Noah Okafor continued what has become a trend in his first season at AC Milan so far but coming off the bench and scoring a massive goal during the 1-0 win over Lazio.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recall that Okafor came on in the second half and scored a decisive goal, as he already did against Udinese in a rollercoaster game at the Stadio Friuli, which ended 3-2.
The goal confirms a couple of things. One regarding the present: Okafor is an important player for Milan because he knows how to change games, he doesn’t complain if he plays little and improves. One on the future: in the Milan of tomorrow, Okafor is there.
He has a contract until 2028, it hasn’t all been positive so far this season due to injuries and reduced playing time, but he fits the identikit of the typical purchase of RedBird’s Milan because he has potential to grow.
Milan are the team that has scored the most goals this season with players coming off the bench: 13. No team in the five major European leagues achieves this and the credit goes to Okafor and his Serbian twin Jovic.
Okafor and Jovic have often changed the game in the second half, in different ways. Jovic is the away specialist: he scored in Bergamo, Salerno, Udine, Frosinone, while Okafor did the same at home against Lazio and Monza, in Udine and again against Lazio.
Jovic has a contract expiring at the end of the season, which can be renewed by Milan, but his future depends on the club’s choices and all the unforeseen circumstances regarding transfer strategies, the name of the next coach and the future of Olivier Giroud,.
Okafor, on the other hand, is a piece in the mosaic of the Milan of tomorrow. There was talk of him being the replacement for Rafael Leao last summer, but things went differently and now the two good friends play together.
The former Red Bull Salzburg mans knows that as a result he is the reserve and must show what he can do the last 20 minutes of every match. For now, that’s how it is but in the future, who knows. It will depend on his ability to grow, perhaps to evolve into a different player.
Okafor will probably be on the bench again against Slavia Prague on Thursday in the Europa League and will start against Empoli in the league next weekend because Leao will serve a suspension. For that Sunday, it’s easy to imagine him and Jovic together from the first minute.
It is less easy to make medium and long-term forecasts though. Okafor will certainly have a chance in the Milan of the future but he will have to prove that he is ready.
Giroud is again like Diaz dilemma. Play more of Giroud, Milan will suffer in the long run as we lack 1st team strikers. Poli needs to decisively make Giroud only a back up and focus on developing new strikeforce