Youssouf Fofana seems to have gone from being one of the first names on the team sheet at AC Milan to the object of mystery.
On Sunday night at the Stadio Olimpico, Samuele Ricci got the nod to start in the right mezzala role. It was the second straight game that the Italian had started in that particular position, after the home win over Lecce.
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The spot that Fofana seemed to have locked down became up for grabs, and Ricci has taken in. After starting versus Como, the Frenchman has disappeared from the pitch, having played zero minutes against Lecce and Roma.
This isn’t an insignificant detail, given that Fofana has been involved in every match since the start of the season, barring injury. The ex-Monaco was included in the squad and didn’t appear to have any physical issues, so why was he left out?
Fitness and form
One of the plausible reasons for his absence was to give Ricci more playing time, to get the former Torino captain fully into rhythm ahead of the decisive part of the 2025-26 campaign.
After his 90 minutes against Fiorentina, the Italian midfielder played 21 minutes against Como, 73 against Lecce and 79 against Roma. In the last two matches, Ruben Loftus-Cheek replaced Ricci, not Fofana.
Fatigue is another factor to consider: in his last few appearances before the games against Lecce and Roma, Fofana appeared tired. Allegri may have preferred someone fresher, also because this exhaustion can lead to mistakes at both ends.
There is also the unavoidable fact that Fofana has made some errors more generally in his performances this season. Allegri prefers low-event games where his side do not inflict any harm on themselves, and so he may have preferred to move in a different direction.
Market whispers
It seems harder to believe that Fofana’s absence from the last two games is linked to transfer rumours, but they deserve a mention anyway.
According to Matteo Moretto (vi Reddit), a week and a half ago Galatasaray were willing to offer around €30m including bonuses for Fofana, a figure between €25-30m fixed, but at that point Fofana said no.
He wasn’t convinced by the idea of a move to Turkey, so the talks stalled at that point. The feed offered is certainly a significant figure, but it doesn’t seem to appeal to Milan or the player at the moment.
Fofana wants to stay in Milan to try to lead the club back to the Champions League, but whether he does so with a starting spot or watching from the bench remains to be seen.
Between RLC, Fofana and Goretzka (or whomever in the market) something will have to give.
It’s gotta be RLC his contract is winding down and there doesn’t seem to be strong interest in renewing him. Also out of Fofana and RLC Fofana is the more useful player.
RLC is better than Fofana he just can’t stay healthy for long stretches so there is no consistency with him.
Hope these 3 will never step on San Siro
Leon is a great footballer, worlds better than Fofana and RLC.
It’s insane how RLC’s agent is working on a renewal with Milan with an increased salary. Man the world is crazy.
😁😁😁
What is insane is that if RLC is A. Never healthy enough, B. Possibly not good enough even when healthy and C. Requesting a higher salary to renew, then why haven’t we accepted any of the bids that have come in for him just now? This is the true insanity. His value will drop to almost nothing in June.
Milan didn’t need a player that would be committing niggling fouls against Roma. Fofana hasn’t really impressed since he came, despite the work-rate. Won’t be surprised if he’s sold. He may say ‘no’ to Galatasaray, but, I don’t see him getting much game-time, anymore.
Rlc fofana out ederson + mckenie in
that would be great
Sell that clown….
Underperforming player doesn’t play for two matches and the media goes wild. LOL. 😀 😀 😀