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Is Alessio Romagnoli worth € 40 million?
Romagnoli joined the San Siro outfit in a € 25 million bid from Sampdoria twelve months ago, when his mentor Sinisa Mihajlovic was sitting on the club’s bench.
Critics pointed out that the sum invested by Romagnoli was exaggerate given that the Italian defender is definitely a promising prospect but had just played half 2014-15 campaign as a starter at Sampdoria. No centre backs had ever been paid as much as him at his age.
AC Milan spent more to get Alessandro Nesta more than ten years ago, but the former Lazio man had already made Italy national team debut and had also won a Serie A title with Lazio, not properly what Romagnoli has achieved so far.
Those who expected Romagnoli to impose himself as one of Italy’s best defenders last season were left disappointed and even his first appearances in the 2016-17 campaign did not justify hi huge price-tag. The The 21-year-old defender still commits the same mistakes: lack of concentration and positioning are his weakest points at the moment.
The former Roma and Samp man has a tendency to try to anticipate opponents’ strikers leaving the rest of his teammates alone in defence. A costly mistake when it comes to play against teams with pacey strikers like Napoli who scored four goals against AC Milan in Serie A matchday two.
Romagnoli has clearly plenty of room to improve, but AC Milan invested a lot on him who is one of Italy’s most promising defenders alongside Juventus’ Daniele Rugani who, however, has not as much chances to play as a regular starter at the J Stadium.
Pressure is mounting as Romagnoli is urged to justify his price-tag after more than one year at AC Milan. The first chance will be in the next week-end when he will travel alongside his teammates at his old stadium Marassi to face Sampdoria.
Daniele Longo, translated and adapted by Lorenzo Bettoni
