Pochettino tests Musah in new role similar to McKennie at Juventus under Allegri | OneFootball

Yunus Musah scored his first ever international goal in the USA’s 2-0 win over Panama last night, starting the game on the right-hand side of a midfield four, similar to where his compatriot Weston McKennie often played for Juventus under Massimiliano Allegri at the start of last season.

Musah stars in new role under Pochettino

Musah lined up as a right wing-back for the USA last night, opposite regular full-back Antonee Robinson on the left flank and alongside Aidan Morris and Venezia’s Gianluca Busio in the middle in a 3-4-3.

Pochettino revealed after full-time that he wanted to ‘rebuild’ Musah’s confidence by testing him in a new position.

“We tried to build his confidence by starting him in a different position to the one he has started in in the past. I think it was a good decision,” the new USMNT coach said.

“I think it’s always worth trying to build his confidence so he feels that he can do well on the pitch again.”

“He just needs to be in a position where he can help the team, and look at that, he got into the final third and scored. It’s fantastic for him and fantastic for the team, and now maybe he will start to act differently, with lots of confidence.”

Musah’s new role could be an interesting revelation for Milan, who have plenty of competition in central midfield with Tijjani Reijnders, Youssouf Fofana and Ruben Loftus-Cheek also competing for a spot in a system that usually requires two holding midfielders.

Milan have tested Musah at right-back before under Stefano Pioli, but his new role as a wing-back could give Paulo Fonseca another option if he ever decides to switch to a back-three system.

A similar example is McKennie, who was out of the picture at Juventus over the last two summers, but earned his way back into the first-team by starting last season out at right wing-back under Allegri, before working his way back into the centre of the pitch.