CM: Pochettino’s use of Musah could give Fonseca indications after €20m investment | OneFootball

Yunus Musah scored his first goal for the United States during their win over Panama, and above all his performance in the 2-0 win could offer some hints to AC Milan boss Paulo Fonseca.

As Calciomercato.com recall, Milan were convinced by Musah’s time at Valencia to invest €20m to sign him, but since arriving he has often ‘seemed like a fish out of water, without a well-defined role and tasks’, due to Stefano Pioli moving him around and Fonseca not fully trusting him yet.

After registering the assist for Noah Okafor’s equaliser in the 2-2 draw with Torino, Musah has gradually disappeared from the radar, playing around 60 minutes against Lazio, Venezia and Lecce comebined.

He remained on the sidelines in the derby and in the last round against Fiorentina, in addition to the first two Champions League matches against Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen. Fonseca’s choice to switch to the new 4-4-2 brings the best out of Tijjani Reijnders and Youssouf Fofana, but hasn’t hlped Musah.

However, the goal against Panama under the new coach Mauricio Pochettino offers interesting indications for the near future. Pioli used him as a right-back and as a right wing-back, with the assist against Torino coming from that area of the pitch.

The former Valencia man would probably say his natural role is as a mezzala in a 4-3-3 system but he can still provide a lot of energy on the right side, in addition to being able to show off his ball progression.

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With a run of seven games in 21 days to come from Saturday, Fonseca will have to work out how to effectively rotate and get the best out of each player. Amid the injury doubts surrounding Samuel Chukwueze, it could be that Musah ends up being Christian Pulisic’s deputy.

The use of a player with the dynamism and work rate of Musah would offer the Rossoneri the opportunity to become more unpredictable and to start considering variations on their formation.

International breaks are much maligned because they take away players and time to work with the coaches, yet this break could for once offer Milan the solution to the enigma.