For the second consecutive season, AC Milan have been left wanting more from their most expensive summer coup, and Pietro Mazzara has offered some insight into the thoughts of the club.
Following Milan’s signing of Charles De Ketelaere, the hype faded as the Belgian attacker failed to impress in his debut season. The following summer, the same hype was seen when the signing of Samuel Chukwueze was announced. However, his Rossoneri career has gone down a similar path so far.
The Nigerian winger arrived in the summer for a fee of €20million, with a further €8m available through bonuses. Until now, though, the Diavolo have not seen a return on their investment or any signs that they will get one.
The 24-year-old was highly impressive for Villarreal, but this has not translated in his first season in Italy, with the winger failing to consistently perform. Whilst there have been positive showings from him in the Champions League, his performances in Serie A have been regularly below the required level.
Pietro Mazzara has highlighted this in his column for MilanNews, against Empoli Chukwueze was handed a rare chance to impress from the bench, but he failed to make any impact, missing the chances he was given.
Mazzara follows this by stating, “Internally no one is happy with what is [or is not] being seen from the former Villarreal winger” which does not bode well for his future.
However, looking back to the case with De Ketelaere, he has excelled with Atalanta, which could cause the Rossoneri to act differently in their management of the Chukwueze situation, meaning they are in control of the situation.
Average dribble, average header, average speed, remind us of Samu and Saladmaker
I actually think Salad has quite a buy more talent. He showed glimpses of how creative he can be when he wasn’t as worried defensively.
Maybe if he actuallybhad more than 10min cameos, he could demonstrate showings of the player who used to abuse madrid and barca defenders. Give him a chance and let him find a rhythm
The difference between Pulisic playing at RW vs Chuk playing is night and day.
Chuk was Milan’s most expensive signing this year. He was expected to start at RW and Pulisic was going to be a backup across the attack since he’s versatile.
Instead, Chuk got benched and when give the opportunity, has played poorly. The worst part is, he doesn’t help out (at all) on the defensive phase. He was solely brought in to be the ‘Leao’ of the RW.
It’s really not up to the coach to convince the player, it’s up to the player to convince the coach. He’s not getting minutes because his current level is quite poor.
The fact is, MONEYBALL Moncada signed another ‘good’ player that doesn’t fit into Milan’s tactics. Moneyball man spent over 120mil this year buying players, far far more than Maldini ever got. You can see by the results this season how it has worked out.
Word. We’re in second and 8 points better than we were at this time last season, we have a RW that cost 20m and has 10 goals and 7 assists over 37 games, many of them match winners, while last season the two prior RWs had a grand total of 5 goals and 3 assists all season, and we have a AMC, that we own, that has 8 goals and 2 assists in 32 games vs 7 goals and 7 assists in 45 for Diaz, a player we didn’t own, we have a backup for Leao that has 5 goals, despite only being in the starting eleven 14% of the time, while last season we had a ghost. 1 bust out of 10. Not bad, I say. Meanwhile, CDK, Origi, Thiaw, Messias, Vranckx, Dest, Ballo-Toure, Lazetic. LOL. Thanks for playing.
We opened the books to spend even if you take Tonalis sale out of it.
Hopefully we get at least a minimum of return for it.
I’d like to report a murder. Pretty sure Meez is dead.
a scudetto do u remember? with low budget & salary cap, there’s flop but also got Z, Theo, Mike, Rafa, Tomo, Kalulu..
the new comers? maybe only Puli
Dude the scudetto is 2 years ago, the disaster is last season and if you remove Tonali sale it only cost around 40, Maldini should be smarter so he can get more money from sales
Stop with the nonsense. They had more money to spend because they sold Tonali in a great deal that was way more than he was worth. Unlike Maldini who let all of our most valuable players leave for free. That’s why Maldini didn’t have a big budget, it was his own fault. Even with Chuku, this years signings have done so much better than the previous 2 mercatos under Maldini.
Maldini never had a budget beyond 40 millions, if had would have had 80 millions, I think he wouldnt bring Musah-Cuhuweze-Reinjders
What? CdK alone cost 32+3, and dont forget thiaw, vranxk, messias, etc
Do i need to told you about scudeto season who he spent more than 40?
I agree. The talent is clearly there. I for one thought he had a decent showing against Empoli, and the shot at goal he took shows what can actually bring to the table, that we previously didn’t have. And this wasn’t his only positive showing in our shirt.
And to those asking whether a player of his type fits our system. For me it’s a clear yes. Our major offensive issue last season was the lack of contribution from the right, the clear bias we have for our left side. Getting a comparable threat on the right, someone who would attract more than one defender, would do wonders for our team. Pulisic who has been great so far, and is a fantastic addition to our squad, isn’t quite that person unfortunately.
You just don t get it !!!! Pulisic could play 3 positions , LW ,AM , RW ……… What a valuable player for the money . GO PULI !!!!!!
I see it the same. Chuk actually played better against Empoli. He was available, didn’t waste possession, he took his man earlier and had a good shot saved. He has to do much more but let’s not count him out just yet, with more confidence and belief he can play much better as he has shown in the CL in moments.
Tom and jerry have a lot of damage control bots hired as we can see from this comment section…and yes its real!
Stop the CL moments talk, even Suso didn’t need “CL moments”.
Suso was a one trick pony but he created chances with Bonaventura and others in midfield. In fact, the team shape skewed to the right back then.
On one hand the midfield isn’t really balanced and pioli fields a ghost as false 8/10 so less space created on the right (pulisic drives towards the box alone).
Plus, Serie A is not La Liga or UCL; regardless of our lack of control and creativity in midfield to shift opponents, there is simply no free space to operate.
Look at the games against empoli, udinese, monza and others.
