A big news rocked Milan on Friday: Andrea Conti suffered an ACL tear in the left knee during a practice. He will undergo surgery and he is set to be out for at least five months, meaning that will return in March at the earliest, in April more realistically. Milan signed Conti this summer from Atalanta for €25M after a lengthy negotiation.

Against Austria Wien, Vincenzo Montella changed his formation from a 4-3-3, which had some depth issues, to a 3-5-2, that was briefly experimented in the pre-season as well. In the pre-game presser, the coached stated that it was a natural tactical evolution considering the arrival of Leonardo Bonucci, a three-man defence master, and that he was simply waiting for the return from injury of Alessio Romagnoli to use it consistently. The poor showing against Lazio, where the team looked extremely vulnerable, evidently speeded things up. Rossoneri easily defeated the Europa League opponent, with Hakan Calhanoglu shining in the midfield and André Silva scoring a hat-trick.

Conti was set to be a big weapon in this formation as he is tailor-made to be a wing-back. Playing in this position helped him ascend to the top echelon of Serie A fullbacks last season. Conti has a knack for scoring: he excels in making those sneaky cuts past the last defender and is a good finisher, both with his feet and his head. He tallied eight goals and provided four assists last season at Atalanta.

Milan are numerically equipped to replace Conti: they have two more right back at their disposal in Ignazio Abate and Davide Calabria. However, there is a gulf quality-wise and there were good reasons why revamping the fullback corps was a point of emphasis in the transfer market window. Abate can run but he is poor crosser and his finishing skills are non-existent, Calabria is a youngster who has yet to flourish and has struggled at times.

There is a solid chance that the one wing will look clipped, therefore making the formation unbalanced and predictable: Ricardo Rodriguez and Calhanoglu or Giacomo Bonaventura all gravitate on the left side and, without a threat like Conti on the other flank, focusing on that area will be an easy adjustment for the opponents. In this formation, Suso features as no.10/second-striker. He thrived last season when he was permanently moved to the winger position, but at this point he should have enough confidence to play more centrally. Anyway, this development could push Montella to tinker with the standard scheme, advancing Calhanoglu or Bonaventura a little and having Suso slightly moved to the right, making it a 3-4-2-1 that could soften the blow of Conti’s loss from the tactical standpoint.

It would be a stretch, but if Abate or Calabria did not produce enough, they could think about adapting someone there. Suso would be the first option, even though you would burden an exquisite offensive player with heavy defensive tasks. Bonaventura has always been very versatile and hard-working: he has played a little bit as left wing-back in the past, but he is right-footed and that would smooth the transition. Considering the splendid early returns on Calhanoglu as a midfielder, Bonaventura would find himself on the bench most often than not with this new lineup and that would be a waste. The final option is Fabio Borini, who has become an utility player after starting his career as a striker: the learning curve would be steep, but he might be able to pull it off.

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