Yunus Musah is central to the plans of the new head coach Paulo Fonseca, according to a report, and they have even rejected a request for information from abroad.
According to Calciomercato.com, Musah is very much key to Fonseca’s project, as he revealed in his post-match press conference following the win over Real Madrid in which the midfielder came off the bench and impressed.
“I am 200% sure that he is the type of player for our game. He showed it today, in 30 minutes: he was incredible with only a few days of work with us,” he said.
“I have a lot of confidence in him. I think he can be very important for our team. But obviously he has to improve many things. My opinion? He has the right characteristics to play in this position in our game [the double pivot].”
Fonseca has clear ideas on how to use Musah and that is in the midfield tandem rather than in the right-back or wing-back spot where Stefano Pioli put him at times last season. The new manager thinks he has pace and physical characteristics to help in both phases.
Not only that, but the ex-Lille boss has seen that the American can also take on tactical instructions and is learning the movements that he must make make to be in the right position to receive the ball and begin driving downfield.
This is all music to the ears of the management who bought him from Valencia for €20m with the idea of seeing him blossom into an all-action midfielder. The feeling is that he will ‘never play again’ out on the flanks.
In short, he is not a player who can be sold ‘unless for a truly extraordinary sum’. In recent days, Lyon asked for information on Musah and their interest is strong, but Fonseca considers him fundamental to implementing his game so they were rebuffed.