There has been some understandably surprised reactions to the fact that Yacine Adli is yet to play a single minute of Serie A action so far in the new campaign.
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Calciomercato.com recall how Adli watched his team-mates win against Udinese and draw against Atalanta but was not called upon off the bench for even a single minute, which certainly drew some questions regarding his current position and role within the squad.
Milan paid €10m to sign him from Bordeaux last summer and he was left on loan there for 2021-22, suffering relegation from Ligue 1. However, after a convincing pre-season in which he looked to have quickly adapt to the tactical mechanisms of Pioli, he has so far been left out.
At the moment it is a matter of priorities and characteristics for Pioli which mean that Adli is currently in the ‘third row’. Pioli does not work on rigid positions but rather on game concepts, and right now he sees Adli above all as an attacking midfielder or at most as a winger (left or right).
These are two roles in which competition is high because there is Brahim Diaz and Charles De Ketelaere for the No.10 role, plus Rafael Leao, Divock Origi and Ante Rebic for the left flank then Junior Messias and Alexis Saelemaekers on the right.
Pioli believes that in a 4-2-3-1 Adli is not suited to playing in front of the defence where the tasks are different, so the only solution is for the have to work hard and hard to climb the hierarchy.