AC Milan head coach Stefano Pioli has hinted at a reluctance to move Alexis Saelemaekers to a right-back role amid his attacking struggles.
There has also been the suggestion floated by fans and pundits that Pioli should try fielded Saelemaekers in a deeper role both to get the best out of the Belgian but also to help cover for the absence of Alessandro Florenzi who is out for a month following knee surgery.
Saelemaekers did play as both a full-back and a wing-back for Anderlecht before his move over to Italy and with his work rate and hustle, it could be more of a useful fit given his struggles to provide goal contributions in the front four.
Pioli spoke to the reporters who gathered on the eve of the game against Genoa at San Siro about a number of different topics from the team’s scoring problems to the form of individuals, and he was asked about Saelemaekers.
Can Saelemaekers be a full-back?
“It’s more of a solution for the match in progress than from the start. The absences of Kjaer, Florenzi and Ibrahimovic are important: they know how to deal with these moments. I, however, trust a lot in the mentality of my players. We all know we have to do a little something more,” he said (via MilanNews).
Maybe he can play him as a… a… I got nothing. Just don’t play him. Put Rebic in instead, or Mirante, or even a bag of dirt, it won’t do much worse than Salad.
Try bench,it fits him the best just like the rest of ours “right wingers”