Are AC Milan's Youngsters Ready to Step Up in 2015/16?

One of the biggest gripes about Filippo Inzaghi's doomed tenure as AC Milan manager was his intractability when it came to giving youngsters playing time.

This isn't only a problem at Milan. According to Luca Persico of Football Italia, U21 players got only 5.5 percent of the total minutes played in Serie A this season, leading Italy's U21 coach, Luigi Di Baggio, to say that the league's teams "lack courage."

That certainly seemed to be the case at San Siro, where players such as Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien got repeated starts over the likes of Riccardo Saponara, a talented 23-year-old that is now unlikely to return after an option to buy was included in his midseason loan to Empoli. An even more promising midfield prospect, Bryan Cristante, was sold last summer despite being seen by many as the future of the Rossoneri midfield.

With so much criticism of Milan's reluctance to trust their youngsters, it's worth wondering just how ready Milan's young players are to make an impact.

For this purpose, it's useful to separate young players into two categories. The first is the truly young players—the ones still in the youth setup and playing on the Primavera team. The second are players such as Stephan El Shaarawy, who are already in the first-team setup but are still in their early 20s.

Paolo Bruno/Getty Images

Of the first group, it's difficult to see someone who might be ready to make an immediate impact. Inzaghi gave cameos to some of the Primavera late this year, namely Davide Di Molfetta, Alessandro Mastalli, Gian Filippo Felicioli and Davide Calabria. Not one of them played more than 14 minutes, and none has more than a single appearance to their name at the senior level.

It's extraordinarily rare in this day and age for a player to come up from the youth ranks and make an instant impact on the first team. Lionel Messi did at Barcelona, but he's Lionel Messi. Some of these players could develop into important contributors, but none of them are Messi. These youngsters are going to need some seasoning on loan before making a major contribution to Milan's rebuilding effort.

Looking at the other category, there are some people who certainly merit conversation. The first is M'baye Niang.

Niang only played 84 minutes in a Milan shirt this year, per WhoScored.com, before he was loaned out in the January transfer window. It was the second consecutive year he was loaned midseason, and this time, at Genoa, he put in an impressive shift. The young Frenchman scored five times and added two assists as the Grifone finished sixth—an impressive feat for a club that has finished one place out of the drop zone in two of the last four campaigns.

Niang finally seems to be developing, and he could be a good complement to El Shaarawy on the wing.

Speaking of Il Faraone, if he's healthy, he's the prime candidate for making a step up. For the last two years, injury has prevented him from consolidating the breakout year he had in 2012-13 and becoming a true top-level player.

Antonio Calanni/Associated Press

In the penultimate game of the season, against Torino—his first game since suffering a foot injury in January—he showed the world he can still perform the way he did in the first half of the 2012-13 season. Both his goals were perfectly taken with one touch to control and then a powerful shot. For his second, the way he exploited space on a give-and-go to put himself through on goal was a move worthy of some of the game's best.

His game has always been sort of Cristiano Ronaldo-esque, cutting inside from the left wing to either finish himself or lay the ball off for a teammate. In the forthcoming season, he may be able to develop those abilities to another degree.

Presumptive new coach Sinisa Mihajlovic has a history of leading young wingers to big seasons. Before he got to Sampdoria, pundits were wondering whether Manolo Gabbiadini would ever live up to his potential. A little more than a year later, a move from center-forward to the wing saw him become one of Serie A's best young attackers. Napoli shelled out €13 million for him in January.

If Mihajlovic can do the same at Milan and El Sha stays healthy, he, Niang and even young Spaniard Suso could reap the benefits.

A few other players from the senior category aren't quite as ready to take the jump. Goalkeeper Gabriel led Carpi to their first promotion, but the young Brazilian needs a season or two on loan in the top flight before he's truly ready to stand between the pipes for Milan. A return to Carpi would be a good idea.

Claudio Villa/Getty Images

Another interesting player is Andrea Petagna. The 19-year-old Italy youth international is the kind of big, battering ram striker most people think is obsolete in the modern game but that, in truth, every team really needs. He went out on loan to first Latina and then Vicenza this season but barely got any playing time. He's talented, but he needs minutes. Hopefully that will come for him in 2015-16.

One last word on this category is Mattia De Sciglio. The young full-back's stock has plummeted over the last year. He was injured for much of the season and ineffective when he did make the field. He was sent off twice—once under a minute into the game—and while a look at WhoScored.com shows his counting stats up, none of them came at the right time.

De Sciglio needs to find the form that made him a starter for the national team during the Confederations Cup two years ago. If he doesn't, the club may have to look at moving him on.

Milan's youth system isn't barren, but there isn't anyone at the junior level who could immediately compete. However, the Rossoneri still have plenty of young players who could make a major contribution to the team's rebuilding efforts if they step up and take an opportunity—or create one of their own.

Their doing so will be crucial to the club's attempt to get back into the upper reaches of the table. Milan fans will all be behind them.