Chukweze just has to step-up.
This is worse than De Kukulele. At least he had low salary, this guy is on 4M per season and we will never get rid of him.
4M is what packing peanuts cost in the EPL.
We can’t make a mistake like the C.D.K. ! If he was positively evaluated while he was in Spain, I doubt he forgot to play football in the meantime. Certainly it is not easy to find time to play and gain the confidence of every individual who needs it, when everyone is under the pressure of results. I agree that he did not justify the investment, but the problem is probably in the high salary he agreed, so the expectations of him are higher.
That’s why Chukwueze needs another season to be fully judged. If he’s this bad again next season, loan him out for season 3 to try to get some positive stats in before selling for highest offer in 2026.
Are we pretending that C.D.K is some amazing talent now because he has scored a few goals with Atalanta? Ok. If they had kept CDK he wouldn’t be doing any better here. He had plenty of chances last season. His confidence was shot, and he didn’t fit well into our system. It’s about fit, not time.
Re CDK: he still looks like a deer caught in the headlights at Atalanta!
But generally, sometimes it is time, not just fit. Look at Adli. There is something to be said about the different style of football played in Spain. I still think we should give Chuk another season in the first team and with actual chances to play. We judge in 2025.
True, but in Adli’s case he never got playing time. He literally never played. It’s not that he was given time and played badly. CDK was given plenty of time and Chuku has been given chances but has not shown anything.
SELL the ONE FOOTED WONDER and cut your losses . Give him more time ?????? He won t change, his right foot is DEAD WOOD !!
Internally, no one is happy with Pioli’s long ball tactics.
Get rid of Pioli and let a capable manager pull the best out these players.
With Inter so dominant, it highlights the difference.
What does that highlight? Inter has a superior squad. Who is Pioli not getting the best out of? Leao has developed into a world class player. THeo has developed into one of the best LBs in the world. Pulisic is having his best season ever. RLC is having a resurgence. Giroud has been having one his best seasons ever. Our bench players other than Chuku have been performing well. So maybe its just Chuku…
I know, nothing is ever the player’s fault.
If you like the player and believe in him, you need to invest time into his development. First year is hard especially from a different league. LIGHTS ARE BRIGHT at San Siro.
CDK is doing better albeit at a different club his second year. If Milan believes in his quality then keep him, play him and help him develop like Leao.
BUT Chuk has to show more. Puli hit the ground running and will be tough to dethrone on the RW. So Chuk needs to take accountability and show more.
Yep I think the jury is still out on him albeit he’s having a bad year. I’ve said this before, in Spain they play with the ball, in Italy they play with the body. I don’t see any reason to sell now as that would be selling low on a rather expensive player. Give him a full summer and if he flops next year then he’s a bust
Puli had already played for two major clubs, captains his national team, and been the subject of a 64m transfer before he got to us. All this by age 25. Chukwueze is 24 and just had his breakout last season at Villareal. World of difference.
Also, we do we need Pulisic to be dethroned? It’s like people are hoping Chukwueze turns into….Pulisic? Pulisic is still only 25 folks, and if he can give us 15-20 goal involvements per season (17 this season already), we need to look no further, nor do we need to pile even more pressure on Chukwueze to perform.
We don’t need to dethrone him. But we CAN use him in other positions if Chuk can hold his weight in the RW.
We’ve had this plenty of times in first seasons, Leao and Tonali were both players that needed a year to get into it and then took off. Kessie and Diaz both got better after their first seasons too. And we can see how CdK has gotten on this year.
Can’t write off a player after one season and no pre-season.
Those players did provide glimpses of their talents thought, Chuck however have not, its the least impressed I’ve been in a long time, rather have samu to be honest
Like some here, I’ve been really surprised in a positive way how good Pulisic has been for us, good going for him and us!
I am surprised Pulisic hasn’t broken down yet. That goes against most of his history – so in a way him not breaking down is a moneyball play. He deserves to be a starter and a team leader. Chuku will offer something different once he figures it out too. All he knew up until he came here was Villareal and Spain – he’ll come good. And it wasn’t a lot of money for a player with his speed, goals and potential.
Last – I support the moderator banning all posts containing the word moneyball including this one.
“Last – I support the moderator banning all posts containing the word moneyball including this one.” LOL, yes please. It would mean a de facto banning of Meez.
Serie A is less physically demanding that PL. that’s why RLC and Puli hold up better.
All Of You are Commenting on The Tactics I think The Main Reason we are lacking is Because We don’t have Anyone in The ST Role other than Giroud Who is OLD ,Okafor is Better at CAM just imagine
A Good ST like Sesko or Zirkee we will dominate for sure
And in Defense we need a CB of Tomori s level I guess the best option we have is Kalulu ,Thiaw has not impressed Me We need a Better Defender and we will dominate Europe we have reached the SF with a par team last year
Well , Anyways Forza Milan From India!
The same people who constantly berated Diaz (See what he’s doing at Madrid), then C.D.K. then most recently Tomori, Thiaw, Leao, Jovic and RLC are same people after Chuks. They have forgotten that he was injured at the beginning of the season before leaving for Afcon and his appearances have been cameo, his goal is why Milan is still playing in Europe. Always looking for a scapegoat to vent about.
Trash player
He skip pre season . His competitor puli play very well . There is AFCON too this season . In my personal opinion better give chukwu one more season . Maybe next season he can show his talent & skill.
Arjen Robben was a one trick pony too. But one of the best players I have ever seen. Keep blabbing
Chuk is a very good player, he just need more time to integrate into the team and also more appearances will help him.
You don’t write off player like that just after his first season.
Anyways i believe Milan will come good next season because am seeing positivity in these boys.