in this sense, committing two naiveties that AC Milan fans will remember: the expulsion – dubious and contested – against Lecce for an imprudent intervention; and the delay in the aerial marking on Carranza, on the occasion of Feyenoord’s goal which eliminated Milan from the Champions League.
For Allegri, however, the confidence with which he handles the ball is also important (on the other hand, this also contributes to the solidity of a team) and Bartesaghi seems to be cleaner than Estupiñan in managing under pressure, calmer and more precise in his controls and rapid supports, not only in construction but also in more advanced areas of the pitch where he does not always act in front of the goal. If Estupiñan – as on the occasion of the assist to Pavlovic against Cremonese – is more effective in arriving at the running cross, Bartesaghi is more precise in receiving the cross in an already more advanced position at the start, a bit like Dimarco.
He himself has declared that the Serie A player who inspires him the most is Spinazzola: a full-back who, especially after the serious injury, has lost explosiveness and loves to receive even higher than before, who is capable of finding solutions more from a standing position and on the spot – even if a little different from those of Bartesaghi, playing with an inverted foot.
Milan can afford a left back who is less rapid in progression also because the tears on that side come mainly from Rabiot, when he is present, or from Leao when Rabiot is unavailable, as seen above all against Roma. Offensively the full-backs are also relieved by the deep cuts of the two arms. We saw it during the goal against Lazio, for example, which was generated by a cross from Tomori at the other end.
The second goal against Sassuolo arises precisely from this positional fluidity which allows Bartesaghi to attack a more internal corridor. In the other image, another situation where he gets up and comes into the pitch, not being afraid of having his back to the goal.
As Emanuele Mongiardo wrote: Milan “has more spontaneous moments of brilliance[[di quelli di Bologna e Como, nda]more closely linked to the way his players relate to the ball”. In the same piece it was noted how Rabiot is often involved in the construction by lowering his position, thus favoring Bartesaghi’s attacks without the ball right from the start of the action, without always having to start from behind.
The same thing also happens against closed defenses, such as that of Torino, when Pavlovic can widen and advance his position when exiting. The objective, from Bartesaghi’s side, is always to get him to cross from a more static position, taking advantage of the precision of his left foot, rather than running. In fact, Bartesaghi often beats dead balls even when there are players far more famous than him on the pitch, demonstrating Allegri’s trust in him even in these specific game situations.
His choices in the final third of the pitch, for the moment, however, are rather elementary: more than due to a lack of breadth in the range of his solutions or that of his team’s ideas, Bartesaghi seems to lack a minimum of that personality that, perhaps, the brace against Sassuolo will be able to unlock, taking away some fears.
At times Bartesaghi is a bit mechanical, going for the cross even with better solutions available and without looking too much into the area. And much of his improvements in the future will come from better management of times and choices in these game situations.
Crossing – even the low ones that Bartesaghi executes very effectively, with the aim of serving a teammate in tow – is, however, a skill that the Italian full-back rarely has the opportunity to show off. Milan, second WhoScoredis only 15th in Serie A for crosses per game and certainly lacks a center forward capable of capitalizing on them to the fullest. It is intuitive, however, to think that the two things are mutually connected.
In any case, Bartesaghi seems to have a good left foot when crossing: according to Hudl StatsBomb he is by far the AC Milan player who manages the most crosses, and in Serie A, among the players who cross the most, he is one of those with the best success percentages (47%).
THE PERSPECTIVES
In a historical period in which Italian football is accused of producing one-dimensional players in every department, “track” players, Bartesaghi joins the list of interpreters of the left side who are exceptions for quality and creativity. Time will tell us if he will be able to evolve in the direction of becoming a player more similar to Calafiori, therefore more directing, or to Dimarco: for the moment, in this embryonic phase of his career, his development more in one direction or the other depends more on the context that is created around him, on the other interpreters he has alongside and on the general tactical needs of the team.
The filter for internal corridors is one of the solutions that Bartesaghi can improve the most (at the moment he still has to create one in Serie A). In fact, it is a resource that he possesses: just look at these examples from the times of Milan Futuro.
Perhaps it is more difficult for Bartesaghi to be molded to be a top player in a four-man line, where the full-back usually needs to be more athletically gifted in progression. His ball-and-chain runs are ordered in tight spaces due to technique and vision of the game, but for the moment they are not overflowing, characterized by violent bursts, like those of Theo Hernandez, Alphonso Davies, Nuno Mendes. Even though he is in his 20s, Bartesaghi is already quite physically structured and may not have too much room for improvement in his stride frequency, a quality that usually emerges at his age.
Bartesaghi is playing as a full-back four in Silvio Baldini’s Under 21 team on the opposite side of another promising full-back with different qualities, namely Palestra. In the qualifying matches for the 2027 European Championships, however, the “Azzurrini” are not pushing too much with the full-backs but rather often leave the width to the tall wingers, Cherubini on the right and Koleosho on the left, in some way more accommodating the characteristics of Milan’s low side.
In that role, Palestra, to date, appears to be a more self-sufficient profile, more independent of the context than Bartesaghi. He can play taller because he has excellent dribbling skills even in static situations, but he can also be effective in a four-man line starting from the back and arriving at the back like a train. In short: there is an athletic difference between the two that defines them as footballers.
Doubts remain about the “harder” defensive qualities, such as one-on-one. Bartesaghi could already be deployed in Serie A as the arm of a three-man defence, perhaps in the event of Pavlovic’s unavailability, but he should have concrete help in marking from the other two centre-backs. He certainly cannot, at least for the moment, guarantee the same solidity as the Serbian in individual duels, despite the fact that in the Primavera and in Serie C he also played as a central defender in a four-man line.
However, enhancing Bartesaghi’s technical qualities will be the task of all his coaches of the present and future, potentially also of those of the national team. Above all because in a context like the Italian football one of the 1920s, seeing a new talent blossom capable of mastering the game through technique is no longer so obvious.
With the two goals against Sassuolo, however, Bartesaghi fits in among the leading exponents of a new generation that gives hope, together with Palestra, Pio Esposito and Camarda, to give three examples. A brace which is a breath of fresh air, in short, not only for Milan fans but also for those who hope that the turning point for Italian football as a whole is around the corner.
