Sky journalist Manuele Baiocchini has claimed that Noah Okafor deserved more minutes in the AC Milan side this season even though Rafael Leao is ahead of the Swiss player in the team.
Speaking today at Milanello (via Milan News), the journalist took stock of Okafor’s situation amid rumours that he could be sold by the Rossoneri at the end of the campaign, which was his first in Italy.
Okafor signed from RB Salzburg but has only started in five Serie A matches this season, although he has been a regular contributor from the bench.
He has managed to score six league goals and get one assist in that time, which is impressive and many feel that he warrants more time on the pitch in the future.
Baiocchini also pointed out that, whilst Leao has the left side on lockdown, he has not been at his best recently and could have been ousted for Okafor.
“Noah Okafor hasn’t found much space this season, he seemed to be kept a little too much on the margins of this team. He only played 288 minutes and only one match for the full 90 minutes. It’s true that in his position there is Leao, who is the strongest in the team, but the Portuguese is not in great shape physically and therefore the Swiss would have deserved a few more chances,” Baiocchini explained.
The journalist then took stock of the training session at Milanello where Ruben Loftus-Cheek remained away from the team as he is injured, and Samuel Chukwueze will compete for a place on the wing which would force Christian Pulisic into the centre.
“As for the team, Milan trained this morning but Loftus-Cheek is still apart because he is injured, but there will be a run-off with Chukwueze, so we could see Pulisic as an attacking midfielder again. Kalulu returns, who had already played against Genoa and above all, captain Calabria returns as the starter, who has served the two matchdays suspension,” he said.
Hopefully after Pioli leaves we’ll be seeing a lot more of him next season. He has proven he has killer instinct and willingness to play hard, and provide energy when needed, never understood why he was left out in the cold so much this season.
He was injured a lot and also reinjuree himself ehile celebrating once if I remember correctly.
For his first season in Serie A it is fine though, he made a huge step.
Okafor is a CF and not a winger. I don’t why Pioli is insisting on playing him out of position on the left wing instead of as a CF.
This is the real problem because Okafor never played as a winger for the Swiss National Team or for RB Salzburg. He has always played as a CENTER FORWARD.
I cannot wait for this season to be over and for Pioli to leave because maybe he thinks he’s a genius playing these players at his disposal out of their natural position.
Thank you…..
In the summer I said it was painfully obvious he’d suffer for game time due to Leao being the main man on the left and likely not upending Giroud for that starting spot. However my bigger concern would be him not producing. Imo he’s done incredibly well given the amount of minutes (injuries aside) and he should have gotten more minutes tbh. What he brings as a forward is different from the others. He’s quality depth/backup imo..same as Jovic