Gonçalo Ramos is going through a difficult period both with AC Milan and the Portugal national team.
The player's numbers in front of goal falling well short of expectations and his role increasingly demanding in terms of defensive work and sacrifice. In the Rossoneri shirt, the striker has scored just once, against Venezia on 28 August, and in his last four matches against Juventus, Lazio, Benfica and Lecce, he has touched the ball just 11 times inside the penalty area, taking five shots in total, none of which were on target, writes Tuttosport in this morning's print edition.
At the same time, he is running more than any of his teammates, averaging 10.5 km per match. The situation is no better with the national team: despite making his debut in November 2022, Ramos has remained Cristiano Ronaldo's back-up for five years. Even though CR7 is now 41 and playing in Saudi Arabia, new head coach Jorge Jesus continues to name him in the starting XI, as happened in the recent match in which Ronaldo dominated Portugal's attacking play, taking seven shots but making almost no defensive contribution. When Ramos came on for Ronaldo in the 67th minute, his main task was to press the opposition's first line of defence, a role confirmed by Jorge Jesus himself, who admitted that the striker was being used more as the team's first defender than as a finisher, also due to the lack of service from teammates such as João Félix.
Signed by Milan for a club-record €74 million to be the team's goalscorer, Ramos instead finds himself, both under Amorim and with Portugal, having to perform demanding link-up and defensive work far from the penalty area. Looking ahead to the next fixtures, which will see Portugal face Haaland's Norway, it appears difficult to imagine Jorge Jesus, the former Al-Nassr coach, leaving Ronaldo out.
For Milan's future, the most crucial factor will be Amorim's ability to move the Portuguese striker closer to goal and get him scoring again, rather than limiting him to pressing the opposition's defenders and goalkeeper.
