Luka Modric’s injury saw Ardon Jashari get a chance as the deep-lying playmaker against Sassuolo, but it didn’t exactly go to plan.
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La Gazzetta dello Sport begin their analysis by recalling Massimiliano Allegri’s words on Jashari, the man that Milan agreed a fee worth over €35m to sign from Club Brugge after a long negotiation in the most recent summer transfer window.
“You shouldn’t just look at whether a player does well one year and not so well the next. You need to evaluate everything from a 360-degree perspective; there are absolute values that don’t change,” the coach said.
A couple of weeks prior, he said: “With Jashari, the club made a great investment in a player of excellent quality. He had an injury, he returned, he had less playing time…
“But it’s not that he’s become a bad player. He’s had difficulties, he has great potential, he’s eager to learn: he’ll be an important player for the Milan of the future.”
The Swiss got a chance on Sunday but sadly he was among the worst on the pitch, swallowed up by getting very little help from those around him and by having very big boots to fill in terms of what Modric does.
The three problems
For those who observe carefully and don’t simply condemn Jashari without appeal, his qualities were evident throughout his 733 minutes this season. In strictly statistical terms, the only bright spot came at San Siro against Como, with a brilliant all-round game and a gorgeous assist for Rafael Leao.
Last summer was a draining one for the player and for Milan because Club Brugge – just as they had done with Charles De Ketelaere – hung on to get every penny. This disrupted his preseason, as Jashari trained alone and missed friendlies.
What are the three reasons that he failed on Sunday? The first problem: Allegri sees him primarily as a regista, and thus had Modric ahead of him all season. This ultimately impacted his playing time and thus his adaptation to a new league and a new club came slower.
Second problem: a collision in training with Santiago Gimenez resulted in a fractured fibula at the end of August, a problem that kept him out for two months. The effects of this are obvious: a long time on the sidelines that again hamper the settling in process.
Third issue: Jashari, with the €34m (plus bonuses) paid to Club Brugge, was the second-most expensive acquisition of the 2025 summer mercato. These are millions that weigh on your shoulders, when you play at San Siro, you wear the Milan shirt and everyone expects things from day one.
His seasonal numbers remain meagre: in the league he has racked up 553 minutes spread across 12 appearances, six of which came as a starter, and an average rating of 5.6 (out of 10). Fundamentally, he has never managed to get going.
Against Sassuolo, we saw a player who wasn’t up to par due to insecurity from limited use, not due to unsuitability for the role. Besides losing the ball for the first goal, he also lost other duels and obviously the team didn’t help him in any way.
Some also point out that at Club Brugge he played as a mezzala rather than so deep, but Ardon is a modern midfielder and it would be reductive to pigeonhole him into just one role. Year one has been a tough apprenticeship, but nobody is ready to write anything off yet.