Yahoo Sports GdS: ‘Democratisation’ under Fonseca continues – the intriguing data on minutes
One thing that Paulo Fonseca has shown already is that he will use every resource available in his AC Milan squad, which has led to frequent rotations.
La Gazzetta dello Sport speaks of the ‘democratisation of the Milan squad’ under Fonseca, who made it clear that he sees benching Rafael Leao as a normal thing to do, just as he had no issues giving Francesco Camarda his first start.
The Portuguese sees everyone in the squad as useful, with no one indispensable. Fonseca has even explained this concept through the different players who have worn the captain’s armband, revealing that he sees five players worthy of doing so.
The top five for overall minutes played across all competitions is as follows: Christian Pulisic leads (1,168 minutes), followed by Youssouf Fofana (1,139), Tijjani Reijnders (1,094), Theo Hernandez (1,026) and Emerson Royal (976).
The least-used players are because of their injury problems: Ismael Bennacer (60), Luka Jovic (78) and Davide Calabria (221). For the rest, in the 15 games so far in 2024-25, all have amassed at least 350 minutes.
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Some of these are reserves, too. Filippo Terracciano for example is on 359′, Yunus Musah 396, Tammy Abraham 482, Samuel Chukwueze 549 and Noah Okafor 446.
The minutes for centre-backs tells its own story. Fikayo Tomori (905 minutes) is followed by Strahinja Pavlovic (722), Malick Thiaw (547) and Matteo Gabbia (539), the latter having been out for a while
