Many believed that Youssouf Fofana would be the most important signing that AC Milan made this summer, and so far he could potentially scoop that prize.
As MilanNews recall, during the summer Paulo Fonseca was asked about the club’s pursuit of a new midfielder during a press conference, and his reply left no room for interpretation: “Everyone knows, the midfielder is Fofana.”
Milan chased him all summer, tearing down the wall that Monaco put up brick by brick. They did a lot of diplomatic work and the player’s desire to join made the difference, and while he took a couple of games to get up to speed he has since become an immovable starter.
Since then he never stopped and he has grown from match to match, adapting to his new environment and the new role that Fonseca asked of him. The Frenchman is often paired with Tijjani Reijnders, but effectively he is the shield in front of the defence because the Dutchman likes getting forward.
Anyone who has watched Milan in the last two years could not help but think that they were missing a midfielder with certain defensive characteristics; a dynamic and modern player who could be useful in both phases.
There is less than a quarter of the season in the books, but seeing how Fofana held his own against the likes of Luka Modric, Federico Valverde, Aurelian Tchouameni and Jude Bellingham sent a message. In fact, his interception led to the goal that made it 2-1.
Fonseca has made it clear in his comments that he wants players who show courage and who follow his ideas. Fofana ticks those boxes, just as his abilities did which led the management to pursue him.
Fofana is growing into the Kessie role game in and game out becoming a pillar along with Reijnders. But with a 3rd mid this midfield would be so much more balanced and strong.
#comehometonali
Tonali is a box to box midfielder, just like Fofana, Reijnders, Loftus Cheek and Musah.
Milan needs a regista.
#comebackhomeAdli.
Adli is the player that Milan should have kept. He has improved a lot in the new role especially defensively. He would have been perfect in the middle of Reijnders and Fofana.
Speaking of players Milan should have kept, since Bremer got injured, we hear crickets from media and Juventus fans when it comes to their greatest signing Kalulu. Another “great” positioning, defensive awareness and reaction by Kalulu on Lille’s goal.
Yep – I meant Tonali needs to come back anyway, maybe at the expense of LostHisCheek. I always liked Adli too – he’d jump at the chance to return. Probably still got a locker at Milanelo just in case.
Adli has no long passes in him. He’s a short passing midfielder and his defensive work has offer been suspect. Not sure about his utility here. He’s a good fit at Fiore though.
Lol, Adli. The one who didn’t even start the last two league games for Fio? Adli, like Calhanoglu, has thrived elsewhere because players like them who offer zero in defense thrive in 5 man midfields. They have extra midfielders to protect them. Our play is fast counter down the wings. What we need is a true DM to play next to Fofana, move Reijnders up to AM and get a better RB. Then the DM and Fofana stay home to shield the CBs while the fullbacks are unleashed down the flanks to overload defending FBs with Leao and Puli, while Reijnders is the link between the flanks and the striker.
Who is protecting Hakan? Mikhitariyan or Barella? He is better defensively than both of them combined.
If you follow the conversation it is about a 3 men midfield not about a double pivot.
And Reijnders is not an AM, he is a box to box.
Pulisic should be the AM who has the freedom to roam around.
No. Adli is really prone to mistakes, he has good vision but lacking technical qualities to do the pass.
We can do much better than him.
He is mistake prone, but currently in our midfield no one outside of Reijnders has even the same passing range and quality as him. He we kept him, we could have used him when Reijnders was unavailable against Napoli.
Last season, we didn’t have any player to shield the defense, thus exposing Adli or Reijnders or Bennacer, but now that we have Fofana, we could afford to keep Adli type of players.
Aside from that, he has a dog in him and he is one of those players who love the team and will fight till the final whistle.
Move on bro. All players wont succeed in Milan. Some players can not carry the weight of playing for Milan but can do it easily in a midtable team. Lets hope the Management improves the team more as they did last summer. Kalulu currently not playing better than any of our CBs
After we watch adli and RLC. Milan should keep adli than RLC. Hopefully Milan get some kessie replacement at reijnders and fofana. Kessie was complete midfielder. He can defend like fofana and scoring / assist like reijnders..
Bring in Ricci and bring home Tonali in 2025 and we will be good.
I find it odd that we want to bring home a guy who is a sub on a mid table EPL team.
If it were any other player folks would be up in arms about mgmt and mediocrity.
Tonali is a good player. He doesn’t solve any of our current issues other than depth in the midfield.
Maybe it should be #combackBrahimDiaz?
He’s a sub because the Magpies are managed by a looney tune.
I didn’t factor in the Italian angle. Even if I’m right and Tonali wouldn’t start he is 100% good enough to fill out squad list and have a great impact.
Think we could get him fo $25m?
Nope, Eddie Howe is a perfectly good coach.
Have you ever watched any of the Newcastle matches? I have.
Tonali is a sub at Newcastle because he now plays in the Premiere League, which is a much, much more physical and faster league than Serie A, and where everybody is constantly running and pounding on each other.
He simply seems out of his element in the Premiere League – he lacks the speed and physicality to dominate as a defensive midfielder against some of the top midfielders in the world.
On the Newcastle fan site – The Mag – fans initially welcomed him and excused his sluggishness as just being not used to the Premiere League. Not anymore.
