Amorim's Decision on Maignan and Rabiot: No Player Influence
Ruben Amorim didn’t wait for the noise to grow. He cut straight through it.
Questions had started circling around Milan’s camp after Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot were nowhere to be seen in the 4-2 win over Manchester United in Poland. A statement victory in pre-season, yes, but the absence of two of the side’s biggest names so close to the league opener against Torino raised the usual doubts: fitness issues? Dressing-room power? Lack of commitment?
Amorim shut that down.
“Rabiot and Maignan had more days off because they played more. That was important to me,” the Milan coach said after dismantling his former club. “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.”
No ambiguity. No room for interpretation. The message was aimed as much at the outside world as at his own dressing room.
Extra days off, extra scrutiny
The plan was clear inside Milanello long before the team flew to Poland. Maignan and Rabiot, both coming off heavy workloads, were granted three additional days of rest at the end of their summer commitments. The club knew they would miss the United game. Amorim knew. The players knew.
The public didn’t. That gap allowed speculation to creep in.
On Sunday morning, while most of the squad eased into a recovery session after their return from Poland, the two French internationals walked back through the doors at Milanello. No glamour, no big unveiling. Straight into the first phase of their reintegration: general fitness tests, physiological checks, data to confirm how hard they had worked during their break.
Their programme is different this week. While their teammates wind down from the friendly schedule, Maignan and Rabiot are accelerating, following a tailored plan designed to close the gap in match sharpness before Torino arrive next weekend. Amorim is not just coaching for August; he is already looking at the heavy legs and tight calendars of February and March.
By granting those three extra days now, he believes he is protecting his spine for the months that decide trophies, not just the first round of fixtures.
Full group at last
From Milanello, the schedule is already mapped out. Maignan and Rabiot will be given Monday off, a deliberate pause before the real work begins. On Tuesday, they are expected to join the rest of the squad for full-contact training.
For the first time this summer, Amorim will have his entire first-team group together on the grass. For a coach obsessed with structure and collective understanding, that matters.
He knows what that unity can bring. The win over United, built without Rabiot and Maignan, underlined the depth and belief in the squad. It also gave him a platform to push back against any narrative that Milan are hostage to individual stars.
“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.”
That last line is the crux. Rest now to avoid breaking later.
Maignan’s different case
If there was any doubt about Maignan’s status for Torino, Amorim brushed it aside. The goalkeeper’s situation, he argued, cannot be lumped in with the outfield players.
“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.”
Maignan’s continuity, his rhythm, his near-constant presence in recent years give Amorim confidence to throw him straight back into competitive action. The debate around risk and readiness is sharper for Rabiot, who will be evaluated across the week before a call is made on his minutes against Torino.
What is not up for debate is who makes that call. Amorim has drawn that line very clearly. In a season that promises to be “very demanding”, as he keeps repeating, this is his first big statement: rotation, rest and responsibility will be dictated from the bench, not from the dressing room.
Milan’s season hasn’t kicked off yet, but the hierarchy is already firmly in place.
