MN: Ricci given perfect conditions to blossom from the bench – his season so far

When Samuele Ricci was linked, picking a place for him felt easy. However, AC Milan added quality, and a starting role became unlikely.

Ricci has been one of the longest projects for Milan in recent years. Across several mercatos, there were talks of him being a target, yet the Rossoneri never made the right steps to bring him from Turin, until last year.

Arriving as the first midfielder of the summer, it seemed he would have a pretty guaranteed spot in the team. However, the arrivals of Luka Modric and Adrien Rabiot changed that. Though this may not be a bad thing.

Ricci’s story so far

As MilanNews writes, with the arrivals, it seemed Ricci would be ‘another double’ to play in front of the defence. But Massimiliano Allegri shattered these thoughts, giving him a key bib in the first training session, proving he would be a big part of his team.

This has shown on the pitch too, whilst he has only made nine starts, he has featured 20 times in Serie A this season, always being available when called upon and always delivering a solid performance.

There have been shakes, but he is still young and without consistent game time, there will always be moments. The bright sparks are there, though, and the Pisa game showed this once again. Playing centrally and even on the wing, he was vital to the winner, whilst also playing a good game.

His mindset is fantastic, and his post-game comments reflected that, with statements about him feeling like a starter, even if he has not been one.

It leads to the celebrations of him being an ‘Allegriano’, and it would be hard to deny. Potentially, he could even start against Como next, and he can certainly make a difference and there would be no better time than at San Siro in a key game.