Since his gambling ban, several of the Newcastle midfielders who were recovering from long term injuries have come back, and they are just way faster and/or more physical than he is, and that is why he isn’t starting anymore.
In his first season at Newcastle, Eddie Howe instituted an intensely pressing and extremely physical style which got the team into fourth place and Champions League. The next season, which was last season, (where they played Milan twice in the CL) the team was heavily hit by injuries, probably due to a combination of the team not having expanded enough in size to accommodate the extra CL games, as well as their intense pressing and physical style. So they finished in seventh place, out of the European places.
This season, Newcastle’s record has declined even more, mainly due to their inability to score.
One of the biggest reasons has been that Newcastle has not invested in any top starter quality players for the last three transfer windows now. They’ve mainly invested in younger, cheaper players, hoping to develop them into real talent.
The rest of the league has figured out how to deal with their intense pressing and physical style, mainly by playing long balls and going more direct to avoid all of that.
So, having been found out, Eddie Howe doesn’t have any fresh new talent to change the team’s style to a more sophisticated style of play and score more goals.
Newcastle, despite being owned by an oil state, does not generate a massive amount of revenue due to their isolated location in the North, and their decades of being mis-managed by the former owner.
The EPL has really clamped down on the FFP rules, and that explains why the Saudi PIF hasn’t been able to pour massive amounts of money into buying shiny new talent to shore up their team.
I should add that if Reijnders, Fofana, or Musah (as a defensive mid) were to go to the English Premier League, all three would have no problem adapting to the greater speed and physicality of the Premier League.
Which means, of course, that all three are physically more talented than Tonali.
Having seen RLC play in the EPL, I’d say that he certainly has the physicality to crush other midfielders, but he’s just too slow and clumsy, which is why he can’t defend to save his life – any top quality player in the EPL can just run rings around him.
RLC had played as a central striker for Chelsea early in his career there for that reason. He has the physique for playing as a classic hold up central striker, but it turns out that he doesn’t have the ball skills to score in tight spaces, surrounded by defenders.
Tonali’s contract at Newcastle ends in 2028.
How are we going to afford him?
I’d rather take a punt on Ricci.
Tonali can come back when his contract runs out.
If we bring in Ricci, I’d like to see Endo from Liverpool at Milan too. Good CDM and good cover.
Samuel Rici wont in anyway be an improvment to this team
Thanks, new owner! Fofana stands out significantly above Tonali and Kessie, both in terms of footballing ability and character.
LMAO 🤣🤣🤣 ok Gerry. We see u
Nah bro, he’s one of us but a top level troll.
Hmm 🤔 🤔🤔
Locatelli and tonali ,sorted!
He’s not at the level of Kessie plus he’s a different player. However, due tonight lack of steel in midfield he ends up looking better in that aspect. If we weren’t so cheap we’d have him, Kessie and Tonali rotating with Deers and Hakan further up. That’s an insane lineup. And all we had to do was spend money on a striker
No one of the players you mentioned wanted to stay. So that was never gonna happen
It’s not a matter of wanting to stay. It was cheapness from the upper /real management. We could have closed the delay with Hakan for 0.5m more. And Kessie was top 5 DM in Europe at the time, pay the man (at the time asking for 6-7m). How many years now we’re still looking for his replacement, spent way more money in transfers and wages than we would have offered in terms of wage increase. For Tonali you don’t HAVE to sell, we can also reject but even if we did Benny and Krunic are capable 3rd string squad members..and then use the Tonali money for a striker, sure I can see that
I very agree that Fofana is our missing piece.
But who is the backup for Fofana? RLC or Musah?
I think Musah was very good at right wing as we seen in Madrid game.
And RLC, I still think he is surplus to us, except he can play as another role
we need Frendrup from Genoa. with their financial crisis, he could come for 20M margin we like so much
The backup was meant to be Bennacer. But now he’s injured, and it is going to take a while for him to recover form. That means we need another backup player in January.
By half of the season, Fofana would be needing some rest.
Bennacer is no backup for Fofana. Fofana was supposed to replace Kessié (although he is not the same profile), while Bennacer played alongside Kessié and was actually at his best when he was covered by Kessié.
Bennacer can’t the one who shields the defense, he needs someone to cover up for him as he goes forwards, presses and dribbles.
Not a missing piece but a much needed piece indeed. Missing piece is a proper #6.
Tijj/Zeroli – #6 – Fofana/Musah
This is the way.
Ricci and/or Frendrup will be good targets. We should try it as soon as this winter and try to sell Loftus-Cheek.
This is the way…
Musah is the perfect third midfielder to use next to Reijnders and Fofana since he can drop down deep to play as an extra wing back, he can go out wide and play as a right midfielder, or he can stay central to shut down the central midfield.
His versatility makes him perfect in a 3-4-3 or 5-2-3 or 4-3-3. He gives Fonseca the oppertunity to be flexible and change formation after the opposition.
Musah will be more important this season then RLC.
Against Cagliari who play man to man defense I would love to see a 3-4-3:
Tomori-Thiaw-Pavlovic
Musah-Fofana-Reijnders-Hernandez
Pulisic-Morata-Leao
Let Pulisic and Leao make runs into the field and behind the back line and have Hernandez and Musah fill the flank.
The few times we lose the ball like agains Madrid we have 3 central defenders instead of 2 to deal with counterattacks.
When we lie deep and defend we have a 5 man back line.