Why Philippe Mexes Is the Most Frustrating Player in the AC Milan Squad

Frustration has been a constant state of being for Milan fans over the last two years. Even if they are far from the elite unit of the Carlo Ancelotti-led heyday, they should still be—on paper, anyway—a better side than some of the teams that have finished above them in recent seasons.

Some players, such as Diego Lopez and Giacomo Bonaventura, have acquitted themselves well. Others have given Milanisti fits.

One player who has probably caused fans the most pain is also a symbol of the team's recent defensive inadequacies.

Philippe Mexes has proved to be a poor successor to Milan's long line of excellent center-backs. When compared to Franco Baresi, Billy Costacurta, Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini, the Frenchman seems grossly inadequate.

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Mexes has been a Milan player since 2011. Since his arrival, he's played in 81 Serie A games and, according to WhoScored.com, received 30 yellow cards. That's a whopping 37 percent of his games. This past season, he started 18 games and got booked in half of them.

His tendency to lose his cool goes beyond bookings. In each of the last two campaigns Mexes has been handed lengthy suspensions for doing something completely stupid.

Last season, during Milan's first meeting with Juventus, Mexes threw a punch at Giorgio Chiellini. He ended up getting sent off for another incident later in the game, but video evidence clearly showed the jab. He ended up getting three games tacked on to the automatic one-game ban he got for the red.

In Milan's January 24 tilt against Lazio, the Frenchman ended up in a scuffle with Stefano Mauri and got sent off. When he was shown red, he attacked Lazio's captain, grabbing him by the throat and only letting go when he was physically restrained by his teammates.

Another four-match suspension followed, although he was lucky to get away with just that. He was a healthy scratch for several weeks after the suspension ended before finally making his way back into the lineup at the beginning of March.

Those two were standout incidents of indiscipline, but all those bookings have taken their toll. According to Transfermarkt, Mexes has lost 17 matches to suspension since moving to Milan from Roma.

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What's most infuriating about Mexes is that when he keeps his head and is on form, he's actually not a bad player. He shows a nose for goal when asked to come forward. He scored two nifty goals in the period after his suspension this year and has five overall during his Milan career, a respectable number for a defender.

At the back, he can be effective. His tackle and interception averages are decent. This past season, WhoScored.com clocked him at 1.6 tackles per match in league matches. His career high in tackles, set at Roma, is 2.6. He'll never be the lead player in a center-back pairing, but he's still decent enough as a complementary piece—if his head is on straight.

The maddening fact of the matter is it's almost impossible to predict which version of Mexes is going to appear in a given match. Good Mexes can be a decent contributor; bad Mexes is a red card or mistake waiting to happen.

Unfortunately, bad Mexes seems to be the one we see most often, and he certainly gets the most media attention. That's why Milan fans were so happy that his contract was due to expire at the end of June—and why they were so outraged when his contract was unexpectedly renewed. According to Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio (h/t Football Italia), Silvio Berlusconi was behind the renewal, going over the head of new coach Sinisa Mihajlovic to do so.

Since Bee Taechaubol's consortium invested in the team in May, Milan has gone after an array of attackers but few defenders. For some Milan fans, the fact Mexes was re-signed rather than a new and better player is further evidence the team's biggest weakness—the defence—is still being ignored by the team's decision-makers.

Whether it be on the field or in the news, Philippe Mexes has been making Milan fans bang their heads against walls for four years. No other player in the Rossoneri's employ has done more to cause hair loss among his supporters.