Milan given answers as Fofana uses his main skill in win against Udinese | OneFootball

Youssouf Fofana showed his qualities in AC Milan’s 4-0 win against Udinese on Friday evening, doing what he does best from start to finish: winning back the ball.

After his arrival in the summer, with Milan paying €20m after long negotiations, there have been both positive and negative verdicts of the signing. Ultimately, it has been very difficult to make a proper assessment as the entire team has struggled, while Fofana has also been benched more than expected.

Yesterday, however, everyone saw why Milan pushed for his arrival in the summer and why he could be a very important player. Indeed, in our player ratings – as well as the ones from the newspapers – Fofana was praised for his hard work in midfield, which was decisive for Milan.

A skill that’s difficult to master

If we had to give one good example to show what Fofana does best, it would be Rafael Leao’s opener last night. It might sound a bit strange to use someone else’s goal as an example, but what happened in the build-up is definitely worth highlighting.

Applying pressure on the Udinese defence, Fofana closed down Lorenza Lucca and simply stole the ball, then setting it up perfectly for Leao on the edge of the box. It’s something we have seen before from the Frenchman, the ability to just slide into the opponent’s path and steal the ball.

It looks so simple when he does it, yet it’s one of the most difficult skills to master in football. 8/10, in similar situations, the referee would award a free-kick as the players pressing to win the ball back tend to be very rash. Fofana, on the other hand, keeps himself just on the right side of what is allowed.

People often talk about the absence of Ismael Bennacer and Franck Kessie, who both added so much in the defensive phase for Milan. However, while Fofana admittedly has some work to do in that department, he’s much better than them when it comes to interceptions.

Consistency and right position

The most important thing for Fofana beyond this season will be to have consistency, to play week in and week out to further strengthen his qualities as a No.8/6. That being said, in order for the playing time to be useful, he also has to be used in the right role.

The midfield tandem in a 4-2-3-1 perhaps isn’t right for him, and there can definitely be doubts about having him as the deep-sitting midfielder in a 4-3-3. Yesterday’s 3-4-3 formation, however, seemed to work well for the most part even if he sometimes ended up too high in the press.

Having said all of the above, the point is that Fofana has very obvious qualities, from his ability to win back the ball and his passing. The €20m (plus bonuses) price tag paid last summer can thus certainly be justified and more, but it’s in the hands of the manager.

Then, it must also be said that Fofana himself could do with improving parts of the game, above all the sloppy passing that we have seen sometimes. It’s rather strange as the passing is one of his strengths, but sometimes he just seems to turn off and make a mistake.

Last night’s display against Udinese has at least given us optimism that he could work very well in this Milan, just like many other players ‘redeemed’ themselves in said game.