In the January transfer window Milan was bereft of any patience for injury ridden Caldara and decided to send him back to Atalanta where he initially made a name for himself. This made Milan one man short in terms of defensive cover and with duarte out until March they decided to dip their hand in the transfer market and find a more experienced partner for Alessio Romagnoli.
Simon Kjær was a player of Sevilla on loan to Atalanta. Having worked with Massara in their stint toghether at Roma, Massara convinced Kjær to join Milan on a 6 month loan. We look at 4 reasons why keeping Simon Kjær would be beneficial for Milan
1. Tall, Physical and Pacy
Simon Kjær has a height of 6ft 3 inches (191 cm) which makes him a very difficult player to deal in 1v1. His long legs make it extremely difficult to side step him and aerially he brings in a presence musacchio or even bonucci couldn’t. Against Juventus he showed his more agile side of the game by sprinting across the pitch and take away the ball from Bernadeschi and preventing a goal-scoring opportunity. These features helped Pioli to successfully push up his defence to a high line and press his opponents.
2. Good Long ball skills
In a particular sequence of play, Milan had the ball out to Theo on the left wing to charge forward but was pressed by rigoni and 2 other Lecce players. Theo quickly passed back to the calm Kjær who quickly punted out a brilliant long ball to samu Castillejo on the right wing effectively switching the play and catching Lecce disorganised in defence. It was not the first time that Kjær has been good with the ball.
3. Low Buyout clause
Theo’s buyout clause comes at a mere €2.5M which in today’s market circumstance would be a top bargain. A player of his quality and experience can give another 2-3 years of prime and can even provide good cover in case of injuries to other players.
4. Fit for Rangnick’s tactics
All said and done Kjær with his skillset and his physical attributes would be tailor made to suit Rangnicks agressive style of press. Rangnick, a master of bargains, would definetly not be overlooking the chance to sign the Dane at €2.5M given his wealth of experience in serie A.
The Milan Blog 