AC Milan made a substantial effort to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta in the January mercato, and now his compatriot Christopher Nkunku may be stepping up.
After joining in the summer, there were questions about whether Nkunku was the man needed for Massimiliano Allegri’s frontline. So, it seemed that he could leave in January to make room for Mateta. But a deal could not be done.
The new Mateta?
In his first chance after the mercato closed, though, the Frenchman showed up once again, proving that he can be relied upon. With several injuries to contend with, playing in an unconventional front two, the forward made an impact against Bologna, adding another goal to his tally.
As MilanNews writes, he has scored five times in his last six appearances, stepping up with others absent. Additionally, he is showing consistency that the Rossoneri have rarely seen from forwards in the past few years.
Whilst not a target man, there were elements of that style in his game against Bologna, with him shielding the ball well and bringing others into the game. So, the report questions whether he can be the Mateta in his own way.
However, the damage may already be done with Nkunku, and there are questions about whether he could leave in the summer after the attempt to swap him for Mateta. A few months ago, this may have only been seen as a good thing; in a few months, it could look like the worst case scenario.
Nkunku is a second striker. Allow him to play as one. Don’t expect hold up play from him and you won’t be disappointed. He looked like the second striker with RLC on the field last game and looked better.
Round pegs into round holes.
Exactly. I’m not even sure why they are using Mateta and Nkunku in th same sentence. Nkunku has always been a 2nd striker or winger. He is not a striker and he will never be one.
It’s frustrating watching Allegri play him as a target striker and when he doesn’t play well everyone is blaming him for it when the coach should know better not to use him as a striker.
We haven’t loss a game in the league when we played Nkunku as a second striker with RLC as a striker. Let that sync in.
I wish Milan coaches would stop putting square pegs in round holes. For example, Leao is not a striker. He’s a winger and he will never be able to play as a false 9 like Mbappe, Dembele and Raphina. So if Allegri continues to play 352 then we might as well sell Leao.
Yeah. Not playing Nkunku as second striker isn’t playing up to his strengths.
Even when he was scoring in Germany non-stop it was as a second striker.
I think Nkunku-Fullkrug should be tried. Fullkrug as striker once he’s fully recovered.
Fulkrug played really well with his back to goal against Fiorentina. Held up play nicely, set up Pulisic at least twice, clear chances too. We should definitely quit the Leão CF experiment. Seems like a waste of his innate talents .
Nkunku is fully capable in playing at a high level for this team. Let him. As a second striker that is.
I’d like to see Nkunku and Fullkrug playing, with Fullkrug as striker.
Only if the goal is 4th spot. Realistically, Inter has a better 5th striker. You don’t win titles with players like Nkunku.
He scored 3 penalties out of those 5 goals…He had 2 good games in total since coming to Milan. We can’t compete with Inter who has 5 strikers that are better than Nkunku if a player has a few average games and he is good enough for Milan suddenly?
5 goals in 6 games is good enough for NOW isn’t it? All of a sudden penalties don’t count?? Remember, Pulisic’s pk miss against Juve? 2 pts dropped which would have put Milan within 3 pts of Inter instead of 5. Italy lost a WC due to Baggio’s pk miss. scoring them is huge and not easy, and it matters. Actually, what am I saying…maybe they don’t count…forgot where I was for a second.