Average goals, Bonaventura in the top 4 of Milan’s history – A well-deserved renewal that won’t arrive

By Vito Angele -

AC Milan’s 2020-21 squad may no longer have Giacomo Bonaventura as part of it. Jack is a player not like any other, not just anybody, but this was clear from the start.

Bonaventura’s fate turned to the Rossoneri on the last market day of 2014, when Adriano Galliani – after losing Biabiany – turned to Bonaventura who was also negotiating with Inter. Jack didn’t think about it for a moment and signed for Milan, and for a fee of just €7million. He represents one of the top 10 market operations in the history of Milan when looking at quality to price ratio.

Jack’s numbers: Only behind Savicevic, Rivera and Bigon

Going to browse the www.transfermarkt.it shows that the likely loss of Jack Bonaventura will have an important impact for the club.

Bonaventura in fact, among all the midfielders in the history of Milan, is in tenth position for number of goals (34 in 171 appearances), with the current season still to be completed.

For average goals, however, the numbers are even more significant: he is the fourth, behind Bigon (0.28, with 90 goals in 327 games): Rivera (0.25, with 164 goals in 648 games) and Savicevic (0.24, with 34 goals in 144 games). Obviously Kaká is excluded from the ranking, considered more as a striker than as a midfielder.

  1. Bigon: 0.28 goals per game – 90 goals in 327 games
    2. Rivera: 0.25 – 164 goals in 648 games
    3. Savicevic: 0.24 – 31 goals in 144 games
    4. Bonaventura: 0.20 – 34 goals in 171 games (season still in progress)
    5. Benetti: 0.20 – 49 goals in 250 games
    6. Annovazzi: 0.19 – 53 goals in 282 games
    7. Battistini: 0.18 – 36 goals in 471 games
    8. Seedorf: 0.14 – 62 goals in 432 games
    9. Pirlo: 0.10 – 41 goals in 401 games
    10. Ambrosini: – 36 goals in 903 games

Bonaventura, the joy of coaches

Giacomo Bonaventura embodies the perfect prototype of the all-round and modern midfielder. At Milan, in the 2014-2015 season he introduced himself to his coach Inzaghi with a goal on his debut during the 5-4 win over Parma. He received the ball, feigned with his body and netted a left-footed goal.

His second goal, which was not long after in arriving, was scored against Cagliari. His third, in the victory against Napoli at San Siro, was a header to meet Pablo Armero’s cross. Left, right and head; in the penalty area from the attacker, from a distance and inside the box. Bonaventura scores in every way.

With Inzaghi, Jack played as both a winger and as a central midfielder in the 4-3-3, and his first season with the Rossoneri ended with seven goals in 34 games.

With Mihajlovic at the helm in the 2015-2016 season, Bonaventura changed role, playing as a wide midfielder in a 4-4-2, but the results did not change: seven goals in 39 games, where he also got his first free-kick goal.

The first real moments of joy came along with his first huge hammer blow in the next campaign under Vincenzo Montella. On December 23, he scored the equaliser against Juventus in the Supercoppa Italiana final in Doha before the victory on penalties.

However, his season ended prematurely due to an adductor injury, which stoped him at five goals in 22 appearances. With Montella, Jack returned to playing both as an central midfielder in 4-3-3 and sometimes as a winger.

The 2017-18 season looked like a new dawn for Milan after the purchases of Bonucci, Biglia, Kalinic, Calhanoglu, André Silva following the arrival of President Yonghong Li.

However, at the end of the season, Bonaventura was still the protagonist with nine goals in 47 games. In Serie A he was the second-top scorer for the Rossoneri with eight goals, behind only Cutrone with 10 goals. It’s his best season since he has been with Milan.

With Montella before and with Gattuso after Bonaventura continues to play as a midfielder, however the ability to enter and become dangerous does not prevent them from registering regularly on the scoreboard.

The 2018-2019 season, always with Gattuso in command, would be cut short by an operation that the former Atalanta star would undergo at the end of October. Until then he had notched three goals in 10 appearances. Bonaventura’s goals never fail, as can also be seen from this particular season where Jack, returning from the operation, scored three goals in 18 games, starting from the bench mostly.

Why lose Jack?

Bonaventura looks set to leave on a free transfer once his deal expires on June 30. But why is he not worth the €2m-a-year, especially considering he has never said a word out of place and has always showed exemplary behaviour on and off the field, in addition to his 34 goals in 171 appearances.

Are not the multiple roles in which he can still guarantee the coach quality? Is it not worth the importance of a player like Bonaventura in the locker room?

To understand the importance of Bonaventura, perhaps, some statistics of his career should be consulted. Where would he have arrived without the two injuries and practically the two lost seasons? The politics of young players is fine, but losing a player of just 30 years of the importance of Giacomo Bonaventura is yet another mistake of this Milan. Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s story teaches us.

And the time has come to never make a mistake again. Starting from the renewal of Bonaventura.

By Vito Angele

Tags AC Milan Giacomo Bonaventura
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