AC Milan have struggled to find a reliable number nine in recent years, and they hope that Victor Boniface will buck the trend.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Milan’s No.9 shirt has been ‘cursed’ since Pippo Inzaghi’s days, with one exception: Olivier Giroud. The Frenchman was the star of the 2021-22 Scudetto-winning team and a key man until the last day of his contract.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
The oddity is that Olivier, then a top-tier striker, arrived as a deputy to Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Only Zlatan’s injury allowed him to take a step up in the pecking order. Once Giroud said goodbye, it feels like there has been something lacking.
Recent examples
Last season’s squad included six strikers, in various capacities. Alvaro Morata was supposed to be the starter, acquired from Atletico Madrid for less than €15m. He lasted six months. In January, he moved on loan to Galatasaray and now to Como without returning to Milan.
The spot was then filled by Santi Gimenez, who remains an unknown quantity. Other attempts have already been rejected. Divock Origi suffered a significant failure, close to having his contract terminated after a virtually nonexistent contribution: two goals for Milan in 36 games.
An unsuccessful attempt to bounce back at Nottingham Forest followed, and last season he stayed at home. He earns a salary of €4.5m net per year, and there is talk of a mutual termination.
Tammy Abraham was signed on loan from Roma a year ago. His 10 goals in 44 games weren’t deemed enough to warrant renegotiations with the Giallorossi, so he made a stopover in the capital, then headed to Turkey to join Besiktas.
Luka Jovic also didn’t earn a contract renewal. He left as a free agent, signing for AEK Athens. The sixth player was Francesco Camarda, too young for such responsibilities. Milan loaned him to Lecce precisely to get him back more mature at the end of the season.
The story
These attempts add to the older precedents (from Destro to Fernando Torres via Luiz Adriano) and speak of instability in the penalty box. Not even the youngsters (Lazetic, bought for €4.5m and now at Aberdeen, Scotland) or the experienced Mario Mandzukic lived up to expectations.
This list of examples, however, does not and has not discouraged a new challenge. Boniface has unquestionable qualities, but the physical uncertainty is crucial. And Milan, to push for the title, need a guaranteed scorer of goals.
Between Santi Gimenez, the adapted Rafa Leao, and the new Boniface – if the deal goes through – Allegri might not feel 100% covered.
When I read all those names suddenly Boniface looks much better.
Yes but you’re almost cursing him by giving him the 9 🤣
Not really anymore, Giroud did fine in it. No reason Victor cant too
I think Tammy actually did well and probably should have been kept. He also had 7 assists to go along with his 10 goals in limited playing time, mostly coming off the bench.
But he was only on a loan without any options and the same goes for Saelemaekers as the deals was only striked on the last day of the Mercato. If reports are to be believed then the two clubs had gentlemen agreements where Roma intially wanted to sell him for 25mil and Milan wanted roughly 12-15 mil for the Belgian. That changed over the season as Saelemaekers performed beyond expectations so Milan instead wanted 25-30 mil to sell. Ranieri even made it clear in May or something that they would like to keep him but Milan didn’t want to let go of him as Allegri likes the player. Then in the case of Abraham and if my memory serves me correct he was earning more than any Milan player which all combined probably made it less feasible. I will agree though that he did pretty good in g/a contribution pr. minute played.
Boni should take Number 22 or 17
The reason some of those names failed wasn’t even entirely down to them, it was the support they received(none). Torres joined at a time when we could barely string 12 passes together, then immediately went and consistently put up double digits with Atleti. Jovic was hardly ever given more than 5min to play, but when he was played he scored and linked up well, never made sense we didnt keep him. Camarda also wasn’t played at all. Lazetic didnt even make an appearance i can remember seeing. Morata was certainly underwhelming in his performances overall, but definitely wasn’t helped by the mess of Fonseca ball. Not everyone here is down on the bottom level of Origi and Adriano
Verifiable shitstorm at no. 9 since basically Ibrahimovic’s first stint. While Ibra had 1.5 good seasons in his return, and Giroud was good for about two seasons, both arrived late in their careers and where always short term solutions. We basically have not had a good, reliable striker in his prime years since 2012. Ownership needs to realize that to get a reliable goal scorer in their prime they’re going to have to spend at least 50M. This is the real problem. Just look at what’s going on now. Boniface for 29M (if option taken) and then this other unknown striker from Sporting for another 25-28M. Why not just combined the two sums and get a reliable young striker at 50-60M? Instead we have a health risk and another unknown. In 2026 we’ll be doing this again, and in 2027, and in 2028, and so on.
They’ve signed at least one striker every single season for over 20 seasons, and some seasons they signed 2 or more.
What do people expect?
Signing another new striker now just a few months after signing Santi Gimenez is just idiotic.
It’s idiotic? You are the idiot. Do you think a squad can have only one striker (Santi)? What if he gets injured or suspended??? Of course another one is needed.
Just try learning from history.
20 years and 100s of strikers, and you still won’t learn.
Isn’t the plan to start with Leao and Pulisic, and then Gimenez is on the bench?
So what the plan now is to take a striker who was just signed in January and make him the 4th choice striker?
Or is it to undo all of pre-season and break up the new Leao and Pulisic pairing?
What actually is the plan?
Other than signing endless players and watching them fail?
Maldini’s heir, I really respect you. You are a matured person whom never insult, that’s a quality many people lack in this site
Just feeling it is not a very good signing.
If they have to rely on him as the striker, Milan probably won’t be in top 6
The player nobody is talking about is publishing,nondribbles skila and more selfish with the ball,always kill the counter attack of the team,
Which need to be sold out