Theo Hernandez has certainly not been close to his best this season, but the club share some blame for his struggles to remain consistent.
As MilanNews writes, Theo’s season has been one of cooling breaks, missed penalties and red cards rather than the incredible runs and goals fans have grown to know and love. He can’t find a bit of peace, also but above all due to his own shortcomings, it must be admitted.
On Saturday against Como Sergio Conceiçao took him off at half-time and, given the season he is having, most presumed it was a tactical choice. However, it turned out it was due to a calf problem that prevented him from being 100%.
Yet, the Frenchman still managed to end up at the center of criticism and discussions for having accepted the call-up from Didier Deschamps’ national team for the next two matches against Croatia in the Nations League.
Last night was the first match against Croatia and they were defeated by goals from Ante Budimir and Ivan Perisic. Theo who was not a protagonist, remaining on the bench for the entire duration of the match.
Milan hope that being with France could do Theo Hernandez some good in terms of his mental space and also finding form, especially for this final part of the season. The impression, however, is that the No.19 has lost the stimulas that over the last five years have made him one of the best in his role.
The Rossoneri need Theo for the run-in and – if his performances pick up – he could regain the trust of the club and fans, thus reopening the renewal discussions, but also to return to being an attractive profile for clubs around Europe.
Milan are partly culpable because Hernandez still doesn’t have a replacement in the squad, but his starting spot is wavering. Alex Jimenez has shown that he has what it takes to be a starter for this Milan, and losing his starting spot might finally be the stimulus that Theo needs.
Jimenez Bartesaghi Hernandez for next season
And Walker Florenzi or Jimenez
Theo is a busy guy, but he probably needs to spend more time in recovery.
I don’t know what kind of a redemption arc Theo would have to be on to warrant a stay past this season. I think he sealed his fate with the Feyenoord antics…
Sabotaging an entire team is exhausting work.
Milan never bought a suitable replacement for him and he’s completely used up now. He’s been used up since coming back from the winter WC ’22 in Qatar honestly.
Has played far too many games the last few years. No reason Milan couldn’t have brought in a solid deputy that could play the Coppa, Europa League, rotated in for weekend duty ahead of Champions League, sub him off after an hour, etc etc, etc.
Poor management of his situation.
Manufactured drama out of nothing. And media is not short of blame either. It seems people haven’t played football or ever gotten injured in their life to know that an injury can be benign or severe or they just like to run with whatever story creates the most clicks. Ever thought it was a grade 1 or less calf strain? U know, they type where it’s minor and if you continue to keep playing you’ll know you’d pick up an injury along the way. Happens all the time..players pull up to prevent further injuring themselves and next game they’re playing. But when you’ve never played this is what happens. I don’t see any articles on that, just straight jump to the nefarious. Paint a picture. What happened with benefit of the doubt? Because he’s having a bad season? Is that why? Or how about find him a proper sub because the last 5-6 years he’s had zero capable sub. No other player in the team has this issue of an adequate backup. And when they do come on, they all have stank it up.
And then they have the nerve to compare Thuram’s injury to his as if they can’t be different types with different grades/severity. I just don’t get it. All of this just to paint a narrative on him. He can’t even go to take a coffee with his friend and former mentor. Sheesh!! Just look at the vile comments it generated.
When I first read he had an injury issue my first thought was that I’m surprised it took this long to even get an injury based on the huge amount of minutes dude has racked up.over the past 4-5 years. At least Fofana got a rest now. But nah we here talking about shady stuff instead of addressing the real issue of poor squad construction once more. Give him a capable sub so he can not only get rest but have to compete for minutes and have an incentive to perform better.