AC Milan welcomed their fourth signing of the summer transfer window on Saturday as midfielder Youssouf Fofana arrived from AS Monaco.
At times it felt like a negotiation that would never reach the desired ending, but things eventually got over the line. Milan quickly agreed terms with Fofana then turned to striking a deal with Monaco, and after weeks of back-and-forth there were finally handshakes all round.
Fofana landed in Milano on Friday evening and the next morning he underwent a medical at La Madonnina clinic. After completing these, as well as the athletic tests, he signed his contract at Casa Milan and the official announcement was made.
He actually got an unveiling in front of the San Siro crowd during the game against Torino that night and also spoke at a press conference too. Our writer Rohit Rajeev has broken down what to expect from the long-awaited addition.
Background
Fofana born on 10 January 1999 in the French capital Paris, to Malian and Ivorian parents. From the age of six he was already part of an academy with local side Espérance Paris 19ème in the Parisian suburbs.
He continued his development with various academies in the city such as Red Star and Drancy, before joining Strasbourg in February 2017 when he had just turned 18 years of age.
It wouldn’t be for another 16 months until he made his first senior appearance for Strasbourg, which came in a 2–0 Ligue 1 loss to Lyon in August 2018. Nonetheless, he ended up becoming a starter for them over the next year, racking up over 40 appearances for the Alsace club.
He played his final game for Strasbourg on 25 January 2020 which was a 3–1 away win over Monaco and they clearly liked what they saw, eventually paying €15m for him and giving him his debut in the red and white just seven days later.
His first goal for the Principality club came in November 2021 against Real Sociedad in the Europa League, and the midfielder amassed 175 appearances across all competitions for them, with seven goals and 15 assists to his name.
Fofana was a youth international for France from U19 to U21 level and towards the end of his four seasons at Monaco he had begun to attract the interest of Didier Deschamps and the selectors in the senior national team.
In September 2022, Fofana received his first call-up to the full France team for UEFA Nations League games against Austria and Denmark, then he was summoned for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar by Deschamps where he played in six of France’s seven matches.
Fofana even came on as a 96th-minute substitute in extra-time for Adrien Rabiot during that famous final against Argentina, which finished 3–3 before Lionel Messi’s side came out victorious on penalties.
On 18 November 2023, Fofana scored his first goal for his country, although it did come in a 14–0 win over Gibraltar. During the recent European Championship in Germany, he was limited to minutes off the bench.
Strengths and weaknesses
We begin with a look at Monaco’s tactical choices. After Philipe Clement failed to them to Europe, the management opted for former Eintracht Frankfrut coach Adi Hutter. Hutter, a coach who had strong roots in the German school of pressing, played 3-4-1-2 or a 4-4-2 in which Fofana occupied the double pivot in both formations.
The off-ball structure of his teams were defined by the pressing structure taken and even though Fofana played on the right of the midfield he would roam around the pitch to press opponents.
When Fofana was paired with Alexander Golovin, he would act as the more defensive midfielder of the duo and as a safety net if Monaco lost the ball. As soon as the ball was won back, it was vertically moved to open up the opponent before they can close the space that opened up.
Fofana’s main feature of the role he was asked to occupy by Hutter was to lead the press/counter press. Here you can see how he has led his team mates to overload and create a 4v3 against PSG mids to try and isolate them.
If Monaco lost the ball, Fofana would the one to start the counter-press against the opposition closing the spaces down and to trying and win the ball back any damage was done.
At 185cm in height and with a big physical build, Fofana is quite strong in both warding off challenges and making challenges to win back possession.
Pace is an important aspect for midfielders and Fofana uses his to stop counter attacks. This is an important aspect for us since Fonseca likes to press his opponents higher up the pitch.
Fofana is a quick studier of how play is developing. He is able to read the mind of players by seeing their body positions and orientation and is able to intercept passes.
One important aspect at Milan is to cover for Theo Hernandez when he sprints forwards fromt left-back. In this instance you can see how Fofana sprints back to stop Barcola from exploiting the Left half-space.
Fofana comes from the new generation of No.6’s; gone are the days of anchoring midfielders like Makelele. He also has quick and nimble feet to dribble past players to take players out of the game.
Lastly, there is the shooting from distance which he quite gracefully demonstrated against his new boss Fonseca in the clip below.
Statistical comparison
Milan went into the summer needing a more defensively-minded midfielder, and that is why there was such an emphasis on the exact mould of player that the management would pursue.
Fofana was one of the targets mentioned earliest but the likes of Adrien Rabiot, Mats Wieffer and Manu Kone were all put forward as the weeks passed by too, so how do their numbers compare in terms of being a fit in the double pivot? The graph below helps illustrate things.
As you can see above, Fofana is actually closest to one of Milan’s current midfield options in Yacine Adli, someone that the club are trying to offload. A purely creative player like Tijjani Reijnders is off towards the top left, while Florentino Luis and Wieffer have noticeably more defensive proficiency.
What does this tell us? Well, this might not be music to everyone’s ears, but Fofana is not just defensive-minded. He likes to get on the ball and drive play from a deeper role, so to expect him to sit and anchor is perhaps unrealistic, to the extent some are adamant he is better as a mezzala provide a comparison between Fofana and every midfielder across the ‘top five’ European Leagues plus the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League over the past 365 days.
The data is certainly very encouraging as he ranks highly in a lot of both the offensive and defensive stats, but there are obvious areas where he stands out as being elite.
For example, he is in 95th percentile (better than 94% of other midfielders) in Progressive Passes, while he is in the 87th percentile for Shots Total, the 90th for Progressive Passing Distance and the 95th for Progressive Passes.
He is in the 89th percentile for Carries, the 95th for Total Carrying Distance, the 96th for Carries into Final Third and 97th for Ball Recoveries.
As alluded to above, Fofana does not excel in many defensive areas. He is in just the 54th percentile for Tackles, the 65th for Tackles Won, the 45th for Blocks, the 74th for Interceptions and the 36th for Clearances.
Comparing his league numbers with Bennacer, Reijnders and Loftus-Cheek, we see that Fofana comes out on top in tackles per game (1.9), interceptions per game (1.2) and clearances per game (1), which certainly paints a more optimistic outlook in terms of offering balance.
In terms of how he uses the ball, Fofana is better than his three new team-mates when it comes to total assists, average passes per game (54.9) and long balls per game (2).
He is also joint-top on through balls, and second only to Reijnders on key passes. His 82.2% pass completion rate is comfortably the worst, though.
Finally, through Sofascore’s graphic we can see how Fofana’s numbers at Monaco progressed with regards to goals and assists as well as key passes, balls recovered, tackles won and duels won per 90, as well as his heat maps.
Conclusion
Milan picked their man months ago, played a patient game when it came to negotiations with Monaco and eventually got their man for exactly what they were willing to pay, and that has ended up being probably well below market value.
At 25 Fofana has a lot of experience in the bank but also the margins to grow even more. In terms of the present, though, there is no doubting he offers something different and something missing to the midfield. The only hesitation, as is usually the case, concerns adaptation.
