AC Milan will take on Napoli after the international break, and it is the tale of two contrasting attacking departments.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) writes how Christopher Nkunku has been ‘living with this Danish ghost haunting his house since August’. After every goalless game, he has to read the comments of those who recall that Milan could have signed Rasmus Hojlund.
The management pursued Hojlund n the summer for €40m, but Nkunku would end up arriving for €37m. Milan and Hojlund spoke at length, and as of August 20th, they were still discussing a buy-out obligation that could have satisfied everyone, including Manchester United.
Why Napoli? It can be broken down into three reasons. First: Hojlund wanted a permanent solution. Second: Milan weren’t convinced about investing that amount. Third: Napoli were determined to close the deal for a €6m loan with a €44m obligation to buy if they qualified for the Champions League.
Some would add a fourth theory, according to which Allegri has regrets and believes he would have been much closer to the Scudetto with Hojlund. Max would never officially confirm this, but the reconstruction is credible.
The doubts
Milan will travel to Naples with their attack from the second half of the season: Pulisic, Leao, Nkunku and Füllkrug, plus Santi Gimenez who has returned to the field. Allegri likes him and will certainly get some time between March and May, probably even at the Maradona.
Two forwards will play, two will be benched, and only Pulisic is guaranteed a start. In short, with Leao at 60%, there’s a good chance Nkunku will play alongside Captain America. For the Frenchman it’s a chance to send a message that he was the right player to sign.
He also wants to give Didier Deschamps something to think about, given that he preferred Akliouche, Kolo Muani and the waning Thuram of recent months for the France squad. It happens, if you haven’t scored since February 3rd.
Nkunku hasn’t scored in 50 days, but one number is striking: he has scored five goals in just over 1,000 minutes in Serie A, a goals-per-minute average even better than Hojlund’s. The problem with him seems to be consistency.
Nkunku has started 11 times in Serie A and came off the bench in 13 games. In the only period in which he consistently started, between November and January, he scored four goals in three consecutive games.
When Allegri demoted him to a reserve, the former RB Leipzig star stopped scoring and returned to justifying the criticism of those who, since the fall, have been attacking him for being ineffective, having no defined role, often disappearing from the game and not scoring.
la gazzetta dello sport 25 March
Continued struggles
Milan’s attack generally remains an issue to be resolved. None of their strikers have truly impressed, and Allegri has consistently prioritised the defensive work this season.
The difference, in short, will be clear on Easter Monday: Conte will be able to turn the game around with his star player Lukaku, a luxury as a substitute, while Allegri will have Füllkrug on the bench, the winter signing who has been up and down.
Füllkrug got off to a flying start: in Florence, he set up Pulisic three times and scored a decisive goal against Lecce. Those days, however, are long gone. The German was a starter against Torino, but in the previous month he had played little and often poorly, missing a penalty against Pisa too.
So, Milan face a doubt this summer: will they buy him from West Ham or not? There is a certainty too: they will once again demand a starting centre-forward, like last summer, like in January 2025. Will they get it right this time?