The striker situation has become a rather strange paradox for AC Milan, as the two ‘reserve’ options have overtaken the big winter investment.
As Quotidiano Sportivo write this morning, Santiago Gimenez has been excluded three times in a row from the starting XI, and is heading towards a fourth on Friday against Udinese. This time it is more physical-based, given he is training alone after taking a blow to the side in the Fiorentina draw.
Gimenez’s rocky start
It has been a ‘red and black rollercoaster’ for Gimenez. He is the second most expensive investment by RedBird, who agreed to pay €32m plus bonuses (€37.5m for Charles De Ketelaere still leads) to get him in January.
He signed a contract until 2029 at €2.5m net per season and made an immediate impact: assist on debut in the Coppa Italia, then goals in the first league match against Empoli and in the second against Verona. Only Christian Pulisic and Andriy Shevchenko had managed the same.
The 23-year-old has also inherited the No.7 from the Ukrainian, his idol like Kakà, Ronaldinho and Ibrahimovic. The Mexican netted 20 goals with Feyenoord two seasons ago, 26 last year and 16 up until January before moving to Milan, so the signs were good.
His last goal for the Diavolo came against his old club Feyenoord in the Champions League on February 18. Since then, he has not scored for eight games, including five starts. Gimenez even missed a penalty against Napoli, something that had not happened to him in over a year.
Conceicao’s choice
The coach tried to protect him: “He scores in training, he did it when he arrived too. Many struggled at the beginning in Italy, it’s normal… Let’s give him his space.” He has had less and less of it, at least in terms of playing time.
More space, however, has been given to Tammy Abraham. The recent goals in the Coppa Italia derby and against Fiorentina have brought him into double figures. The improved numbers, however, represent a snag in signing him permanently.
Roma have set a valuation around €25m and Abraham has a salary of €4.5m net per year. The parties will talk about things in a few weeks, just like Alexis Saelemaekers who went the opposite wau (and is highly regarded by the Giallorossi).
Luka Jovic has had a strange season too. He spent months on the sidelines, so much so that he was not included in the Champions League squad list, also held back by injuries. He has amassed just 200 minutes of playing time.
In the last 78 minutes, however, he has made a mark by scoring against Napoli and Fiorentina. “I want to play”, the Serbian recently said in an interview with a Serbian newspaper. His salary has been reduced (€1.3m) and his contract expires this summer.
Among the many situations to be evaluated, there are also decisions to be made on Francesco Camarda – who will be with Milan Futuro until the end of the season – and Divock Origi, under contract until June 2026 with a €4m salary.
It’s very simple.
No one really watched Giminez play and as a result they didn’t know they were signing a player whose games translates in Italy to that of a second striker.
It’s not Giminez’s fault. He is what he is. He’s not a flop. He’s the wrong player signed for the a role he’s not suited to.
He’s a box striker while Milan need their striker to drop back and help in build up. If they play with a two striker system Jimenez will become more efficient.
Didn’t we have one of those in Morata?
All we have to do now is spend the ~€60m it will cost to buy the player that will make Giminez work.
They’re obviously not good enough at what they do to develop the next Zirkzee, Sesko or Lucca. Or it’s that ‘Milan standard’ thing again.
Anyone notice that Santi looks like Katy Perry’s brother?
Once again financial analysis!
Once again strikers issues!
We want to see good football, attacking and happy football !
We want performance, goals and victories, not words.
Look at the efficient play of Inter and Arsenal yesterday in CL.
We are far away from them
I don’t care anymore how many strikers the coach sends on the pitch.
Just put the fu***g ball in the 🥅 !
Zlatan & Furby thought by buying a striker all the midfielders suddenly turns into creative playmakers a la Pirlo and keep feeding the new CF 4 goals every night. 😀 😀 😀