Filippo Terracciano will be back in a familiar stomping ground this afternoon when AC Milan take on Hellas Verona, but that in itself forces reflections on his first couple of months at the club.
La Gazzetta dello Sport writes how the match against Verona is useful for asking yourself a question: what happened to Terracciano? He arrived in January from Hellas for a few million with the reputation of being a young talent who can play virtually anywhere on the field.
Having cost €4.5m plus bonuses, the Italian has so far amassed 21 minutes in the Europa League, three in the league and 28 in the Coppa Italia, against Atalanta. His last appearance dates back to 22 February against Rennes – six minutes on the pitch in place of Florenzi.
Even before that he had played the first leg against the French side and in the match against Bologna at San Siro, he was the one who committed a foul for a penalty which Orsolini scored.
His agent, Andrea D’Amico, had also spoken about it: “It was an instinctive gesture, he didn’t see the ball and was screwed. The important thing is to get up straight away and start again.” Filippo hasn’t succeeded yet. Or rather, he had very few opportunities to do so.
Pioli gave him a quarter of an hour against Rennes as a right-back in the first leg, and a few minutes in the return. That is too little, especially for a boy used to always playing.
At Verona he played 1295 minutes. He played right-back, left-back, midfielder and also centre-back, a role he played twice against Juventus and Monza. He does best out wide, however.
There is a logic behind the low usage though, the report adds. Terracciano has just arrived and is behind both Davide Calabria and Alessandro Florenzi in the pecking order. He is 21 years old and already has a couple of seasons of senior experience.
Last year he played 20 games for Hellas. At the beginning he was the starter, he was talked about well, then he dropped a bit. He ended the season by starting two of the last three games.
It is clear, however, that the Milan fans expected more, especially because Terracciano was the only reinforcement from the winter transfer market. However, he is an investment that follows the line of the project: a player who can grow with the lights off and then be launched at the right time.
This was also the case for Pierre Kalulu, who arrived from Lyon to be a full-back but found himself as a central defender in the year of the Scudetto win.
He is a long term buy to replace florenzi eventually imao. But it wouldnt kill Pioli to give him a start today.
should have left him at verona until summer.