Christian Pulisic had a fantastic debut season for AC Milan and he will look to build upon that this season. However, he will do so from a new position as Paulo Fonseca has decided to move him into a central position.
With Rafael Leao having a poor campaign by his standards, someone from the attack needed to step up, and the player who did was Pulisic. The American was decisive on several occasions, and considering it was his debut season, there can be a lot of excitement about this season.
Perhaps, the fact that he will be given the freedom of a central role increases this excitement for some, given he has already played in a Trequartista role for Milan – where he showed several glimpses of quality.
However, some feel that the change in position may not be the best way to utilise him, and in an editorial piece for MilanNews, Carlo Pelegatti referred to Fabio Capello’s response when asked about Paolo Maldini’s shift in position, and compared the American to a former Rossonero.
“28 July 1997. Hall of the Hotel Adlon Kempinski in Berlin. Fabio Capello seated, surrounded by a few journalists. Milan have just won the Opel Masters Cup, two matches of 45 minutes each, against PSG and Bayern Munich.
“The Rossoneri coach in the match against the Germans deployed Paolo Maldini sensationally on the right, also in that role among the best on the pitch, with Bogarde on the left, Ziege moved further forward. A colleague from Corriere dello Sport asked the coach why he made this choice: ‘Fabio, I didn’t understand Maldini’s position. He is the greatest left defender in the world’.
“Capello looks at him a little strangled, then takes his wallet out of his trousers, pulls out a card and hands it to his colleague, and smiling, tells him: ‘This is my coaching card. Come on, you coach!”
“I wouldn’t want Paulo Fonseca in the next conference to imitate Capello by giving me his card, but I would like to point out some of his choices on Saturday night. Starting with that one, certainly not a first in this Rossoneri summer, of Pulisic employed as a trequartista. It reminded me of Suso’s move a few years ago, aborted right at the start of the season,” he stated.
“The American player, selfless and tireless, wasted too much energy running and pressing all over the offensive front to make up for the deficiencies, in this respect, of Jovic and Leao. ‘Taste of Honey’ is Milan’s best right winger, who entered double figures last season.
“By deploying him centrally, with Loftus-Cheek – today totally lost in the two midfielders – we lose the best qualities of both. Personally, from the midfield upwards, I see Reijnders, Fofana, Loftus Cheek, Pulisic, Morata (Okafor – Camarda), and Leao as right.
“Jovic is absolutely unsuitable as a first striker, better and more ruthless if there is another striker alongside him. By the way, Milan will not go to the market after Morata’s injury. The strategies are clear and reiterated by Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
“The spot is free for a young man from Milan Futuro. The name is Francesco Camarda. With Jovic unfit, with Okafor adapted, waiting for rose Camarda to blossom in Milan Futuro’s greenhouse, another striker, even before Morata’s injury, I would have bought him.”
