Mateo Musacchio believes Castillejo can play well at Milan and says this year the Rossoneri will be advantaged by the continuity from last year.
Milan were supposed to start their Serie A season on Sunday against Genoa, but due to the tragedy of the Ponte Morandi Bridge collapse in Genoa, it was decided to postpone the game to October 31.
And so, the Rossoneri are now working at Milanello to prepare for their opener against Napoli at Stadio San Paolo on Saturday.
It remains to be seen what Gattuso will do as he needs to decide who will replace the suspended Hakan Çalhanoğlu in the line-up (Jack Bonaventura seems to be favored over Samu Castillejo), and also decide who partners with captain Alessio Romagnoli in defense: Caldara or Musacchio.
“Life as a father is very good, the truth is that you sleep little but I’m very happy,” the 27-year-old center back said to MilanTV in an interview yesterday. “The tragedy of Genova? Speaking of the match postponement, I’m not competent to speak about it, but with regards to what happened, for the tragedy itself, we cannot help but give our support and hearten the people who are suffering.
“The summer preparation? Everything is being worked on, we have done a lot of physical work, while in the last week we did more exercises with the ball, but physically we worked very well. The arrival of Castillejo? Samu has only been here for a short while, but he has started well, he’s a great friend of mine, we played together in Spain and he will certainly play well in the team’s game.
“My opinion on the market [Milan signed 8 new players while selling a few as well]? Every year some come and others leave, it’s normal, we have a big group both on a human level and on a sporting level. We are doing a great job and we are very happy, a very nice squad is forming.
“In what Milan are stronger than last year? I think that compared to the past year, there is the same technical project with confirmation, more or less, of the same people both in the technical staff and in the locker room. We will have more experience together and this will favor the team overall.
“Leonardo and Maldini in the club [the two men returned with Elliott Management]? It is effective for everyone, and not only in Italy but in the world, having them in the training sessions is very nice, we have enormous respect for them, and then as players they did really important things here.
“Serie A? We knew that many teams prepared very well, there are big teams. Napoli and Juventus are very strong, and now we are waiting to start because we have a lot of desire. The challenge at San Paolo? That stadium is always difficult, against a great opponent who doesn’t make life easy.
“We’re only thinking about doing our job well and, if we remain forced, we can fight for the three points. Napoli’s attack? It will take a great job from everyone, not only for us defenders, but everyone doing a great defensive work, also the attackers. A message to the fans? We cannot wait to start, we couldn’t take the field on Sunday, but there’s a lot of desire and I want the fans with us.”
While a few years ago Milan were known to be some sort of a retirement home and it wouldn’t have been so bizarre to see the oldest football player in the world wearing red and black, things are very different now and the squad is one of the youngest in the world and is headed by a young coach.
Leonardo Bonucci went back to Juventus, and so the role of Musacchio both on the field and in the dressing room is likely to become even more important, as at 27, he is one of the veterans.