Earlier this afternoon, a report emerged, suggesting that AC Milan midfielder Yunus Musah was a transfer target for Napoli. However, a report has suggested that nothing will happen this summer.
Earlier in the summer, reports had suggested that only three of Milan’s midfielders were definitely going to be at the club at the start of the season, after suggestions that Youssouf Fofana’s potential arrival could trigger moves for two current midfielders.
Included in those three players was Yunus Musah, who has had a difficult start to life as a Rossonero.
After arriving from Valencia last summer, there was always going to be pressure on a player of his age to impress, especially given the Rossoneri’s midfield was weakened last summer by the departure of Sandro Tonali.
His debut season saw him struggle for consistent minutes, but it seems he could be a large part of Paulo Fonseca’s plans for the upcoming season.
As alluded to earlier, a report from this afternoon suggested that Napoli are interested in the American midfielder, and saw him as a target to strengthen their midfield. However, Daniele Longo has stated on his X account that the midfielder is seen as non-transferable around the Diavolo, and the club are betting on him heavily.
Wtf?
what do you mean? did you expect anything else? young talented midfielder in an already broken down midfield
Fonseca said he likes his team to press high and for that you need tireless muscles in the middle. And Musah is that type of player he just needs someone to mentor him in the role. I said many times before I see N’golo Kante type of player in him.
And if Fofana comes then maybe they could build a strong double pivot partnership in the middle with Musah.
This.
Musah needs to improve for sure but at 20 there is a long way to the ceiling.
I’m banking on him as a rotation player and impact sub next year to foster that development.
Have you seen Musah dribble,i watched almost every game last season and i saw some crazy dribblings and going trough 2,3 players easy,reminds of Messi to be honest.
I think Musah is wasting his dribbling skills as a DM and Kante like play,i think he should play on the wings either in midfield or attack,i think thats why Conte want him too for Napoli,surely not to play DM .
I disagree…musah needs to be in the middle of the field…he can break a press single handed and on defense…he consistently won challenges and turned them into dangerous chances for leao…he excels at turning defense into offense at pace so teams can’t bunker…he’s not a dm, konte was not the dm he won the ball high, Jorginho was. But you can play Jorginho there when you play konte and kovicic along side…
Exactly
Musah’s ceiling is Kante’s ball recovery and disruption of counterattacks + Kova’s ball carrying ability. That’s what I dream of. I could watch Kante defend/disrupt and Kova dribble all day. Kova has like 5 goals in 5 years, but Pep still sought him out.
Musah should be in the middle of the field. He’s perfect to be the guy who disrupts counterattacks and shuttles between the lines.
His number one weakness is his passing is too slow and with not enough range.
Let’s remember that Musah was starting in midfield to start the season last year and he didn’t look to be over his head.
Musah’s problem at Milan is Leao. As long as Milan is built around Leao and Leao doesn’t play defense, then Milan can’t really play a high energy counter-pressing style where Musah would thrive. If we’re not fighting the battle in midfield, then he’s not as useful. I personally think we have players to press hard. We have the midfield depth and arguably the wing and attacking midfield depth to play a high energy pressing style. We’ve got one of the fastest defenders in the league in Tomori to help fight fires, and a strong keeper in Maignan. If we can get Leao to press hard for 60 minutes and then get subbed for Okafor, we could be a great team. Musah could thrive in that team.
not just Leao…RLC, Giroud are just too slow to react…I suspect Fonseca will prioritize fast pressure from the front line. Last year it was almost a midblock with how little pressure and how much time players had to make decisions and play the ball deep
Messi dribbled with purpose, when appropriate and had an end product. He also moved the ball quickly.
Musah dribbled aimlessly, often in the wrong positions, and never had an end product. He also killed the play by not passing quickly enough.
Every second a player holds onto a ball a player’s run gets missed, a player who was free is marked, the defence has time to regroup or recover, and it slows down the play.
A pass takes far less time to get to a destination than a dribble because the balls moves faster than a player can.
And how are his teammates supposed to time their runs when they have no idea when he’s going to pass?
Age is no excuse because these are basic things any semi-decent footballer should understand. It’s what you learn when you’re 10.
It blows my mind this guy is a professional footballer since he’s got zero footballing brain.
Beating a defender creates a numerical advantage and causes defenses to scramble. This skill is be try highly valued. As passing just gives the ball to another player with a defender on them…this is why the ability to get passed a defender is valued higher than almost any other skill. The other skill being timing challenges to win the ball in the middle of the field. Which is the other thing he excels at. They require everything arsenal preaches to their 10 year olds. Scanning and timing. Scanning and timing.
