It was on July 18th when the deal was made official by a club statement: Fodé Ballo-Touré had indeed signed for the club after successfully going through his medical visits. A deal was signed by an eager and proud Ballo-Touré who did not hesitate for a second when the call from Paolo Maldini came.
"I’m happy to be in a great club like Milan. At the beginning there was contact between Maldini and my agent but I didn’t believe it.” said a smiling Ballo-Touré to the media when presenting himself during his first press conference with the red and black side of Milano. "Paolo Maldini is an important point of reference. I am very happy that he brought me here and placed his confidence in me", he added.
Leaving Monaco to Milan was surely a huge deal for him. But on the other hand, it left quite a few Rossoneri fans questioning the abilities of the Senegalese defender amidst sighs of relief from the Monaco supporters who seemed ecstatic that the then-24-year-old had left on a permanent deal.
A few weeks before then, On July 8 when Stefano Pioli, Paolo Maldini and Frederic Massara sat down to discuss the training resumption that would be the next day. The three leaders of the club did not need to have a look at the squad sheet. The ideas were already agreed upon long before: signing a deputy left-back for Theo Hernandez and reinforce all the departments: defence, midfield and attack in preparation for a long season ahead that would see the club return to its favourite competition after many years: the Champions League.
All of these points were met later on thanks to arrivals of very affordable players in terms of transfer fees: 5 million euros for the move of Fodé Ballo-Touré to Milan, Tiémoué Bakayoko (whose loan fee is valued from 1 million to 1.5 million euros) and a 1-million-eruo compensation fee to Chelsea for Olivier Giroud who would later 'break the curse' of the number 9 shirt. Of course, other transfers were made such as the signing of Junior Messias, Mike Maignan, Pietro Pellegri, Alessandro Florenzi and other operations.
But the focal point here is the Senegalese defender. Not many fans were keen on Ballo-Touré. The defender has some pace on him but that is in no way sufficient to succeed at Milanello. A transition from Ligue 1 to Serie A football is not easy and it requires a lot of work on the fitness side first then also on the tactical side of things without forgetting a healthy mental aspect.
The first period for the Senegalese was to get in a good shape. The coaching staff of Pioli divided a plan for him to reach an ideal condition before he could be able to join the rest of his new teammates at Milanello in full training sessions. He had spent a lot of time at the gym and also had worked seperately on the pitch. Soon, he had become part of the regular training sessions and even participated in some friendlies.
Fast forward some time later, Ballo-Touré would go on to make his first appearance at the mythical San Siro against Lazio. He finally had his first taste of real Serie A football. A 2-0 triumph for the red and black faithful was a great show of force, and Ballo-Touré was left dreaming of more moments like this where he can make an actual difference and play more than just 10 minutes.
The former Lille and Monaco player continued to work on himself and was used later in the game against Venezia as a left-back for 59 minutes. But, he was not able to make the actual trace that any player wishes to make in order to leave a positive impression. Despite the team securing a win, Ballo-Touré was mostly quite on the right flank unlike his teammate Theo Hernandez who usually knows how to help his teammates in great fashion.
An Appearance against Atlético Madrid as for 33 minutes and as a left-back against Porto for 58 minutes in the Champions League competitions were when things started to seem clear for many fans at that point: Fodé Ballo-Touré is not AC Milan material. Often he would seem a little out of place and he made some mistakes relating to lack of concentration. But he was also lacking in the attacking phase and failed to bring much needed quality.
It was not going well for the full-back.
The doubts of the AC Milan fans were mainly confirmed in what was a truly abysmal game for Fodé Ballo-Touré who was given yet another chance, after quite a few appearances here and there, against Inter as he replaced the French flying full-back. The PSG youth product was often caught offguard and the moment that made all the fans seem to lose faith and trust in him was when he lost sight of the ball on which Matteo Darmian capitalised on. Touré was out of pace and had no solution but to make a late desperate tackle in hopes of recovering the ball in a penalty area. The paly was stopped and the referee awarded the Nerazzurri a penalty that Lautaro Martinez failed to convert against Ciprian Tatarusanu. The Senegalese player failed miserably in what was surely a sleepless night for him later.
From then, it was clear that the AC Milan number 5 was not up to par to the level that Stefano Pioli usually expects from his boys. Paolo Maldini and Frederic Massara were left contemplating whether they had made the right move for him or not. The Rossoneri coach did not rely much on him later during the season and opted to use Pierre Kalulu once in that position, Davide Calabria, and even Alessandro Florenzi in the occasions when Theo Hernandez was not available.
Now, as the end of the season approaches, the odds of seeing Ballo-Touré play again for Milan are not very high especially as the Scudetto race is very close, open and intense. Now, AC Milan managers, Paolo Maldini and Frederic Massara will be taking a different approach in the summer to the player's card. Milan Reports understands that a scenario that is more likely to be raised at Casa Milan is that Touré would be leaving Milanello either on a permanent deal or on loan if and when the club directors and Stefano Pioli find a clear plan on how to replace the back-up left-back.
Now, when Ballo-Touré's name is read by the commentator via the tannoy when the defender is sat in the crowded Milanese bench, it is usually over barely a murmur of acknowledgement from the supporters. The future looks very dim for what was an interesting talent in the PSG youth ranks whom Lille snatched and decided to bet on before letting him go to Monaco. But now, the player who was part of the Senegal squad that won the AFCON 2021 may be set for a different experience soon.
His challenge now is to retain focus and be ready for whatever chance that may present itself for him. But, as of now, Fodé Ballo-Touré does not have any long-term future with the AC Milan football club.
