Ardon Jashari was one of the many bright spots in AC Milan’s win over Manchester United, and he is looking forward to playing alongside Luka Modric.
The real Jashari was on display in Poland on Saturday, and not the one who struggled with injury and limited playing time last year. In Milan’s last friendly before the start of the season, the Swiss led the team with his pressing and his passing range.
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He perhaps wasn’t the best player on the pitch, simply because Gonçalo Ramos and Samuel Chukwueze decided the match with their exploits, but the former Club Brugge player truly impressed everyone. Ruben Amorim hopes it is the first of many displays like this.
Jashari spoke after the game against United in Wroclaw and reflected on what was another positive run-out for him, and a potentially decisive audition for a starting spot. La Gazzetta dello Sport relayed his words.
Are you happy with your performance?
“Yes, I’m also happy with the win and the team’s performance. I think we’re on the right track and are performing well as a group. However, I also think we need to improve on some details because it’s going to be a long season. However, we’ve taken a step forward towards the way we want to play.”
Compared to last season, Amorim is playing a different style of football, which was perhaps seen for the first time against United…
“Yes, I think it’s evident. Every day we’re together, in training and in matches, we can improve things, and we’re working hard to do so. We know how the coach wants to play, and while you obviously can’t implement it exactly overnight, we’re working hard to make it happen.
“We’ve made a step forward in terms of the style we want to play, but I think we need to improve some details, with and without the ball. But we’re on the right track. Now we have to continue like this and believe in it all together, as a team.”
In Jakarta, you said you wanted to show the best Jashari this year. It’s early days, but from a personal standpoint, your performance was very encouraging…
“Yes, of course, I try to perform at my best, and against United I had a good feeling on the pitch. If the team performs as it should, then I can show my qualities on the pitch.
“I’m happy with my performance: I know I can improve on some things to be at my best, and I hope that next week and throughout this season, I can be at my best.”
Do you expect to play alongside Modric now?
“This is the coach’s decision, but I think, of course, playing with Luka is fantastic. He’s one of the best players in the world, and sharing the pitch with him is incredible.
“We played 30 minutes together against Inter, and I think we saw there that we can play alongside each other. We’ll see what the coach decides, but I’m not saying no to playing alongside Luka. On the contrary… (smiles).”
While i’m not comparing it with Sandro Tonali, I really hope Jashari can make a similar jump in quality from yr 1 to year 2. Let’s not forget, Tonali had a pretty average/mediocre season 1; then he took over.
Same happened for Tijani Reijnders.
Very few players go straight to Milan and perform.
I Think Charles De Ketelaere could have grown in his second season as Well.
That’s why this whole sell/buy two thirds of the team after a saison absolutely makes no sense.
I expect Jashari to come good this year.
The injury and missed preseason obviously put him way behind the curve. But also Allegri is quite risk averse and that doesn’t go well with putting a lot of faith in young players.
Different story this year. He can be a value add.
Let him stay and continue to perform. People cite CDK, but midfielders tend to have less pressure so I think Jashari will do better than CDK could have ever done with us.
Jashari only plays in midfield as long as Rabiot is further forward and Modric is further back. If Rabiot doesn’t work out further up or it’s unbalanced, he drops back to double pivot and Jashari is back in limbo.
3-5-2: Maignan- Gila, ???, Pavlovic- Saelemaekers, Modric,
Ardon (DLM), Rabiot, ???- Pulisic, Ramos. Problem solved.
Just kidding, Modric shouldn’t be the one who does that
running nor will he be able to meet the demands of an 8.
He doesn’t do 352. He plays 3421.
I know, I was just joking.
Modric and Rabiot must be the starters, but Jashari will get tons of opportunity to play. Hopefully is much much better than what we saw last year which was not good at all.
Honestly I‘m curious how this team will perform with pulsing in it I mean Ramos is an incredible link up player
Jashari is quality player he just needs time and serie a adaptation in Belgium league he was super star
We need humble hard working players like him in the team. Not dumb coksuckers like that manchild Lmeao
Milan needs top quality players…and Jashari is coming off a completely disastrous season. He may be humble and hardworking, but he has not proven that he has the quality needed.