Alexis Saelemaekers was expected to leave AC Milan this summer, and yet he has ended up being one of the surprise protagonists of a very positive preseason.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport write, everyone stood up to applaud when Saelemaekers scored a rabona goal against Monza on Tuesday night and then wheeled away to the corner flag to celebrate with his team-mates.
The winger is not one of the stars of this Milan, but in preseason he made many fans change their minds, as well as those of the management. Now, he has a real chance to rewrite his story with the Rossoneri, one that seemed destined to end when he moved to Bologna on loan last season.
Bologna chose not to use their €10m option to buy after Thiago Motta left, and thus Saelemaekers returned to Milan where it looked like the presence of Christian Pulisic and Samuel Chukwueze would push him towards the exit door again.
Then, things happened quickly. Firstly Fonseca’s plans to use Pulisic down the middle emerged, then the coach spoke about the Belgia: “He’s a player I like a lot, I like his quality. I think he’s the type of player that every coach would like to have, because he can play in different positions. He’s more confident, I’d like to keep him on the team.”
That was the end of July, and in mid-August the thoughts hadn’t changed a bit: “It’s the first time I’ve worked with Saelemaekers, everyone says he’s different. I don’t know if it’s true, but I like him. He works in multiple positions and always does well. He makes good choices with the ball, I want him to stay with us.”
He said that a few minutes after the former Anderlecht man had shone against Monza, showing tactical intelligence but also technique and the desire to create. The rabona goal means only one thing: that at this moment Alexis is playing with maximum confidence.
Fonseca certainly appreciates his versatility too, because Saelemaekers can play on both wings in a 4-2-3-1 and a 4-3-3, while he has also been used as a right-back and remains an emergency option there even after Emerson Royal’s arrival.
The Portuguese coach sees the 25-year-old as a ‘tactically intelligent wildcard’, who in Pioli’s Milan was one of the main keys to balance, just as he was last season at Bologna, where he grew and improved. Now, he can begin his ‘third footballing life’ in Italy, after his apprenticeship at Milan and his maturation in Bologna.
You see, a modern Coach with vision, patience, competence and the courage to give every player a chance to shine, Fonseca is a completely different person to Pioli, who is timid, old fashioned and completely inept, who succeeded in burning many players that could have been useful to Milan…
that’s a stupid thing to say
I said the truth
Show some respect. The man gave his all for Milan and you sit here and bash him for bringing scudetto and stability to a team that was embarassed every year in serie a for over a decade.
He brought stability, but he burnt alot of players, and was to stubborn in his ways, did not want to change,lost 6 derbies, never adjusted our tactics , even when it was clear to him that it won’t work with our opponents, good riddance
Pioli is Italian, and doing what many Italian tacticians do – set in his ways.
Hey man don’t be ungreatful, why do u have short memory like that ,do you know how many players Pioli gave them enough time to shine , it even include Saelemaekers, Leo and Theo
He deserves to start on Saturday let’s see if he can replicate the performance of the friendly games.
In place of who? He’s a bench piece.
If I was Fonseca, I would use Alexis on the right, with leao, Pulisic and him on the wings, he is a far more tactically and technically more intelligent player than Chukweze…
Sure he is.. and if chuku plays and proves himself more capable (which he is) than salad, will you take this back and say ‘sorry I was wrong ‘?
You people really need to stop sucking salad ballz every chance you get
true but chukweze is a quicker player more skillful and a better dribbler
Alex is great. I’ve always said that. Anyone with an eye for football could have seen it. Come on Alex!
so i guess Mesias who benched him is even greater
The problem with Saelemakers is, he’s a street player, his passing, finishing and everything else is average and below average. His ball control and dribbling is excellent though. But vision and your ability to pick out a teammate and not be wasteful is vital in the real game, would be a great futsal player though.
I believe Alex will surprise many this year. he will be very useful to the team. I am glad he is staying