Back at the center of his Milan, as in the Scudetto season, and not only that. Alexis Saelemaekers has returned to the Rossoneri to stay after two loan spells at Bologna and Roma, during which he showed growth and maturity in every aspect, both technical and character-related.
The Belgian, born in 1999, was already a key player in Pioli’s plans, then briefly in Fonseca’s, and now in Allegri’s. In the first two cases, though, he did not convince the club enough, which opted for temporary solutions in Italy. The criticism? Numbers too low for an attacking winger. At Bologna and Roma he managed to improve those stats: 4 goals and 3 assists in 2023/24, 7 goals and 7 assists in 2024/25.
Saelemaekers is now an essential piece in Allegri’s 3-5-2...
He is not just a wide midfielder, which is probably his natural position, he is, in fact, also as a flexible option in other roles, as seen in Lecce in the 3-4-2-1 behind Gimenez.
His biggest strength has always been combining work rate in both phases with quality in the attacking one. Under these conditions and with the current demands, he is one of the cornerstones of the new Milan, also thanks to his unpredictability on the ball, unusual for a wing midfielder in a five (or four) setup. At 26, in his prime, this Milan might truly be his this time, as pointed out via Milannews.it.
