GdS: ‘Over to you’ – why Gimenez must seize big chance against Cremonese

Santiago Gimenez will get a chance to remind everyone what he can do in game one of the new Serie A season, and he must take it.

As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) recall, Gimenez’s comments a couple of weeks ago sum up his attitude perfectly: “Now I’m starting from scratch. I’m the same Santiago, but with more hunger, desire, and passion.” A reset, in short.

The first part isn’t trivial: many of his colleagues tend to hide, drowning their sporting disappointments in trivialities and reasoning that implicate the entire team. Not him. He knows he arrived with impressive numbers, he knows that Milan invested a lot in him, and he wants to repay it.

He begin immediately, despite his athletic form not being exactly optimal. Santiago was the last to arrive at Milanello, along with Luka Modric. He returned to base camp with a title as his Mexico team won the Concacaf (North and Central America) Nations League.

A looming figure

Gimenez didn’t make any impact on the scoresheet in the final stages of the competition with Mexico, but embracing a trophy brings positivity. And now Milan needs him immediately, even if he’s not yet fit enough to play 90 minutes.

Leao’s injury has removed one of Allegri’s attacking options. If Rafa had been healthy, the Rossoneri coach would likely have continued to play the Portuguese and Christian Pulisic up front, but in this situation, Santiago will have to respond immediately.

For him, in reality, it’s an excellent opportunity to send a clear message regarding the hierarchy. Indeed, the figure of Victor Boniface looms large: when the Nigerian is healthy, he can be a dangerous competitor. The Cremonese and Lecce games could be key for Santi, therefore.

How he can help

So far, the Mexican has scored against Leeds, while against Bari in the Coppa Italia he had a goal ruled out (for offside) and provided the assist for Pulisic to make it 2-0, following a beautiful and clean move.

With Boniface’s arrival, the situation is quite clear: they will be the centre-forwards, and both are not expected to start. There’s nothing stopping them from playing together: they can co-exist in terms of characteristics, but it will be a mid-game solution to unlock or salvage a match.

In short, Gimenez needs to start strong to keep the competition at bay and become the Feyenoord-version again. To be able to smile when, at the end of the match, he downloads all his data to his tablet as usual, trying to understand where he performed well and where he didn’t.