Serie A giants AC Milan have hardly been in a stable situation in recent years. Change in ownership and managers have left the club to degrade from what is used to be. Quite the same is the case today and that has made the recruitment very random.
There has been a lack of consistency in how they go on about recruiting. And their pursuit of a striker screams of that.
Reports recently have said that the Rossoneri are in initial talks to bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic to the club. While no deal has been agreed yet, only minor formal talks have been kicked off. It is also claimed that Zlatan’s high wage demands could put off Milan in the chase.
There are also reports that Milan are looking to sign a striker. It may not be Zlatan himself, but the Rossoneri want to add a goalscorer to the side in the upcoming January transfer window. They want to make sure that they score more goals than they already are.
On paper, Zlatan looks like an unrealistic option. His wage demands aren’t something the club can afford. The Swede earned as many as £19m during his time at Manchester United. His weekly wage stood at £367,600.
They have also drawn links with Adolfo Gaich from South American club San Lorenzo (ACMilaninfo via Nico Schira). It is said that Gaich is one of the best young strikers in Argentina currently and apart from Ibrahimovic, Milan are looking at another prospect like him.
Recently, Gaich made his debut for the Argentina national team. So far this season, he has made three appearances but is yet to score. But last season, Gaich had made 11 Super Liga appearances and found the back of the net twice.
That is not a bad number for a youngster, but numbers show that he is no Lautaro Martinez. But that isn’t why Milan don’t need a striker though.
They did sign Rafael Leao in the summer to replace Patrick Cutrone. They also swapped Andre Silva with Ante Rebic, another forward player. For Eintracht Frankfurt last season, the Croat had been playing as a striker or an attacking midfielder.
He scored nine goals last season, assisting four times in the Bundesliga. At Milan this season, he hasn’t been given a single start so far. He has played only 133 minutes of first-team football in the Serie A.
Krzysztof Piatek hasn’t been in the best of form. But there has been a lack of service. The club had to change a possession-oriented system under Marco Giampaolo to a different system under Stefano Pioli. The side was getting to grips with playing in Giampaolo was. It did look slow and sluggish, but Giampaolo was slowly getting to know his ways at the club.
During his tenure, Giampaolo said (via SempreMilan):
“It’s useless to criticise a certain player or a department, We have to work on many directions, especially on attention. With more attention we could have found an equilibrium. A huge mistake downed us, then we tried but we didn’t find a way.”
Some weeks in, Milan decided to chop and change. Milan have played only the eighth highest number of key passes per game- 10.9. Last season, this number stood at 11.9. Piatek’s finishing has been poor too. He has scored just once from open play.
In the second half of last season, he had 2.3 shots on target. This season, he has had 2.8 on target. But last season, he scored more.
There is no doubting that Piatek has not been in form. But Milan need to trust what they’re doing and stop going short-term once again. They need to focus on the plan they have been following for the last few months. They can’t afford to chop and change again and seek temporary gratification because of a small blip.
It is this approach that has let them down in the post-Massimiliano Allegri era. They need to avoid these mistakes and stick to a consistent plan. Pushing the reset button once in every transfer window takes them nowhere.
