MN: Allegri faces a dilemma with Gimenez and Milan’s striker position – the reasons

By: Oliver Fisher

With the arrival of Massimiliano Allegri as AC Milan’s head coach, there has been a lot of speculation about Santiago Gimenez’s role and future.

As MilanNews report, Gimenez is coming off a rather complicated first few months at Milan. He arrived in the winter window, amassing six goals and three assists, but there is already talk of him not being the starting striker.

Gimenez represents a classic No.9, one who is a poacher inside the box with smart movement and finishing. The risk, however, is that Serie A needs a striker with more flair and more unpredictability in his movements, to unlock closed games and compact defences.

Allegri to observe

Gimenez, despite having more than decent technique, is mainly a finisher, and could suffer if the team does not support him with quality service. We have seen it in the past, even if with Allegri the feeling will be that of seeing a totally different Milan compared to the one seen with Fonseca and Conceiçao.

Hence the legitimate question: is it better to focus everything on Gimenez as the starter, or pair him with a faster and more versatile player, such as a false nine or a fast second striker?

Photo: Marco Rosi + Marco Luzzani/Getty Images

With Allegri on the bench, Milan will likely have a more vertical game, oriented towards exploiting fast transitions. In this context, Gimenez could do very well, because he attacks the space in behind continuously and protects the ball to let his team-mates push up.

However, if he were again to suffer from a lack of chances created for him to put away, the risk would be to isolate Gimenez too much, reducing his effectiveness. For this reason, there have been links with a number of players, from Dusan Vlahovic to Lorenzo Lucca.

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