Franco Ordine has praised Youssouf Fofana for the impact that he has made since joining AC Milan, likening him to the legendary Marcel Desailly.
When Fofana eventually arrived from Monaco in August, many believed that he would be the most important addition of the entire window due to the fact that the squad was so sorely lacking a more defensive-minded midfielder.
It took him some time to adapt having joined the rest of the squad late, but the France international really showed just what he can offer the side in terms of balance both during the derby victory against Inter and Friday’s win over Lecce at San Siro.
Ordine published a column in today’s edition of Il Giornale and he spoke about Milan’s turnaround in the past couple of games and the key architects behind it, with his comments relayed by Radio Rossonera.
“The six days that turned the Milan world upside down have a footballing explanation. The improved physical condition is one of the factors highlighted by the Portuguese coach himself who thus underlined the finally valuable contribution offered by the latest arrivals,” he said.
“In this last list, the identity of Fofana stands out, a midfielder with defensive characteristics applied to the Rossoneri defence like a safety lock. In his (French) registry office, in his physical structure and in particular in the position he has carved out for himself, he seems like a modern re-edition of Marcel Desailly.
“Fonseca reserved an unexpected treatment for Leao: he put the captain’s armband on his arm so as to involve him directly in the refereeing of matches, a task carried out quietly by Matteo Gabbia, another surprise in terms of personality and performance.”
Can we stop with this please ?
We compared Loftus-Cheek to Ruud Gullit and look what happened.
Fofana is an inferior player to Desailly and is also different.
Its a stretch.
Desailly was a centre back who played in midfield for us
I don’t care for these comparisons with former players and this one doesn’t feel particularly accurate, but I am pleased that people are starting to realize that Fofana is actually a very good player who is growing into the DM role; it’s a role he wasn’t particularly familiar with, with his previous coaches using him more in the offensive phase, but he is showing that he can indeed evolve into a good DM.
People doubted him a lot after his first games for Milan, which is really unreasonable. During the long transfer negotiations, Fofana was isolated by Monaco and wasn’t even practicing with their squad. He arrived to Milan off match-form, and he was joining a new league, a new coach, and a new team. How could we expect fabulous performances from day one? People sometimes are very impatient and don’t recognize that players need some time to gel.
I am quite convinced that this was a very good signing and Fofana will be a big asset for Milan this season.