When Milan sold Zlatan Ibrahimovic to balance the books, no fan would have guessed that it was the start of Banter era. The rot was initially slow and reached its peak when Milan 2014-15 season.
A club known for its famous strikers in Van Basten, Shevchenko, Nordahl, Inzaghi A.C.Milan trialed a plethora of strikers since the departure of Zlatan. Mario Balotelli, Pazzini, Torres, Menze, Bacca, Adriano, Destro, Andre Silva, Kalinic, Cutrone, Higuain and Piatek all drew blanks in the red and black of Milan.
This forced Milan to bring back their talisman Zlatan albeit a ripe old age of 38 making skeptics believe it was a PR move but Zlatan woved even his staunchest critics by scoring 11 goals in all competitions in half a season. He has started off with 3 goals in the 2020/21 campaign and we took a look as to how Zlatan affects Milan’s gameplan and their new found style.
Pioli in his press conference spoke about his fascination of Bayern Munich and their high press tactics and even tasked his staff to learn their style and implement it.
Both Milan and Bayern emphasize their game on playing a high line and pressing the opposition albeit using different tactics. Milan prefer to cut off passing lanes of the opposition team while Bayern crowd out the player in possession. Once the ball is won back both teams play quick vertical passes to catch the opposition out of position and score. For this tactic Milan and Bayern require a focal point to receive the ball, hold up play while the advanced wingers and playmakers advance forward. This tactic requires the striker or the number 9 to have a very good technique on the ball, good physique and good holding up ability.
Bayern have this luxury in the form of Robert Lewandowski widely regarded as the best player in the world while Milan now have the youthful Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is the focal point of Milan’s attack. He acts as a passing option when the player on the ball (usually Hakan or Rebic) is pressed and finds space between the lines. Once he receives the ball he can easily look up and find a player who is in space and ping the ball towards the player or use his good passing ability to split the defense. He also has the ability to be an aerial menace to defenders as he showed vs Bologna and therefore is an all-round menace
That being said it is quite a surprise that Milan are yet to find a suitable deputy to the Swede given Milan could play close to 50 games this season and Zlatan turns 39 in November. We take a look on both sides of the coin as to why it could be prudent not to sign a striker or a complete folly.
WHY MILAN SHOULD NOT SIGN A STRIKER
For a brief period of time post lockdown Milan played Ante Rebic as the striker and the experiment worked. While Rebic does not have the technical quality or the holdup play Zlatan displays he can hold on his own and lead the line. He has good pace and physical to play as a no.9.
Milan also plan to use this opportunity to give more playtime to 2 promising youngsters in the form of Rafael Leao and Lorenzo Colombo. The club has put extra faith in the latter and Rafael Leao showed Milan what he could potential turn into with some smooth ball control and runs that make defenders dizzy. Leao is also tall and has an aerial threat as compared to Rebic and Colombo but he does not have the physicality or hold up play that Zlatan exhibits
The most persuasive argument for why Milan shouldn’t sign a striker is resource allocation. Milan lack in other departments such as Centre back and Right wing and with FFP always lurking Milan have only limited spending power.
WHY MILAN SHOULD A STRIKER
As mentioned Above Zlatan turns 39 this year and as limber as he can be his work rate and his clinical nature are not as once it used to be. As much as Zlatan tides over Milan this season Milan as a club suffered the last decade due to lack of long-term planning and poorly thought out ‘band-aid’ signings. IF Milan are to dispel its past decade and go back to its glory days it is necessary for Milan to create a cycle and find a proper heir to Ibrahimovic (unless Lorenzo Colombo turns to be a Robert Lewandowski with a magnificent break out season).
But who really can succeed Zlatan Ibrahimovic ? Which player has the pedigree that can match the charisma and hunger to win that the man carries even at the ripe age of 39 ?
We take a look at 5 options for Milan to consider while replacing Ibrahimovic.
The Popular Option- Andrea Belotti
A name still on the lips of every Milan fan since 2017 is Italian striker Andrea Belotti or Il Gallo as he is fondly remembered. Belotti had a breakthrough season in 2016/2017 where he scored 30 goals in all competitions despite being surrounded by less technical players and urged Torino president urban Cairo to extend his contract with a 100 Million release clause only applicable for foreign players.
Belotti has the ability to drop deep and link up with his teammates when they are being pressed by the opposition teams. He has the uncanny ability to get in-between the lines and finds space even in tight areas. He also has a tidy amount of key passes after dropping to link up play, something Ibra does so often.
Belotti suffered a big blow in 2017/18 season and missed games due to injury. And with Torino chopping and changing managers as well as players Belotti’s form has suffered quite a dip. He converts less number of chances when compared to his first season.
