AC Milan’s Youssouf Fofana has quickly established himself as a starter in Paulo Fonseca’s team. The former Monaco midfielder has important physical qualities and he has room for improvement.
Milan needed a physical midfielder to be in front of the defence. This type of player had been missing from the squad since Franck Kessié’s departure and was initially meant to give Reijnders and Loftus-Cheek more freedom to maneuver. Today, Milan’s formation has changed, but if Fonseca was able to adopt a daring 4-2-4 in the derby, much of it was due to Fofana’s positioning on the field.
The defensive-minded player displayed a strong performance against Inter last Sunday. In fact, Fofana rarely pushed forward offensively, often moving diagonally and horizontally. By the end of the match, having covered 10.39 km, he was the third most active player (second among Milan players) behind Tijjani Reijnders (who was well ahead with over 11 km) and Pavard (10.46 km
It is important to note, however, than Fofana is still not at his peak level compared to his work rate when he was at Monaco last season.
His basic technique isn’t his strong suit, but compared to over 90% successful passes last year, he’s currently only at 86% (84% in the derby). Paradoxically, the areas that could improve most are his defensive stats: only 2 interceptions, less than 50% of duels won, and just 33% of successful tackles, despite 5 key interventions.
Fofana has already become indispensable for this Milan, and he’s now starting to show Milan fans why the club insisted on signing him in the summer. As his fitness improves and Fonseca’s tactical instructions stabilise, the former Monaco player will become even more important and decisive. The derby is just the starting point.
