After last night’s dramatic draw at San Siro against De Rossi’s Genoa, Milan missed the chance to extend their lead over Napoli, while leaving a small opening for their Nerazzurri cousins to contemplate a possible first breakaway at the top of the table.
At the moment, many situations still need to be clarified, and among them the one involving Ardon Jashari is emblematic. The Swiss midfielder, who arrived after a long summer saga from Club Brugge for a fee of around €38–39 million including bonuses, has yet to find real space in Massimiliano Allegri’s new Milan. After making his debut in the first home match of the season against Cremonese, a lengthy layoff due to a fractured fibula kept him sidelined for more than two months. He only became available again in early November, when he was once more called up for the San Siro clash against Roma.
From that point on, however, in the league he has remained on the bench for six consecutive matches without ever stepping onto the pitch, featuring only for around twenty minutes at the end of the game against Verona. His only starts so far have come in the Coppa Italia against Lazio and in the Italian Super Cup in Riyadh against Napoli. Despite Milan’s defeats in both matches, on each occasion there were still glimpses of a willing player, equipped with good technical quality and capable of creating play, albeit in a role currently occupied by Luka Modrić, wrties MilanPress.it.
The presence of the Croatian is certainly a decisive factor behind Jashari’s limited playing time: replacing a player of the former Real Madrid man’s stature during a match is far from easy. Nevertheless, it is reasonable to think there are other reasons behind Allegri’s choices.
Is it purely a technical and tactical issue? The doubts remain, especially considering that the role which at the start of the season seemed destined for the Swiss (that of a mezzala or the third midfielder) is now occupied by profiles with different characteristics, such as Fofana, Ricci and, on some occasions, Loftus-Cheek. The sudden change of system decided by the coach, which according to reports from Tare also caught the club’s hierarchy by surprise, could be one of the keys to understanding the situation.
The former Juventus coach may not consider Jashari fully suited to guaranteeing balance in Milan’s midfield within the new tactical setup.
The obvious question that arises, then, is this: did Allegri actually ask the club for a player with Jashari’s characteristics? If not, the issue would take on much broader implications, opening up a further debate about the coach’s real influence over transfer-market decisions and the relationship between the club’s management and the technical area.
For this reason, the upcoming matches will be decisive for Ardon’s future and for understanding the true regard in which the coach holds him.
