AC Milan are struggling in multiple departments at the moment and the attack is certainly among them, with two players not providing the contributions expected.
La Gazzetta dello Sport recall that Ante Rebic has played just 678 minutes this season having netted three goals, while Divock Origi has been plagued with injury problems and has scored only one goal in 17 games.
Rebic has always been one of Stefano Pioli’s most trusted performers. He scored 11 goals in 2019-20 from the 20th matchday onwards, and 10 in 2020-21 (including a hat-trick against Torino), so the return to the Champions League was also thanks to him.
The former Eintracht Frankfurt man is not in good form though. He scored two goals in the first game of the season against Udinese, but since then he has struggled to a total of three goals and two assists in 16 games.
Rebic is 29 years old and has a contract until 2025 at €3.5m net per season, though sadly he no longer seems to follow his reputation of being the man to turn to when there is a crisis that needs resolving.
Origi arrived from Liverpool on a free transfer and has done virtually nothing except for the goal he scored in the 4-1 win against Monza. He has played 580 minutes, with five games as a starter and 12 as a reserve.
Against Inter he played about half an hour without leaving a mark, and in the Champions League he has not made an impact. He also missed eight league and cup games through injury, so the Belgian seems a completely different player from the one who was often decisive at Liverpool.
The 27-year-old earns €4m net per season, which is the same as Theo Hernandez and Ismael Bennacer, and it is more than Mike Maignan, Sandro Tonali and Fikayo Tomori get who are pillars of the team. A high figure for just one goal.
This is the most exhausting thing with this Milan squad. I get that 41 years old Ibra is injured. But all the back up players are always injured, forcing the starters to play even. Rebic, Ballo, Florenzi, Origi if it wasn’t for the world cup at some point we would have been without Messias and Saele…
I don’t understand why Pioli hasn’t played Rebic on top as a striker to rest Giroud a little lately.
Because Rebic just recovered from a long injury.
They are handling this squad disastrously . For 7 million net you can bring one very good rotation player from summer. And both of these guys can be replaced by primavera players such as Chaka Traore, Lorenzo Colombo can be used for Origi, and swap for free 1 excellent player with salary in range of 7 million.
Pod hitno sve RASTJERAT ! Od 26 igrača samo 6može ostat ovo ostalo sve ŠKART. !!
Disaster
could have signed belotti instead of origi, his contract should be terminated after this season
Should have signed Kolo Muani, who was free, young, and not injury prone.
BTW Origi has 1 serie A goal and 1 assist this season for Milan.
Belotti has 0(ZERO) Serie A goals, 0(ZERO) assists this season for Roma
Being injury prone and relying on athleticism over technical quality is a terrible pair of characteristics to have at the same time. Both have these and need to be moved on as soon as possible, or at the very least not relied upon!
We have or have been missing like 50% at least of our key squad for such a long time. This season it’s been particularly vital since without Zlatan there is no real leader when it gets tough. But it is also tough to work even harder after winning and not allow fatigue or contentment to set it – or I’m too good for this so I don’t have to run the extra 20 m on or off the ball. The squad and its individual players cannot be blamed for winning titles in the last decade. And yes, investments would be nice but a serious investigation into how Milan can always be in the top ranking of injured players in Europe over the last decade or so would be more important. Keep in mind this is presumably under different coaches, with different players, different management and owners, and at one point different medical team although when it’s up to the latter it is too late. Milan must be doing something wrong with its training, or Milanello is cursed.