Belotti is 27 and entering the peak of his career. He would look to step up from Torino to win silverware and with Milan being his boyhood club and a big fan of Shevchenko Milan should make a lunge for him.
The Serie A option- Dusan Vlahovic
A less known but constantly linked striker to Milan is Fiorentina’s Dusan Vlahovic. Signed by Fiorentina from Partizan Belgrade it is one of the most famous academies in Serbia. He broke out under Vincezo Montella and now is a steady starter under Iachini
Dusan Vlahovic played as a target man initially in the 3-5-2 with chiesa supporting him. But with Cutrone coming to Fiorentina, he was more of a supporting striker. Dusan Vlahovic is not a traditional no.9 type striker rather he moves around and with his off the ball movement creates space between the lines for wingers to run into or for Cutrone to run into. He occupies half spaces or moves wide to allow fluidity in play. This is a very strong characteristic that is shown by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Dusan Vlahovic is also an astute dribbler and is not afraid to take on players. With his tall frame he also uses his physicality to hold up the ball
Vlahovic is only 20-years old and there are inconsistencies associated with his lack of experience showing in his game. With a huge club like Milan with high expectations, Vlahovic could be over-burdened with leading the line at Milan.
If somehow Milan could sign Vlahovic this summer and let him be an understudy to Zlatan it could help the elite mentality that Zlatan tends to transient to others.
The Most rumored option- Luka Jovic
Milan have been linked with Luka Jovic for some time since the striker fell out of favor with Zinedine Zidane. With his agent similar to that of Ante Rebic, tabloids have been running rumors for months with Gazetta Dello reporting as recently that Milan may try for the player on dry loan
Luka Jovic is a goalscoring machine. In his last season for Frankfurt he scored 27 goals in 48 games but a bout of injuries and preference for Benzema meant he could re-create his form at Madrid. Jovic. At Frankfurt jovic would use his pace to collect vertical passes once they won the ball back or drop back into midfield to collect the ball. A very different trait of Jovic is that he always likes to ball to be played into him between the midfield and defense. Frankfurt score a lot of their goals from crosses and Jovic stays away from the press and makes late runs into the box
Jovic at Frankfurt has always operated alongside a more physical striker in the form of Seb Haller. And standing only at 181 centimetres he does not provide much of a aerial threat like Ibra and like werner is a ball playing centre forward. It would require Pioli to tweak his tactics to accommodate him in Milan’s team
Jovic also poses a huge threat financially. He earns 5M net at Real Madrid. But his goalscoring exploits and the chance to re-unite with Rebic could see him invoke some of his goal-scoring force that made him a threat in Frankfurt
The Technical+Long Term option- Aleksander Isak
Need a long term replacement for Ibrahimovic ?? why not sign the next Ibrahimovic which is the popular moniker given to Isak. Hailing from Sweden Alexander Isak was signed by Dortmund seeing an up-coming Zlatan. But he failed to hit his stride and was shipped out to Real Sociedad with a buy back clause. And at 20 years old, Isak has managed to slowly reach the promised heights
Isak stands at 6ft 2 inches at 20 years of age. A player that can accelerate with the ball and dribble past defenders with easy he has shown early signs that he is comfortable with the ball. Isak can also hold up the ball and draw defenders out of position with his off the ball movement. He is also a cool finisher and has had a breakthrough season
Isak is, like Vlahovic, only 20 years old and needs playing time to grow. He however has the facets to be a top striker in the years to come. He, however would come at a cost and Milan have other avenues to invest. Maybe if Milan qualify for the Champions league they could consider signing him
THE EXPERIENCED OPTION- EDINSON CAVANI
Edinson Cavani requires no introduction to football fans. One of the most prolific strikers of the last decade he broke into top echelons of football with Napoli earning him a move to PSG. After 6 years Cavani is looking for a new challenge and having played with the great man himself knows all about Zlatan.
If there is anything Zlatan prices and tries to transient to others it is workrate. He also has excellent aerial ability along with excellent athleticism and covers a lot of distance. A proven goalscorer Cavani also knows Serie A inside out and would help continue the high performance rate that Zlatan could leave Milan
Drawback of Cavani is his his huge salary request. If anything a transfer broke down after his requests were considered excessive. Cavani is 33 years old and once again only be a short-term answer to Milan’s striker requirements. There are also questions raised about Cavani’s fitness as he featured very little games for PSG last season
Cavani’s pedigree is not to be questioned. He would bring a winning mentality but the cost could deter Milan
CONCLUSION
So we have listed 5 strikers who could replace Ibrahimovic. Who do you think would be the best fit for the role ? Do you think there is someone outside of our recommendations? Let us know in the comments section.
The Milan Blog 