CM: ‘The most important player’ – why Milan cannot do without Fofana

AC Milan negotiated for weeks with AS Monaco over Youssouf Fofana, and they are beginning to see exactly what they hoped for from the midfielder.

Calciomercato.com recall what Paulo Fonseca said during a press conference in August when asked about the idea of another signing arrive to complete the midfield: “The midfielder is Fofana, we all know that.”

Fofana made his debut on a bad night in Parma (a 2-1 defeat) but immediately made himself noticed with a leader’s attitude, encouraging Rafael Leao after the error that led to Cancellieri’s goal. Since then he has been a virtual ever-present, even scoring his first goal against Venezia, albeit not realising.

“He is very important for us, he improves every day. I think there was a period of adaptation, Ligue 1 is different from Serie A and here he has a different role. This adaptation took time. For me this player in this structure is the most important player,” Fonseca said in his pre-match press conference.

“As Fofana improves then the team improves too. These players who play in these positions are the engine of the team, if they work well then the team has a greater chance of playing well.”

Fonseca is not afraid to burden him with these responsibilities and it is thanks to having a balancer like Fofana that he was able to change system ahead of the derby. Alvaro Morata has unique qualities even as a second striker and Tammy Abraham presses from the front, but Fofana is key.

So, in light of all this, it seems the expense of €25m to snatch him from Monaco and the weeks of waiting for the deal to be closed seem fully justified.