Amorim Addresses Maignan and Rabiot Absences: A Tactical Decision

Rúben Amorim did not wait for the storm to grow. He walked straight into it.

Questions had been swirling around Milan’s camp after Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot missed the final stretch of pre-season, including the eye-catching 4-2 win over Manchester United in Poland. With the league opener against Torino looming, their absence had been framed as a warning sign.

Amorim shut that down.

Speaking after his side dismantled his former club, the Milan coach was blunt about why his two French stars were nowhere near the pitch.

“Rabiot and Maignan had more days off because they played more. That was important to me,” he said. “Everyone complains about the number of games and the players being unable to cope with the strain, and I gave the players those extra days because I already knew they wouldn’t be able to play today’s match. So I gave them three more days. Nothing will change. And I need to say that it was my decision, not the players.”

The message was clear: this was load management, not player power.

Extra rest now, February in mind

Maignan and Rabiot were back at Milanello on Sunday morning, straight into the first stage of their return plan. While the rest of the squad eased through a recovery day after the trip back from Poland, the two French internationals were pushed into general fitness tests and physiological checks to see exactly what work they had done on their own.

No holiday hangover, just data.

From there, the staff built a tailored program to close the gap in match sharpness. Amorim knows the calendar that awaits. Torino next weekend is only the start. The aim, as he sees it, is to protect legs for the decisive months, not squeeze every drop out of them in August.

By granting those extra three days, he believes he is buying freshness for February and March. He has been unwavering on that point. The players wanted to come back earlier, he insisted, but he chose to be the one who said no.

Full group at last

Reports from Milanello indicate the pair will rest on Monday before stepping into full-contact training with the squad on Tuesday. It sounds routine, but for Amorim it is a landmark: the first time all summer he will have his complete first-team group together on the grass.

For a coach obsessed with structure and spacing, that matters. Tactical cohesion does not come from theory sessions alone; it comes from 11 players moving as one, at full tilt.

“They want to train. Tomorrow they’ll be at Milanello preparing for the first match,” Amorim stressed. “They had a full schedule and followed the schedule, because we have proof that they did. So I want to make this really clear, because I think it’s important. We’ll evaluate Rabiot. Rabiot is a really important player for us. But, as we showed today, we have to be confident. We need to rest the players who need rest because it will be a very demanding season.”

The 4-2 win over United gave him leverage. Milan scored freely, controlled long spells, and showed they can function without two of their biggest names. That performance underpins his argument: this is a squad, not a dependency.

Maignan to start, Rabiot to be assessed

On one point, Amorim left no room for doubt. Maignan, he expects, will start against Torino.

“It’s a different position. He’s been training all the time,” the coach explained. “If you look at the number of games he’s played in recent seasons with Milan, he plays every game. He’ll be ready for the first match because it’s a different position.”

Goalkeepers live by different rules. Maignan’s rhythm, his command of the box, his distribution – those are habits built over seasons, not lost in a handful of days.

Rabiot’s situation is less straightforward. He will be evaluated once he rejoins the group, his workload adjusted according to what the medical and performance teams see. Amorim made no promises about a starting place, only underlined how central the midfielder is to his plans.

Milan now move into the final week before the real business begins, buoyed by a statement win and steered by a coach willing to take the heat for unpopular calls. The rotation has started in August. The real judgment will come when the legs are heavy and the trophies are on the line.