Only if you beat them quickly and efficiently in the right areas.
Otherwise you’re just giving the defence more time to regroup.
And we are supposed to be talking about a CM here!
That is typically his style. If he doesn’t beat the player with his first touch, he probably won’t. He doesn’t weave in and out; he scans well without the ball and is good at finding pockets, so even if his back it to the defender, he knows where his momentum is headed, and he plays the ball against it, off-balancing the defender and taking the space. I’m not saying he doesn’t have areas to improve, but the idea that he isn’t an intelligent player is silly. He moves the ball up the field fast and creates opportunities off challenges fast.
We must be watching (and screaming at) different players!
@DanC27: I agree with Maldini’s Heir, I don’t say this kid can’t improve, he might become a terrific player, but you’re pretty much describing another player here. Musah doesn’t “scan” and doesn’t seem to know anything, he just holds on to the ball and dribble for as long as he can and then does nothing or loses the ball. His contribution to defense is pretty much non-existant (according to datamb, he is in the 17th percentile in defensive actions and 36th percentile in duel%), his passing and shooting are atrocious.
It’s not like he has areas where can improve, but rather, aside from physicality, he ONLY has areas where can/should improve.
I can not put video on here…but the fact that you don’t see Musah’s scan rate is kind of concerning. When he’s receiving the ball, he typically checks each shoulder at least once while the ball is on its way, and more if its from a distance. Reijnders is good at this as well. its the reason that they can receive the ball in the middle and a player like Adli struggles to control the ball and find space thus drops between the CBs. I’d advise that if you have a recorded game, you watch it back at half speed as its obviously not easy to look for in real time. This type of skill is of very high value…you can’t teach a player over 18 to scan effectively, it has to start early…
Datamb data is not good for evaluating a player’s performance; it is not per 90 and defensive actions are inversely correlated with good defenders, positioning and constantly moving to adjust your positioning is the best defense but is not easy to measure. I’m more interested in what percentage of their tackles they win the ball and put Leao or Okafor in on goal.
Not all defensive actions have the same value. Some create goals, some create missed shots from Leao, and some just knock the ball out of bounds…
I agree on ball his passing is not timed well and he does not look for the change of attack ball enough…but he hits those passes at a solid percentage (same percentage as Adli, who i think most consider a solid long passer). His ability to keep his head up is a concern. His shooting however, is not a concern to me, If you have seen him shoot (his shot from 40 yards against Brazil), you see he has perfect technique and the issue rather is that he does not look to shoot nearly enough as the power he generates and on target accuracy at the very least creates corners.
Reminded you of Messi? C’mon man… If anything I thought I saw glimpses of the backstabber Kessie. Someone who can drive the ball forward when everyone else is tired, but ultimately lacking basic footballing skills when he releases the ball. He will never be as strong as Kessie, who’s a monster, but with more discipline and understanding of the game he might be almost as effective
Maybe I exaggerated a bit 🙂 .
Still i belive this kid has really good dribbling and “reminded” me for a few sec. of Messi,of course he cant be in the same sentence as Messi..But ,i dont see him as Kessie/Kante like player either..
We are talking about Kante,why dont they try to sign him,i would sign him without thinking,even with 32 he could be of a great help for this squad,he is still a monster and one of the best DMs out there .Heard Arsene Wenger saying that it should be a movie about Kante how his life and career was going.A great human being and fighter .
Really could be a good addition to the squad and in the dressing room for sure with his positivity and professionalism.
Absolutely. Musah is young with A LOT of potential. Just needs minutes and guidance.
His potential is average at best. Cant pass, can’t shoot, cant tackle, cant defend.
And if its as high as you think he should be sent on loan to a place where he would start or be in the U23.
Hjulmand was available for a similar price, is already better, and has a higher ceiling. Musah is a moneyball signing and a bad one.
Right, because players are finished products at 21 and don’t have a capacity to learn anymore and improve their game…
Very Obtuse comment.
Give Napoli Musah + Calabria + 70 mil for Osimhen
Some fans just don’t like anything Milan management are doing be it good or bad, they criticize every move, bargain, refusal even when it clearly indicates it’s wrong they still want the management to press on so that their ego will be satisfied, it doesn’t work that way lads, Musah isn’t for sale period, Zirkzee isn’t coming Milan won’t feed the greedy agent Kia period,l.
