Strength in depth is not an expression that AC Milan fans have become too acquainted with in recent seasons, but they might finally be watching a squad that has more options than just the 11 who start games.
Looking at the 2022-23 side as an example, it was clear to see where the gaps were. Olivier Giroud and Rafael Leao were overworked, the playmaker spot was a void because Charles De Ketelaere didn’t adapt, and the right wing never had an established starter.
Moving beyond the attack, the midfield duo of Ismael Bennacer and Sandro Tonali were probably used a bit too much and it was because they had to be. Neither Rade Krunic nor Tommaso Pobega offered close to the same guarantees, while Aster Vranckx didn’t gain Stefano Pioli’s trust.
The 2022 summer transfer window was regarded by many as a negative one because it didn’t really bolster the depth available to Pioli at all, with various factors to blame. A whole 18 months later, things have very much changed.
Big impact
As our colleagues at SempreMilan.it write, the 2023 summer transfer window has so far brought 24 goals out of a total of 51 scored by the Rossoneri across all competitions, i.e. the league, Champions League and Coppa Italia.
More specifically in Serie A, the goals contributed from new signings is 19 out of 41 – therefore almost half – which is a stark comparison to the numbers from last season overall.
Last year there were only five goals from the summer signings: three from Tommaso Pobega (who actually returned from a loan and was not a new acquisition) and two from Divock Origi.
The 2023 class of summer additions also surpassed the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons: in the first campaign the new players scored 17 goals in total, in the second – that of the Scudetto – the goals scored were 22.
Considering exclusively Pioli’s tenure as head coach, only the first season – in which he took over from Marco Giampaolo – saw more goals scored by the new signings. In 2019-20 the number was 38, thanks above all to Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ante Rebic.
The breakdown
Who exactly have been the most prolific contributors out of the 10 signings Geoffrey Moncada and co. welcomed a few months ago? Who has justified the investment the most?
Christian Pulisic: 7 goals, 6 assists
At the moment, the American winger Milan’s most prolific acquisition, with 13 goal contributions in 27 appearances. The former Chelsea man averaged a goal every 276 minutes, managing to get on the scoreboard six times in the league and once in the Champions League.
What is interesting is the rather anomalous distribution of goals for Pulisic: he scored three times in his first month at Milan and then another three times in the next four months, but he did have a great December.
Luka Jovic: 6 goals, 1 assist
Milan’s second-best signing in terms of goals scored is Jovic, who arrived in the final hour of the mercato and – by Pioli’s admission – needed time to get into shape which meant he struggled for minutes initially.
Since December, however, his season has changed radically with six goals scored in his last seven games played and an average goal of one every 114 minutes at almost one per game.
Noah Okafor: 4 goals, 1 assist
The player who arguably has the most impressive numbers among Milan’s new signings is Okafor, who been the victim of several muscle injuries that kept him away from the pitch for a good part of the season.
However every time he was called into action he almost always responded by scoring: he has four goals in just 412 minutes played in the league (average goal of one every 103 minutes).
Ruben Loftus-Cheek: 3 goals, 2 assists
The English midfielder immediately started well at Milan, scoring a goal in his first month as a Rossoneri player, and then following that up with a four-month fast.
That ended with the two goals netted in the last three games – meaning all three have come in the league – while those similar finishes against Empoli and Udinese lower Loftus-Cheek’s average to a goal every 373 minutes played.
Tijjani Reijnders: 2 goals, 3 assists
The Dutch midfielder has struggled to find a way to score more regularly this season, given that it took him 12 games to get his name up on the scoreboard in the win against Lecce.
Reijnders scored another goal against Monza and recorded an assist in the match played against Roma. An average of a goal every 1204 minutes is not brilliant though, especially for a player who hit double digits last season with AZ Alkmaar
Samuel Chukwueze: 2 goals, 1 assist
Chukwueze is still without a goal in the league, where he only collected one assist in 504 minutes played, but the winger is a player who seemed to like the ‘European nights’.
In the Champions League, the Nigeria international scored against Borussia Dortmund and Newcastle United, obtaining an incredible goal average of one goal every 83 minutes. Now he must transfer that domestically, especially given he was the most expensive purchase.
Super subs and a spread threat
What is the benefit of having so many contributions from the new signings, and subsequently having more options to call upon? Well, the answer is two-fold.
The goal scored earlier in the month by Yacine Adli against Roma means that Milan have had 12 different scorers in the league after 21 rounds of action.
Only two teams in Serie A have more different goal scorers than the Rossoneri: Juventus and Frosinone, both of whom are on 13.
Here is the list of all the Rossoneri players who have scored in the league in 2023-24: Giroud, Pulisic, Theo Hernandez, Leao, Okafor, Tomori, Loftus-Cheek, Reijnders, Jovic, Jan-Carlo Simic, Chaka Traorè and Adli.
Rather than being too reliant on Leao and Giroud to come up with the goods no matter the occasion, Pioli has been able to embrace a more spread attacking threat which makes his side more unpredictable.
Not all of these players can start, however, which is why the head coach has to be good at managing rotations but also bringing players off the bench who are best placed to serve the cause.
A perfect example of this would be the 3-2 win over Udinese at the weekend, when Jovic and Okafor each netted off the bench – both inside the final 10 minutes and the latter in added time to win it – to steal the victory.
That continued a positive trend: nine goals have arrived from players brought on during games for Milan this season, which is the most in Serie A above Roma and Napoli (both eight).
Okafor and Jovic have three goals, then Pulisic, Traore and Simic join the list. It is also further proof that the new signings are doing well.
While Milan might not be on course for multiple trophies as this demanding fanbase expects, the goal is to accelerate further in the coming weeks after winning four on the spin in the league.
