In the past few years, AC Milan have struggled to find an apt goalscorer. They have tried in the mercato, but the results have been poor.
The centre-forward struggles at Milan are not new, and since Olivier Giroud, there have been questions asked if they have had a proper striker. Of course, others have filled in to lessen the need for one. However, the point remains.
Ultimately, the Rossoneri have spent a significant amount of money without many returns. In other words, they are quite heavily in debt to the mercato, and their crisis is not changing at this moment.
The (expensive) issues
As MilanNews writes today, the figure that the Diavolo have spent in recent years stands at more than €100 million. Noah Okafor, Alvaro Morata, Santiago Gimenez, and Christopher Nkunku each arrived with the hope of adding goals.
None of them really have done that, though. Gimenez’s Serie A drought stretches back to the end of last season. Nkunku has not scored a Serie A goal, and the other two have left, given they had no future at the club. Between them, just 21 goals in total, a dire figure.
This season, Rafael Leao and Christian Pulisic have had to be funnelled into the middle, and whilst they are getting goals, they need a focal point. The next few months will be interesting, Milan need to act, for everyone’s sake.
It is like you keep buying cheap cars to replace one another and they end up costing you more along the way than just buying a brand new reliable car up front. It is really hard to swallow the Nkunku purchase. Flabbergasted.
Nkunku is not a striker. Gimenez is…a terrible one at that. was his purchase hard for you to swallow?
– Christopher Nkunku is not a striker. He plays as a second-striker, as a left winger or as an offensive midfielder. So bringing in an injury-prone player who hasn’t done well as off late, to play in a position he isn’t particularly familiar with in a lew league and then wondering why he isn’t doing well defies common sense.
– Noah Okafor is also not a striker. He is only a striker when we have to excuse his poor performanes as a left winger and becomes a left winger when we have to excuse his poor performances as a striker. He played mainly in a 2 strikers system and can’t be explained to do well as a sole striker.
– Álvaro Morata and Santiago Giménez ARE in fact strikers, but spending a lot of money on a striker that was never a prolific goalscorer on the one hand, and a kid with confidence issues that was nurtured in a league known for poor defending on the other hand isn’t going to somewho make them better.
100M€ spent on a bag of sh!t doesn’t make that bag of sh!t worth anything.
If we want to complain about underperformance from strikers, get real ones and good ones first, then complain.
It’s still 100m for a whole lot of nothing though
Maybe it has something to do with YOU IDIOTS! Not the players. Nkunku is a false 9 at best, not a striker. He’s always played behind a striker. Gimenez is a #9 reliant on crosses and chances near the 6yd box, a playstyle we DONT DO. Leao has never been and never will be a #9, and neither is Pulisic. Okafor wasn’t a striker either, he’s the same as leao. Morata was never a fit for the system and never a super prolific goalscorer either, just a few season where he did better, mostly due to the creativity of others like griezmann next to him.
We haven’t gotten a true #9 replacement because you clowns keep signing players thay everyone under the sun knows isnt gonna work, EXCEPT YOU! Origi, Okafor, gimenez, nkunku, morata, all never made sense. Ironically the only players you had that genuinely made sense for our system was guess who, Luka Jovic. And you LET HIM GO FOR FREE! This is 100% on you idiots.
How many top strikers are actually there?
That old guy pellegatti keeps saying that if you spend 50-60 million you will solve the striker problem for Milan but he isn’t naming any strikers, just talking about money.
What strikers are out there that even if money was not an issue can be bought and solve Milan striker problem?
Maybe a handful. Haaland, Kane, Julian Alvarez, Lautaro, Osimhen, who else?
Almost every club is looking for a prolific striker because there aren’t that many.
Modern football k!lled the stereotypical striker who’s job is to score goals in favour of players who drop deeper, assist in the buildup, play to the wingers,…
But in our case, I’d say at least get a striker. Not second-strikers, not wingers, but actual ones.
And if you don’t get ones, at least keep those you had (Camarda, Jović and maybe buy Abraham).
Panichelli looks like one. I’ve seen that guy play twice only, on TV, but he looks like a better target than anyone else they’ve mentioned, including Lewandowski.
Now thats a much better argument than just spend 50-60 million on an unnamed striker and thats the solution.
