Former AC Milan midfielder Riccardo Montolivo has admitted that he wanted to see the Rossoneri sign Joshua Zirkzee, but he thinks Alvaro Morata is underrated.
Speaking during an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport, the Italian was asked about a host of topics across the entirety of Serie A. The questions on Milan focused on the attack and the failed pursuit of Zirkzee.
Milan appeared destined to sign the Dutch striker from Bologna given his €40m release clause but the deal dragged on thanks to the commission demands of his agent.
Manchester United ended up triggering the release clause and they were willing to pay the agent what he wanted, so the move went through. That meant Milan changed their approach and secured a €13m deal for Alvaro Morata instead.
As Montolivo explains, he is a different sort of striker than Zirkzee but has plenty of quality to offer the team.
“No, even here we are in the presence of two different players. I would have liked to see Zirkzee at AC Milan because he would have enhanced the runs of Leao, Pulisic, and Loftus-Cheek. He was, in short, the ideal offensive director for the Rossoneri, but Morata is an underrated player and, in the quality-price ratio, is a perfect buy,” he said.
“On his own, he does not solve the goal-scoring problem; together with an old-fashioned centre forward, however, he could form a well-matched pair. Milan’s problem is the team, which needs to be strengthened, not who leads it. Fonseca is an excellent coach, he comes from two seasons in France done very well. The prejudice against him is unfair.”
The other Milan player that Montolivo spoke about was Rafael Leao. The Italian appears to be very frustrated by the perceived lack of progression from the Portuguese winger who he thinks is only using part of his potential right now.
“It seems to me that his current ‘maximum’ is enough for him. He seems to be content with being a great player – because he is – but he must realise that he is only exploiting 50 per cent of his potential. I think he can do much more, but something has to click inside him. My feeling is that with him you need a little more stick and a little less carrot. But I have confidence and hope he can have a great championship,” he said.
Morata is an underrated player and, in the quality-price ratio, is a perfect buy.
Ouch and true. Morata is very underrated by many, including many here on SM. True he is not a great goalscore, but he adds so much more to the time.
But the quality-price ratio comment gotta hurt.
he is not underrated. He was rated just right because all the negative things he had in his game were true. it was not made up to make him look bad or anything. now he is older and he probably ironed some of those negatives away.
Montolivo, for example, never improved with age, he was always cr@p.
How come, that professional players and managers in Spain NT, Atletico and Real Madrid, Chelsea and even at gobba di merda rate hime very very high?
Do they know less about football than some random guy on a wordpress website?
I think I’ll go with the professionals, sorry my fellow ACM fan.
As for Montolivo put some respect to his name. He was playing on one of the worst ACM side in recent history, and he always gave his heart for the shirt.
you just confirmed yourself he isnt underrated.
As for Montolivo, he was pure cr@p and has 0 respect from me. Wish he never came to the club. He is basically the poster boy for what was wrong with the club at the time
Tell me you never watched the team without saying it. D**khead🤡
Anyone who thinks montolivo was a good player or even an average one should go watch table tennis. Yall aren’t mentally capable of watching football
Montolivo has always done his maximum and was fair play, respectufull,
So did bertolachi. Yet people will instantly agree he was crãp. Go figure. Montolivo can go suck a horse díck and montolivo lovers can go wait for their turn on it
“sorry my fellow ACM fan.”
Sorry for what exactly?
Look, He’s our player now, I don’t think I have read where a fan outrightly condems Morata. I believe we all support him now and want him to succeed.
Just a few sentiments here and there, which is valid, and is part of the game. Even the great Pippo Inzaghi had certain sentiments around his play too, even a younger CR7 was criticised of dribbling too much. So my question is, who is Morata not to be criticised?
The pitch never lies. A players rating, being over or under as you think is earned on the pitch, and one thing is for sure, the pitch is a perfect judge. Every sentiment or criticism a player generates emanates from his play.
Instead of defending such criticisms, good players absorb them and correct their play to become better players. That’s what differentiates the average, good and the best players.
That was Montolivo’s problem, that’s why he will always be remembered as an average player, because in his head, when people criticised him, he felt he was being underrated, instead of absorbing those criticisms to generate a better version of himself.
That also leads to the Leao traction, every criticism targeted at him is a tool for him to improve and be a better player. As we all can see, a better Leao will definitely be a world beater. But the worst part Leao can thrive now is the Montolivo path and believe he is being underrated.
So Kristian, chill, I think it’s needles for you to keep trying to defend Morata as if you orchestrated his signing. At the end of his playing career he will always do a reflection and maybe curse some of you who kept on defending him.
Remember Quaresma? I remember watching an interview with tears in his eyes, he was saying, looking back at his career and the potential he had, he now feels he could have achieved more, and I’m like, but I thought in his playing days, they said he was underrated. The pitch never underrates no-one. He is not an underrated player, he is a wasted potential, and I hope I will not have to use these same words when referring to Leao someday.
*CR7 brutally criticised by media, fans and even coach Ferguson, he listened and improved his game, today he’s a hero.
*Montolivo, Quaresma ét al who see criticism as being underrated are remembered today as either average players or wasted potentials.
I remember that awesome run against Bayern in the champions league when he was playing for Juve. Hope we can see a glimpse of that Morata
Pure crap 🤣
U are always crying and make stuff up.
Forza Alvaro ❤🖤❤🖤
This is nice..
read up.
*http://www.milanobsession.com/2016/05/why-i-hate-montolivo.html*
Underated by experts like you on websites like this.
Sure he wasn’t world class, no dount about it. But in his defense he was playing alongside Muntari, Kevin Constante and Lapadula to mention a few. During those years all you could hope for was some grinta from the players, and he gave us just that.
You hate him, don’t hate on players from a club you ar supposed to support. Merda and gobba di merda does that.
Are you really a ACM fan? I’ll give you, you are an excellent troll.
Montolivo said he is underrated. Us Web experts are not to he taken seriously imao.
Also go ahead and read the first sentence of my first comment on here. If you can find it… been drinking?
And I’ll hate whoever the fúck I want. A deàdbet log player who literally dragged Milan down is definitely one of them.
De jong, now that was grinta. Mortolivo? Snowflake, wanna be pirlo. Worst captain to ever stand of the football pitch not just of Milan but whole of football
Notice how nobody asked, you brain devoid virgin plastic. Sit down
Ian hurt my feelings.. Ian is a bully. Ian parents failed their job to raise a human being
You can’t really.
Because this is a Milan blog and you’re not supposed to go around slagging off our players.
Now if you go to an Inter blog you can slag off the Milan players and manager all you like. And their you might find your home.
Dude thinks inter blogs talk about Milan and stag our players..
You can whine about transfers but I can’t whine when we have players of sub par quality, now or in the past? Miss me with that