There is a real possibility that Christopher Nkunku gets the nod to make his debut on Sunday against Bologna, a report claims.
Calciomercato.com write that Milan hope to restore Nkunku to the glories of the 2021-22 season, when he finished fourth in the Bundesliga scoring charts thanks to netting 20 league goals for Leipzig. The previous year, the versatile Frenchman was named the best player in the German league.
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It seemed like the prelude to a five-star career, a world-class player, but in reality he has struggled to keep that momentum going. His time at Chelsea brought more disappointment than joy to the 27-year-old, between physical problems and the emergence of a phenomenon like Cole Palmer.
However, for Igli Tare and Giorgio Furlani, Nkunku’s talent can shift the balance of power in Serie A because it is certainly closer to the Bundesliga than the Premier League.
Investment and role(s)
A club like Milan, particularly attentive to financial and budgetary stability, will only invest €37m plus €5m in a player if they firmly believe he can make a difference at all levels. To dismiss Nkunku’s acquisition as a mere high-quality bench option would be a gross misjudgment.
Tare and Furlani expect Christopher to play a lot and well. The club have already approved of him, now it’s up to Allegri and his ability to consistently find a tactical solution that also improves the individual.
Allegri was very honest after the Lecce match when he described Nkunku as a player of great quality, but one who will give him some thinking to do beyond his tactical positioning, which at present is still being worked on and defined.
Nkunku loves playing as an attacking midfielder, his favourite role, but it is not an option in Milan’s 3-5-2. Max has spoken extensively with the player over the past week, noting his great availability as well as an innate willingness to sacrifice and work hard every day.
Nkunku’s career has been a constant push out of his comfort zone: at PSG at the start of his career, he played as a midfielder and has since played in every attacking role: attacking midfielder, second striker, winger and false nine.
Allegri must study him to fully understand how to maximise his potential. Against Bologna, he’s very likely to make his debut in the second half. After all, only three years have passed between 2022 and today, not an eternity.
3421 is the only thing that makes sense. Putting puli at wingback would be disastrous. That would limit our midfield options to only two spots though. I still think a 4321 is better, it gives us 3 midfielder spots and keeps Estupiñán back further so he won’t get caught out in the middle of the pitch all the time. The only issue is we don’t have a true starting RB, although that is Salad’s original position so idk. All things considered, the xmas tree formation is what needs to happen since Allegri def won’t play a 433.
We have all these good wide players and we’re talking about a 4-3-2-1, or a 3-4-2-1 that will sit four of our six central midfielders. Nevermind that Leao isn’t a no. 9. Good grief.
Not surprised. He’s a really skilled player. If he can get back to his Leipzig form, he could be one of the best signings of the summer for us, and perhaps the entire league.
To all the guys prefering 3421 (I would love it too, right after the 433), one question, who are your subs in the attack?
You have
Pulisic – Leao – Nkunku (in whatever shape)
And then what are the subs?
RlC for Pulisic
Gimenez for Leao
Who for the Nkunku???
Well first we have to accept that we didn’t have a cohesive transfer window. So the team is unbalanced, which means we can’t have both the best starting 11 AND matching subs. Therefore, you have to choose one and I’d say having a strong 11 is more important so you can put games to bed and all that then you’ll have to change formation with subs. So if you started with a 3421 or 4321, you’d move to a 352 and add RLC or to still have an attacking option. You could also use RLC as one of the two CAM and keep the 4321. Rabiot and Modric can also both play as CAM and Ricci can play in deep lying (although we know that Modric apparently doesn’t want to do that) but you could keep the 4321 that way by using Rabiot or RLC since you most likely wouldn’t be subbing off both Nkunku and Puli at the same time. So there are options for subs but having to bench either Nkunka or Pulisic half the time is not acceptable nor is playing either of them way out of position. This team is not built well so we’ll have to pick our poison in a sense until they can fix the balance.
Nkunku**
Yeah but in the system with wingbacks, im missing one player in the subs, but myabe you can have 3 starters, 2 subs and 1 young sub like last time.
