Why Milan put trust in Pulisic, Reijnders and ‘anti-algorithm’ Morata | OneFootball

Milan put their faith in Tijjani Reijnders and are seeing that investment flourish this season, so director Geoffrey Moncada explains why they signed him, Christian Pulisic and ‘anti-algorithm’ Alvaro Morata.

The technical director sat down for a long interview with MilanNews.it and you can read more of his comments here and here.

A former talent scout who was then given the role of technical director, Moncada has for many years been involved in helping to shape the Rossoneri’s transfer strategy.

Much of that was down to his database of players around the world, fuelling the growing craze for clubs to choose new signings based on an algorithm.

Not all of them fit that bill, though, such as 32-year-old striker Morata.

“Morata is the perfect example of the anti-algorithm. We signed the captain of the Spain national team that won everything and had already played in Italy. I was totally convinced Alvaro was perfect for us, as his mentality is that of a leader.

“I spoke to his agent first, Zlatan Ibrahimovic then talked to the player as they already knew each other, and then we talked together.

“I like this example because it doesn’t come from data. He scored 22 goals last season with Atletico Madrid and is still a very, very interesting player with us who feels happy here.”

Milan saw something in Pulisic and Reijnders

MONZA, ITALY – NOVEMBER 02: Tijjani Reijnders of AC Milan celebrates after scoring their team’s first goal during the Serie A match between AC Monza and AC Milan at U-Power Stadium on November 02, 2024 in Monza, Italy. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Another player who might’ve dropped down those rankings of the database was Pulisic, whose price-tag plummeted from €64m at Chelsea to €20.8m just four years later when joining Milan.

“He was an incredible player at Borussia Dortmund, which is why Chelsea signed him. He can play on the right, the left, as a 10, behind the centre-forward,” explained Moncada.

“In Germany he had the most remarkable statistics, but not at Chelsea. We thought it’s not possible that a player like this cannot perform at the level of the Premier League.

“Timing has a big role in transfers, it wouldn’t have been possible two years earlier for us to get Pulisic, but it was when we lost Brahim Diaz. Playing wide right, he had the best season of his entire life with us, but now we are using him as a trequartista too.”

Reijnders cost €20.5m from AZ Alkmaar in the summer of 2023 and is now attracting interest from the top clubs, including Barcelona, Real Madrid and Liverpool. Why did Milan trust in him when others hesitated?

“There are aspects at times that give you a little doubt. Reijnders took a lot of time to reach this level and had to leave AZ on loan to get playing time. Obviously, he was in our database, we had many reports where he wasn’t bad, but not at the top either,” revealed Moncada.

“However, when AZ played in the Conference League, I saw him play against Lazio and then with West Ham, which is where I realised this player could do everything, ran hard, was technically gifted. He’s always positive, tries to carry the ball forward.

“I thought we should bring him to Milan and then see how he develops. Stefano Pioli told us in June that he wanted a midfielder with quality, a Number 8 to pull the strings, we showed him Reijnders and he was immediately impressed.

“I think he can score 10 goals easily this season, but also provide assists, which can be just as important.”

So far this term, Reijnders has four goals and three assists in 14 competitive appearances.