Milan, Mike Maignan and Adrien Rabiot are back. The two French players, who had been at the centre of a long-running debate, have returned to Milan.

Their additional leave has now officially ended and, as scheduled, Maignan and Rabiot arrived at Milanello to begin the new 2026/2027 season in the Milan shirt.

Following the friendly against Manchester United, Ruben Amorim attempted to ease tensions surrounding the pair’s delayed return. It is now up to the two players to respond on the pitch and win back supporters who were left unhappy by their conduct.

On the training ground at 11am

AC Milan have returned from their winning pre-season friendly in Poland and will be back at work again without much delay. Ruben Amorim still has significant work ahead to bring the side fully in line with his tactical and technical ideas. Training is due to begin at 11am, with those who featured yesterday likely to do recovery work, while Maignan and Rabiot are not expected to join the full session as they undergo physical and fitness assessments to evaluate their condition and determine the right starting point for their programme. Their attendance has, however, been confirmed, meaning the extra holiday period that caused so much controversy is now officially over.

The holiday controversy

In the last few days, the decision by the two France internationals to request a few extra days off from the club generated considerable discussion. Their comeback had originally been planned for 12 August, but the club agreed to delay it by a few more days until today.

That decision upset the fans, not only because of activity on social media that was seen as poorly judged — Maignan, for instance, removed every reference to AC Milan from Instagram — but also because, despite being club captain and not taking part in the tour, he did not come to Milan for Franco Baresi’s funeral.

Amorim moves to end the controversy

Ruben Amorim, the coach and the leading authority at Milanello, tried yesterday to calm the situation. The Portuguese manager said: "Rabiot, Modric and Maignan had more days because they played more. For me that was important. I gave those extra days to the players because I already knew they would not have been able to play in today’s match. So I gave them another three days. Nothing will change. And for me it is really important to say that it was my decision, not the players’. They had a full programme and they followed the programme, because we have proof that they did it." Whether that will be enough to heal the split with the fans remains to be seen.