‘We’ll make some choices next week’ – Ruben Amorim warns AC Milan stars after Chelsea defeat

Amorim has admitted that the club's hierarchy will sit down to refine the first-team squad following their loss to Chelsea in Indonesia. The Rossoneri were undone by a double from Joao Pedro and a spectacular outside-of-the-boot volley from Moises Caicedo, ending Milan's previously unbeaten run during their summer tour.

As the team prepares to fly back from their Indonesian tour, the focus shifts from the training pitch to the boardroom. Amorim has set a clear timeline for the upcoming squad reduction. “We will make decisions on our players. These two weeks of training have been very positive, but we have a large squad, so we must pick some players and we’ll make some choices next week," Amorim told Sky Sport Italia.

Despite the one-sided scoreline against the Premier League giants, Amorim insisted that the exercise was a necessary part of the team's development. The manager chose a tactical approach that forced his players out of their comfort zones, opting for a high-pressing system that left them vulnerable to Chelsea's quality on the break.

"We knew that we’d struggle a bit today, but we wanted to challenge the players," Amorim explained. "They know how to defend as a team, play one on one and press high. Against teams like Chelsea, we will never press in this way, but we are here to prepare so that we can win the first official game of the season and give our players some confidence."

"We also had many young players in the squad, so this is a process to get them into the team and be ready to win the first official match of the campaign."

The team selection in Jakarta provided several talking points regarding Amorim's hierarchy. While veteran Luka Modric and talismanic winger Rafael Leao were handed their first starts of the summer following their post-World Cup breaks, other senior figures were notably absent from the pitch. Youssouf Fofana and Fikayo Tomori, two players expected to be pillars of the new-look Milan, spent the entire ninety minutes as unused substitutes. This tactical choice, combined with Amorim’s subsequent comments, suggests that the coaching staff is still figuring out the ideal balance between established stars and the new tactical identity being implemented this summer.

The frustration for the Milan hierarchy lies in the current bottleneck in the transfer market. While the club has been active in identifying and pursuing targets, the arrival of new signings is becoming increasingly difficult without offloading current squad members. The wage bill and squad registration limits mean that departures are now the priority for the technical directors.

The defeat to Chelsea serves as a stark reminder of the work still to be done after more positive results earlier in the summer. The transition under Amorim is still in its infancy, and the manager is determined to use the data gathered from the Indonesia trip to inform his final squad selection. With the Torino clash looming on the horizon, the pressure is on the players to prove they belong in Amorim's long-term plans. The "choices" mentioned by the coach will likely involve determining which players will be listed for transfer and which young talents will be sent out on loan to gain experience.