HOW HAKAN HAS RE-DISCOVERED HIMSELF

Hakan Çalhanoglu was destined to be sold this summer before lockdown. The player only a paltry 3 Goals and 1 assist and when his agent came to Casa Milan Maldini was not sure about a renewal for the player’s contract which is set to expire in 2021.

Fast forward to August, Milan are looking increasingly likely to set to renew Hakan with a SALARY RAISE !!! The Reason ? He scored 6 goals and gave 8 assists in 12 games post lockdown and was a primary reason why Milan went unbeaten in 12 games and finish 6th place.

Let us look at how Hakan has re-discovered his good form.

So basically Hakan’s main strengths are his accurate passing and distribution, his workrate and decent pace for an attacking midfielder. What he lacks is the nimble footwork, dribbling and is not press resistant. This means that if 2 opposition players came to dispossess him Hakan does not have the skill to beat them and move forward.

So Hakan takes a deeper position when Milan have the ball and let the full backs over lap him.

Taking the Bologna match as an example you can see how Hakan has taken a deep position. With Rebic and Saelemaekers taking up the wide spaces, they tend to occupy the opposition full backs keeping them busy. And with Milan’s full backs ready to make overlapping runs or even take up the space left by drawing the full back away this gap is plugged by Poli or Dominguez falling back. This, leaves space for Hakan to make runs into and recieve the ball in space (as marked in red) Without any defenders to close him down he is able to play his game. This is usually used when Milan play on the counter

Another way Hakan uses, especially when Milan build up play is to play on the flanks. With Rebic/Saelemaekers taking up position further on the flank, Hakan tries to play with Theo or Calabria or even play as a 4th passing option when Romagnoli brings the ball out from the back.