GdS: Milan’s wild card – Saelemaekers the ‘footballing embodiment of Darwin’s natural selection’

Wherever you put him, he stays. Alexis Saelemaekers is one of those players every coach would love to have on their team.

La Gazzetta dello Sport describe Saelemaekers as ‘the footballing embodiment of Darwin’s natural selection: those who adapt, survive’. The Belgian has made an art of adapting, having played as a winger, wing-back, full-back, attacking midfielder and most recently as a second striker.

Left or right, it doesn’t matter: he’s always there. After the victory against Fiorentina, he even joked about it: “All I need is to be a goalkeeper, but I don’t know if I could do that.”

Anderlecht to Allegri

Saelemaekers took his first steps as a professional at Anderlecht , where his original position was right-back. From then on, however, his versatility began to emerge forcefully, transforming him into a player capable of covering practically any position on that flank.

Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images

Throughout his career, he has almost always been used as a right-back, his natural position, but there have been exceptions. In emergency situations, he has been deployed as a left-back – even if only twice, with one being the 2-2 draw against Torino to begin last season.

During his time at Bologna, Thiago Motta tried – and partially succeeded – in transforming him into a pure left winger. The coach wanted to use his ability to cut back onto his right foot and link with his team-mates between the lines.

Now back at Milan, Saelemaekers has become a certain starter on the right, but Allegri didn’t hesitate to move him behind the striker when he needed to. This happened on Sunday against Fiorentina but also against Lecce earlier in the campaign. The end result in both? Wins.