QS: Zirkzee alternative to an added leader – Morata’s impact at Milan explained | OneFootball

Paulo Fonseca sprung a bit of a surprise on Friday night when he not only called Alvaro Morata up for the game against Lecce but he started him from minute one.

As QS (via MilanNews) recall, Fonseca had revealed on the eve of the game that Morata was battling bursitis and that he didn’t intend to risk him, and yet after the game – one in which the Spaniard started and scored the opening goal – he made it clear that the striker asked to play.

With the departure of Olivier Giroud and Simon Kjaer, Milan were in dire need of new leaders for the season ahead. Hope lay above all in the players already in the squad who were now mature enough to lead the team like Theo Hernandez and Mike Maignan, but more new role models are always good.

Morata arrived as a European Champion and his impact has been felt. Fonseca’s choice to choose two strikers in a four-man attacking line is also dictated by the energy and drive that Morata’s presence is ensuring.

It is an impact that goes beyond the numbers on the scoresheet and is even more significant if you consider the pressure on the player’s shoulders: criticised in Spain and expected to have a starring role with the Rossoneri.

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Morata has scored two goals and an assist but when you observe the 31-year-old you need to look beyond the numbers: in the hybrid position of second striker/attacking midfielder, his main characteristics are allowed to show such as opening up spaces for his teammates and working hard out of possession.

In short, the purchase of Morata – who we must remember was a plan B after Joshua Zirkzee did not arrive – is paying dividends. The feeling, given the problem with bursitis, is that he is not even 100% yet as well.