Well said
True We Should HAVE MENTALITY FOR THE FIRST TIME ÀFTER 2021 IM SEEING SOME FIRE IN MANAGEMENT (except of royal wtf is that)
It takes time to grow players. Kessie, Hakan, Tonali, Benny all took some amount of time to get going. Just wished they’d kept them. Instead we started over with the current crop while some others form their cohort are fully established players (Theo, Tomori, Benny when not injured). Those guys will want to see proper players around them, not necessarily players who need to grow to get to the point of challenging for trophies. That being said they’ll all ahev a year u der their belt so I expect to see some serious improvement from them or cut the losses. Also, with player growth we have to also pay for said growth. I definitely don’t rate Musah right now but who knows in the future. New system, new coach …
You don’t see any potential in him? No signs of quality?
He is an athlete. He is fast, strong and has stamina.
Football wise, he can dribble and hold the ball well sometimes, but that’s about it. His decision making is horrendous, his positioning is all over the place (not entierly his fault though, Pioli didn’t was using him in a different position each game). He has tendencies to dribble when he shoudln’t. His passing is one of the worst right now and he doesn’t offer much in terms of shooting, creating or even defending. According to datamb, he is in 17th percentile in defensive actions, 18th percentile in forward passes, 15th percentile in progressive passes, 36th percentile in duel%… which is very low overall.
He is often one of the worst rated player this season, including during the copa america 2024.
Can he improve, develop ? Become a solid midfielder ? Maybe ? Probably ? But he sure has a lot of work to do for that.
Also if we somehow get Fofana and another midfielder, I don’t see him getting that many minutes anymore.
I agree completely. 20M€ wasted on a guy that has no football IQ, he’s simply a good athlete and doesn’t have any position. He played right winger at Valencia but the management brought him to be a midfielder and it’s Pioli’s fault if the guy was poor at any position…
Kessie also did pretty the much the same mistakes that Musah did in first season. With the right guidance ge could definitely contribute to our overall control of matches. But yeah, he was very annoying at times last season, though some of these were when he was playing on the right
You are right- the issue is decision making. He needs to see the possible passes in front of him and not just put his head down and let the defense collapse around him. He is strong, athletic, a decent defender, tireless, and a good dribbler.
He’s young. That’s the point. With ample room for growth. But the foundation is there.
Musah is an athlete before all else. His footballing skills are poor. The type of skills where he’s poor at is mostly the invisible ones (intelligence on the ball and ability to read situations). These are critical areas for development (though his one saving grace is his age so there’s still time to develop). You can be an athlete all you want, as long as those don’t develop the you’re basically a headless chicken running around. At this point in his career and over the course of last season I did not see an improvement in those areas of his development and is worrysome as Pioli does tend to develop players well. This is primarily why I dont rate him highly. He has great physical attributes apart from height and jumping ability. But that doesn’t make a footballer. His progress in development as a player is different to that of Kessie and Tonali for instance. Both those guys showed signs of improvement over the course of a season and much better decision making processes on the pitch. But like I said, Musah has time and it’s the only redeeming quality.
Agreed.
We develop players and just as they’re getting into their groove we get bored, distracted and see an opportunity to do another flip.
But there’s a huge difference between Kessie at the beginning and Musah. Kessie at least looked like he knew what he was doing. I find it quite unbelievable Musah has made it this far by dribbling around like some kid in the playground. I’ve never seen a player at any level of 11 a side dribble so aimlessly.
Most players learn the importance of passing and movement.
I hope I’m wrong, not least because it would save us another reset, but I really struggle to see how he can improve if he lacks basic footballing awareness.
Kessie also grew up in Gasperini’s tough but stellar school. Who has Musah developed under?
Exactly…
There’s no excuses why a professional football player can’t pass the ball 5 yards.
Ok one, and here’s where I’ll give him and the others some benefit of doubt, Pioli’s system was quite confused with inverted full backs and inverted midfielders and inverted everything else.
I do accept they would have complicated the play more making it harder to move the ball quickly and incisively (which ironically was a feature of our title winning side).
I don’t know whether it was tactics or players, but Musah and Aldi were the worst.
“We develop players and just as they’re getting into their groove we get bored, distracted and see an opportunity to do another flip.” Exactly. And this is my fear that we would be constantly doing that from now on.
I agree on Musah too. Over dribbles and dribbles into danger. So much so we did concede a goal during the season because of this. Only age is saving him given his price tag. I just wish we all here had the same patience for CDK last year that we do now for Musah. It’s like all of a sudden people realize young players need time.
Yes kessie & hakan flop for 3 season but play well in their 4th season ( ACM finish runner up) . In the 5th season kessie help ACM get scudetto ( hakan already leave ) . It needs time and fonseca need to play yunus musah at centre of midfield to get full potential of YM but i hope he dont need much time like kessie to perform. With his young age 21 , he still have many years to improve
weird because they were praising him. I dont get these reporters anymore.
