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Matteo Gabbia 

Position: Centre-back 

Age: 22/23 (born October 21, 1999) 

Shirt number: 46 

Country: Italy (uncapped at senior level) 

At AC Milan since: 2017 (except for 2018-19 season) 

Another academy product of Milan, Matteo Gabbia is looking to tread the path of Baresi, Maldini and Nesta, three legendary centre-halves that terrorized opposing attackers at the San Siro. 

He made his senior debut in 2017, substituting for Manuel Locatelli in a Europa League playoff in what was his lone appearance that season. The following season saw him loaned out to Serie C side Lucchese, scoring just once in 30 matches. 

Gabbia returned to Milan in the 2019-20 season, as he had stiff competition at his position with Alessio Romagnoli and eventually, Simon Kjaer, registering just 33 appearances (23 league matches) in the next three seasons. Although he played most of the matches in full, he was mostly on the bench and even had to spend a month out owing to an MCL injury. 

However, he recovered to resume his role as a rotation player for Stefano Pioli, as he even picked up a Scudetto with Milan in the 2021-22 campaign. He had been paired with four different players, with the Frenchman Pierre Kalulu being his most used with four matches being played together. 

Despite a colorful youth international career (12 goals in 77 appearances from U16 to U21) which included a fourth-place finish at the 2019 U20 World Cup in Poland, he was yet to be capped at the senior level for the Azzuri.