Majority of the big money signings in football have failed. Most of the best players are those who were bought for little money.
I would have bought Tammy. He actually had a very good season at Milan last year.
Jovic has great qualities but there must be something behind the scenes with him as a professional that can explain why he has failed in his career. Also, he was rarely fit to play. How often out of the blue we’d read an article that he will miss time because of some physical problem last 2 years?
Camarda isn’t ready.
And isn’t Gimenez a pure striker?
add Mbappe, and I’d also add Lewandowski.
I agree top strikers are rare and you have to pay. That’s not the only way to go, though. You can get a top 25 striker and play to his strengths. Borriello, Bacca, and Piatek all managed double digits at AC Milan. For all the criticism, Vlahovic and Lukaku always reach double digits. Before his injuries, Duvan Zapata hit double digits on a regular basis. Krstović and Kean are young decent strikers. There are options out there. With good recruiting and coaching, a team can be greater than the sum of its parts. That’s what Milan have been missing the past two seasons. Let’s hope Allegri and Tare can fix this.
It is not just the strikers. We have seen this management make bad transfers all over the pitch: Joao Felix, Musah, Loftus-Cheek, Chukwueze, Bondo, Walker, Emerson Royal, Sottil, Romero…etc.
Don’t even get me started on some of the sales. It all comes down to bad planning and/or non-football people making football decisions. The same applies to the strikers:
1. Morata, Okafor, and Nkunku are all better suited to a two-striker system. We didn’t play with that until now.
2. Outside of Morata, none of the strikers brought in had proven themselves on a high level nor do they pass the “eye” test.
3. For people defending Tammy, he scored three Serie A goals last year. Lapadula, Kalinic, and Luiz Adriano all scored more during the banter era.
4. Funny enough, the outcast Jovic was the one that fit the bill. Despite fitness issues, he was the right profile of striker and had Serie A experience.
This is why I will always side with Maldini and Massara. After winning the Scudetto, they were given 50 million to spend which brought us CDK and Thiaw. Everything else was loans or free transfers like Origi. The team still reached the CL semi-finals that year and qualified for the following CL. This management has spent at least 300 million over three seasons and has nothing to show for it yet.
Tammy Abraham played a total of 1756 minutes as a Milan player in all competitions.
He had 10 goals and 7 assists in those 1756 minutes.
Leao 12 g, 13a in 3499 minutes.
Pulisic 17g, 12a in 3650 minutes
Reijnders 15g, 5a in 4861 minutes.
Those are the only 3 Milan players that were more productive than Abraham last season and they played double and triple more minutes than him.
Lapadula as a Milan player 8g, 3a in 1364 minutes
Kalinic as a Milan player 6g, 6 a in 2237 minutes
Luiz Adriano as a Milan player 6g, 4a in 1596 minutes.
Jovic as a Milan player 13g, 2a in 1935 minutes.
If you want to argue for him as a second or third option, that’s fair. He did well in the Coppa Italia and Super Cup. For me, I can’t say he earned a stay with three league goals; not when the team finished eighth in Serie A, did not win the win the Coppa Italia, and exited the CL in the group stage.
I think MKD is trying to show you that none of that failure was due to Tammy.
I understand that but we could say the same for the other strikers. Gimenez and Jovic were also scoring when given a run of games. The fact that Tammy automatically deserved to stay, not knowing the price or the next coach, is something I don’t agree with. Tammy looks good in hindsight because this current system suits him better than Gimenez. My point is that recruitment has been terrible the past two seasons all across the pitch. I agree that it is not all the strikers’ faults but after seeing Giroud consistently reach double digits for us in his late 30s, we have to honestly say these guys are a downgrade. With all the money wasted the past two seasons, spending a little extra on Vlahovic or Osimhen doesn’t seem crazy.
3 league goals for 4.5 million net is almost as bad business as Origi.
It was clear as a day that these type of players are not good enough for a club like Milan & should be avoided at all costs.
3 league goals for 4.5 million net is almost as bad business as Origi.
It was clear as a day that these type of players are not good enough for a club like Milan & should be avoided at all costs.
For the main striker position, i think the best way is to give what the coach ask for. Not the sporting manager think…
If management had put their ego first, they wasting money and time.
Terrible by Maldini… Oh wait….