I’m very confused what type of player is this guy, he can’t defend so he is not a defensive midfielder, he can’t finish like seriously this guy has a terrible shooting… he has good speed and some decent technique. He seems to be like a Renato Sanches type of player, explosive midfielder but obviously he is very far from that but he is young so he could improve
…also 20-21. Needs to develop his game.
There was a comparison on this site last summer between Kessie, Musah, Florentino Luis and Amrabat. Based on evaluation criteria and statistics, Musah was the one who resembled Kessie the most. Practically identical player.
I hoped to see glimpses of him in Kessie role, instead he was used a wild card to run around and chase the ball be it in midfield, right wing or right back. He had no continuity.
This season I hope to see him in the role he was brought in to play, be it next to Fofana (if he comes) or as his understudy.
That is because gattuso coached both of them and he said if you are patient, musah will be the kessie of old…
Kessie was a monster in the defensive skills while thriving tactically, Musah his skillsset can’t offset athletic and stamina in addition to a good ability in drribling, decision making isn’t that impressive
🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🦅🦅🦅🦅🦅
The mental side of his game needs to catch up with his undisputed athleticism. He needs to make better passes and better decisions. This is one of the hardest things to gauge regarding the future of a player: whether they can mature in decision-making.
The raw material is there. I favor keeping him.
No Acmilan should not sell musah, infact musah is Good what Acmilan should do is to keep him and sell others like Loftus cheek,pobega,and Yacine adli
Musah has a big future and it should be at Milan
Musah is erratic and he very often puts together a good run then spoils it by not passing fast enough or producing a poor pass or a poor finish. His efforts most times seem to be purposeless and unproductive.
However, in his defense, other than being young still with a ceiling to hit, he was never able to consistently learn a position, because Pioli kept changing his position all over the place; I’ve never seen a coach do this to a player to that extent; Pioli completely mismanaged Musah’s development.
I am hopeful that with the proper guidance and ONE position to learn, Musah will still develop into a fine player. Fonseca likely will be way better for Musah than Pioli was, given Fonseca’s reputation of being able to work well with young players.
No, let’s not sell Musah. Let’s, instead, properly develop him; then he will be likely to pay off for Milan.
It’s pretty comical to read some of the posts on here regarding Musah – that we should give him time, he’s young, he’s raw and just needs better coaching lol
Now all valid points and I don’t necessarily disagree However, when those same fans are asked about a player like Thiaw (or going back CDK for that matter) it’s the complete opposite: he’s trash; sell immediately; and are not willing to give him the SAME luxury of time and patience that they are suddenly giving Musah – who has shown much much LESS in the time on the pitch (compared to Thiaw) he has been given and is very very RAW. Musah also cost a whopping 20M – Thiaw 8M. 20M for a BACKUP RAW player was a mistake. That is a huge fee to pay for a player with a LOT of growing to do and who nobody else wanted.
Now I like Musah he works hard – BUT assuming we sign Fofana (or another cheaper DM) – where exactly will he play? Reinjders is a lock and Fofana would be as well. If we play w double pivot he’s a back up. If we play 3 across maybe he plays (if we sell Benny) – but then that means that 2 out of the 3 Pulisic/RLC/Chuk – sits – for Musah? If we are brining Chuk off the BENCH again – that makes him a huge BUST amd Moncada should be canned for blowing 30M on a backup to go along w 20M on Musah – a back up (Sound familiar Gerry?) So ya I don’t see that happening. So 20M for an expensive a RAW backup is bad business. So if we can recoup that $ an invest elsewhere it would be wise.
Exactly my sentiment. I had posted the same further down. Ppl seem to be for some strange reason ok with giving Musah the benefit of the doubt when other players similarly young also took a while to get going. But they choose not to have the same patience being afforded 🤷♂️
It’s because he’s American. Which is the only reason we bought him and overpaid for him on the first place. He cost what Pulisic cost lol. Comical. Gerry thought he could market American players to America. Ya I agree for Pulisic who is actually good. But Musah?? Maybe he gets there in a few years but that’s a big maybe
Musah non-transferable?? I almost think that he is untransferable because nobody want him.. Ahahahah… A midfielder with no vision? You know what? I always turn off my tv right away when I see musah is on starting eleven or when he come in as a subs..!! I don’t hate him.. I just don’t like how he always ruin the attack that his tim mate already build by dribling a bit then passing to his team mate in the back of the field..!! Wtf??🥱
I even can’t understand why this player is in this club instead of CDK, Daniel Maldini or even Luka Romero..!!