It has not been the best couple of weeks for Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez, the left-sided duo that many AC Milan fans believe are the two best players on the team.
La Gazzetta dello Sport begin a report titled ‘tantrums, the mercato and long faces: this is how the left side of dreams has derailed’ by talking about how the pair have built up an incredible understanding in their over five years at Milan, and are capable of lighting up any stadium.
However, the train has lately gone narrow gauge, like a high-speed express forced to travel on the slower line. This is a problem and not a small one because ‘Theao’ was, and still is, the greatest strength of the Rossoneri squad. It is the axis of wonders, and they are the men that many coaches would like in their dressing room.
The fact is that both of them know no middle ground. The problem is that at their no longer young age – 26 for the Frenchman, 25 for the Portuguese – they remain inconsistent, either travelling at 100mph and the creative hearts of the team or making mistakes and struggling to impact the game.
For Theo, there has often been the suggestion that Paolo Maldini’s exit negatively affected him, and the issue is that the full-back’s poor form has also affected his form with France. He struggled in the 3-1 defeat to Italy a few days ago and started from the bench last night.
Theo and Leao are on a fairly parallel journey, with several things in common. Talent and inconsistency, plus insufficient performance and errors in this specific period. The cooling break saga was the most striking episode, but Leao’s argument with a fan in Parma also reveals a lack of calm
Added to all this is an incongruous mental approach in this first part of the season, well explained by a certain absent-mindedness on the pitch. Leao, unlike Theo, probably has less urgency in his head to move up a level in terms of club.
This is also because Milan has provided him with everything that can be provided: the highest salary in the squad, help in resolving the dispute with Sporting CP, the number 10 shirt, the status of undisputed star, sometimes even the captain’s armband. Yet he too travels with a clogged engine, and it is happening to him too even in the national team.
September will already be a decisive month for Milan and for ‘Theao’, because Liverpool and Inter back-to-back will tell us if it the same big game flops will plague this group under a new head coach or if there might be another gear to go into.
