It was clear throughout last season that Tijjani Reijnders was being limited by his defensive duties, and even though there were no outstanding issues, if AC Milan are to see the best version of the Dutchman, an addition is needed.
Having a midfield with all the attacking quality in the world would be fantastic in some respects, but in 80% of the game, it would be a hindrance, and that motive is the same if reversed, in the sense that a completely defensive midfield would do well in some aspects, but be woeful in others.
Therefore, it is vital that any midfield, and in turn, squad, must be balanced correctly, and this was not the case for large parts of the last season.
As a result, it is vital to invest in different aspects of the midfield, which is what Milan are looking to do in the mercato. We have already seen the links between the club and Adrien Rabiot, but he is not the primary target, instead, that is Youssouf Fofana.
The Frenchman is adored by the Rossoneri’s management, and according to Gazzetta dello Sport (via Milan News) they see him as the key to unlocking Reijnders’ true potential.
Having a more defensively-minded player like Fofana would mean the Dutchman has less defensive responsibility, so he would gain extra freedom to progress up the pitch. However, it would also give extra freedom to the entire team if there was a new shield in front of the defence.
Considering that we’re not yet seeming to be willing to pay more than 15M€ (according to MatteMoretto), Monaco wanting around 25M€ and perhaps some interest from EPL (according to
FabrizioRomano), we shouldn’t bother talking about a player we’re not even sure to get. It doesn’t matter if the player wants Milan, we already had this pill before.
Until the player has signed, let’s not talk as if he is already in Milanello.
Ideally two defensive mid’s would be available, not named Bennacer. Otherwise Benny plus Fofana would be a start.
But “less” defensive duties seems out of sync with Fonseca’s system since his off-the-ball tactics seem to be aggressively pressing to recover the ball.
Yeah at this point I don’t even think Sempre Milan cross references their own articles. I know these guys aren’t professional journalists but the number of contradictory articles that get produced each day really dilutes any meaningful reporting they might be attempting.
Over the years I’ve used this site less and less for news and must admit I mostly visit these days for the comment section, as unhinged as it gets sometimes 😂
They are not cross check anything, this is news aggregator site and they just translate any Milan news they found and post it here.
Usually suspect of source will be Milan News, Corsera, Gazetta, Sky, twitter journalist (Fab, MatteMoretto, DiMarzio, Nicolo Schira)
Fonseca’s should be using fofana together with rejinder