But in 433/4231/4321 I can see it. The 3 mentioned starters, and Gimenez, RlC and this time Salad as subs. But again im sad to put Salad in the subs.
The 3421 with RLC subbing one of the CAMs is hell of strong team I think. Just missing 1 explosive attacking sub, for the times you are loosing and have to change something, so you need to sub Pulisic or Nkunku with somewhat similar quality
yea, which is what still irks me about letting Liberali go. But Allegri wasn’t planning on using CAM’s so he let him go and then the management go and get an expensive CAM lol. So that confusion must have really bothered Allegri too. Liberali would be great there as a sub and be able to learn from the two starters. Salad may be able to play as a CAM too so I wouldn’t rule that out but we’d need a strong enough RB to start in that scenario. I would like to see if Bartesaghi or De Winter could do it. If that works out then Salad as a sub for Nkunku or Pulisic would be great. Rabiot is very effective as a CAM. He’s not explosive really but very effective. Also, sticking with 4 at the back gives you some wiggle room with 3 in the mid, so you can have Modric or someone join in the attack to break the lines and have Fofana sit back and protect when Modric goes forward. 3421 would require a little more work from Nkunku and Pulisic in defense and I think that would make us too vulnerable.
Finally someone on this site that can write a meaningfull comment, without crying for calabria or the management is the worst in the whole earth… 😀
Who indeed. Who would be the subs for the forwards in a 4-3-3 assuming Gimenez is no. 9? Pulisic and Saelemaekers (Leao and Nkunku starting on the wings)? Nkunku and Saelemaekers (Leao and Pulisic starting)? Who subs in for Gimenez? Who then is depth for RB where Athekane would be presumably starting? In 3-4-2-1, which of the CMs now sit on the bench? RLC, Fofana, Ricci and 35M-two month transfer saga-Jashari? It’s an insanely unbalanced squad. They went from midfield emergency to midfield only and nothing else.
The whole transfer dealing was strictly for financial considerations with a veneer of rebuilding the team.
If Puli goes for another 70-90 in the friendly against Japan he probably won’t start v Bologna.
Leao and Nkunku should start against Bologna.
Pulisic and Gimenez have matches on Wed/Thurs and only will return to base on Fri/Sat.
They won’t be ready to start on the Sunday.
That’s true, so may work out for that game to rest Pulisic but for Nkunku’s first game to be against Bologna in a must win match may be a little much. But either way, if you start Pulisic and only play him for 60 minutes, if they aren’t in the lead at that point then you’re putting a lot of pressure on Nkunku to change things so depending on his personality, Allegri will figure out to either start Nkunku or replace Puli early.
Or Start Pulisic and Nkunku, and bring Leao off the bench?
It’s a real headache right now because of NT match schedules.
I think Allegri is set on having RLC starting. He seems to like his size and potential more than anything. We screwed up not signing a striker that fits our system and who could compete with Santi. Now we don’t seem to be able to field a team with our best players on the pitch. How do you put Leao, Puli, Nkunku, RLC, Modric, Salad, and possibly Rabiot all together?
How would you have put them together with an additional striker? What about Ricci and Jashari (when he regains fitness)? A lot of good players are going to be sitting on the bench. Meanwhile we have zero depth and questionable quality at fullback/wingback, and questionable quality at CB. The transfers made vs. what Allegri want’s to play are completely in conflict.
With Pulisic and Gimenez playing Thursday morning for USA and Mexico, I’d expect the front two to be Leao and either Saelemaekers or Nkunku anyway.
4321 Christmas tree is our only hope
With what we have we must play 3 players in the middle. Because of practically no full backs, we will also need a backline of 3, leaving Leao, Puli, Nkonku and Geimenez for the 2 places in attach.
We might pay for not buying defender more than for not buying in attach.
Pulisic played Tuesday pm US time/very early Wednesday am Italy time. I would be surprised if he was not back in training on Thursday in Italy.