After making a positive start as our No.10, Brahim Diaz is now struggling for form and AC Milan need the Spaniard to rediscover his best football again.
The 22-year-old returned on loan this past summer from Real Madrid, with the Rossoneri holding an option as part of that agreement to sign him outright.
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Having handed him the No.10 shirt, the responsibility and expectation on his shoulders grew, and while he seemed to relish that role early on this season, things haven’t gone to plan in recent months.
As Milan prepare for the final stretch of the season, it’s important that Diaz starts to play a key role again…
Diaz creative spark needed by Milan
Given Milan have scored 47 goals in our 23 Serie A games so far this campaign, that end of the pitch doesn’t appear to be too problematic for us as that’s the second highest tally in the league.
In contrast, only Atalanta have conceded more goals than us out of the top five sides, and so perhaps the focus should be on the defensive side of the ball and shoring things up to become harder to beat.
Nevertheless, one of the key issues that Milan have faced in recent months is an inability to put chances away and be clinical in the final third, which in turn would kill games off and put us in a much stronger position.
While Diaz isn’t the only player to be going through a dip in form as Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s influence has waned too, the Spanish playmaker will no doubt be desperate to produce a decisive contribution for his team again soon to give himself an important boost in confidence.
After scoring three goals and providing an assist in the first six games of the league campaign, Diaz has gone without a goal since in his last 13 outings while adding just two more assists.
For a player with such an important role on the pitch for Milan, that simply isn’t good enough, and while we would have criticised Hakan Calhanoglu last season for that sort of struggle, it should be the same for Diaz too as there is a standard that he must reach at the club.
With a lack of genuine quality to replace him over a lengthy period of time, it doesn’t feel as though Diaz will drop out of the side for a prolonged spell. Perhaps that is part of the problem, and as Milan continue to gamble on young players and with a lack of activity this month, it doesn’t seem as though the club are in a major rush to address these problems.
Whether or not Diaz and the rest of the team can get back on track and at the very least qualify for the Champions League again remains to be seen, but it’s imperative that they do as ultimately it appears we will continue to lean heavily on them moving forward.
Further, it looks like it will take a couple more years at least of a significant influx in revenue through European competition before we’re in a position to target some of the top, top talent on the market and it will be needed as we stutter in our Scudetto bid this year.
In the meantime, we need the creativity that Diaz can provide, and with other individuals offering different dynamics to our attack, he is the prime playmaker in the squad that needs to string things together and make us tick in midfield and in the opposition’s half of the pitch.