AC Milan midfielder Youssouf Fofana has shed some light on what head coach Paulo Fonseca asks of him tactically, while he also spoke about what the derby win over Inter means.
Fofana was Milan’s fourth summer signing and many believe that he is the most important player to arrive given that the whole balance of the side rested (and continues to rest) on having a more natural defensive-minded midfielder to protect the back four and link with the players further upfield.
Against Inter we saw the former Monaco man fully at work. He amassed 10 duels (six won), two tackles, 73 touches, 68 passes with seven into the final third, three clearances and 10.4km covered at an average speed of 10.8km/h.
Those might seem like a list of random numbers, but he was either first or second among all the Rossoneri players in each statistic, which Sky’s Manuele Baiocchini said makes him a ‘360-degree’ player.
Fofana spoke to SportMediaset and reflected on the past few days as well as revealing what the coach expects from him in his midfield role, with MilanNews relaying his comments.
“Almost nothing, just confidence. Just the confidence that we lacked a little. I know that in my head, and in the heads of my team-mates, we wanted to do well, and that’s what we did. We just needed a victory to increase the confidence to start something new.”
What does Fonseca ask of you?
“He asks me for balance between attack and defence. This relationship is necessary, and I am that relationship. When you have the ball, when you don’t have the ball. Basically he asks me to be, in inverted commas, aggressive, to give aggression, to win the ball and let my team-mates play.”
