AC Milan’s next three months will be shaped by the search for a centre-back. With Matteo Gabbia ruled out long-term and Mario Gila now carrying a fresh physical problem, the Rossoneri have moved January reinforcement from option to obligation, and the list of candidates has reached five names.

Those names, according to sempremilan.com citing Calciomercato, are Gonçalo Inácio at Sporting CP, Daniele Ghilardi at Roma, Tiago Gabriel at Lecce, Kim Min-Jae at Bayern Munich and Leny Yoro at Manchester United. Two of them share an agent in Jorge Mendes, who already has his hand in several threads of Milan’s recruitment.

Inácio remains Amorim’s preferred target. The Milan manager worked with the Portuguese defender at Sporting, where the player is now captain, and the familiarity is one reason the pursuit has not cooled despite an asking price reported to exceed €40m. Milan have also increased contact around Ghilardi, who has struggled for minutes at Roma this season.

Mendes threads through two of the targets

Transfer reporter Matteo Moretto, cited by milanreports.com, set out why the Roma defender has moved up the list.

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“Ghilardi is not finding much playing time at Roma and appeals greatly to Milan because he is a young Italian player with excellent potential.”

Mendes represents Tiago Gabriel and Yoro and has reportedly been lobbying Lecce to accept a loan structure for Gabriel. The Yoro move is seen as a summer play rather than a January one, with a potential fee in the €40-50m range.

Udinese in a run of five straight defeats

The immediate concern is Sunday evening at the Bluenergy Stadium. Milan arrive in Udine with the images of their 3-0 defeat at Bournemouth still fresh. Goalkeeper Mike Maignan was sent off in the 27th minute for shoving Tyler Adams in the face at a corner, Bournemouth converted the resulting penalty through Justin Kluivert, Marcus Tavernier added a second from the spot, and Amine Adli sealed it with a late free kick.

Udinese arrive in worse domestic form than their visitors. Kosta Runjaic’s side have one win in seven matches and have lost five Serie A fixtures in a row, per sempremilan.com’s preview. The home side are also missing David Alaba. Across the clubs’ last eight meetings there have been no draws, with Milan winning five.

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Amorim’s absentee list stretches beyond defence. Samuele Chukwueze, Gabbia, Gila, Diego Moreira, Adrien Rabiot, Alexis Saelemaekers and goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano are all unavailable. The expected shape is a 4-3-3, with Luka Modric anchoring midfield behind a front three featuring Christian Pulisic.

Kick-off at the Bluenergy Stadium is at 8:45pm local time. Milan sit fifth in Serie A on 15 points from seven matches.

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