3 Things Stephan El Shaarawy Needs to Do to Get on Track for AC Milan
In late 2012, Stephan El Shaarawy was the future. He had already scored 14 times in the league and twice more in Europe.
Playing with a skill set that caused many—including this writer—to refer to him as Cristiano Ronaldo lite, the then 20-year-old was tearing up Serie A and almost single-handedly kept AC Milan in a position to make a late run at the Champions League.
But when the calendar flipped, it was almost like Il Faraone's switch did too. El Shaarawy only scored three times after the winter break—twice in the league and once in the Coppa Italia. Since then, fans have come close to seeing the El Sha of old, but the train has always been derailed just as it was about getting up to steam.
El Shaarawy is only 22, so there's still plenty of time for him to get back on track and help the Rossoneri bounce back from the disappointment of the last two seasons.
How can he do it? Let's take a closer look at the key elements to the comeback of the Pharaoh.
STAY HEALTHY
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Apologies for the caps in the title of this section, but the emphasis is important. Staying healthy and on the field is the biggest hurdle El Shaarawy is going to face.
The abundance of injuries El Sha has suffered likely stems from overuse in 2012. Massimiliano Allegri had just lost Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Paris Saint-Germain and Antonio Cassano to Inter. Giampaolo Pazzini, who arrived in exchange for Cassano, had just spent a season and a half floundering with the team's archrivals. There wasn't much reason to have confidence in him.
When El Shaarawy burst onto the scene, Allegri had little choice but to ride his hot streak. Only 20 at the time, it's no surprise that he ground down. Some fans blame the arrival of Mario Balotelli for the end of El Shaarawy's hot streak, but in reality, it's more likely that the crash was already coming and Balotelli's brilliant second half of the campaign saved the club rather than killing his teammate's form.
It certainly didn't help that after his first season playing starter's minutes Cesare Prandelli chose him for Italy's Confederations Cup squad. What the youngster needed was an extended offseason rest. Instead, he had to go through a full international training program and endure the blistering heat and humidity of Brazil in a tournament that is short on rest days due to its small size.
It came as no surprise when he started breaking down last year. The injuries that have felled him have tended to be similar. In late January, he broke his right metatarsal at the end of a 3-1 loss to Lazio. Early last season, he suffered an almost identical injury to his left foot, which saw him miss two months before he aggravated it after his comeback, shelving him for almost the entire year.
El Shaarawy needs to wait for this injury to fully heal before coming back, and Milan needs to find out if these injuries are freak occurrences or if the player does something that lends him to this kind of malady. El Sha won't find his old form again if he's constantly interrupted by long spells in the treatment room.
Play the Right Role
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All players need to be played in the right positions to ensure optimal performance. Rarely is their a player who can play two very different roles at equally high levels.
Milan has had a few players like this, most notably Paolo Maldini, who shone as both a full back and a center back. Most players, however, can't excel in two distinct roles to that degree.
It's very clear exactly where El Shaarawy belongs: the wing. The left wing to be precise.
It's there he can use his pace and dribbling ability to free himself and either cross or cut inside—the latter being his preference. At that point, he can either lay off or drill a shot from the top of the box.
He can play centrally as a seconda punta, but doing so deprives him of some of the strongest parts of his game. So far this season, he has appeared either as a 4-3-3 winger or a wide midfielder in a 4-2-3-1. When he gets back, that's where Milan needs to keep him if he is to rebound.
Mature
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It's easy to forget that El Shaarawy was only 20 when he exploded onto the scene and is still only 22 now. That youthful energy is important to a team that is often on the moldier side, but it can also be a detriment.
His talent is immense, but there are still areas in which he needs to develop. Wingers need to be providers as well as finishers. El Sha is improving in this regard, but there is still a lot of work to do. In his breakout, 16-goal season, he didn't register a single assist. According to WhoScored.com, he averaged just 1.5 key passes per match that year—a number that has since dipped below one.
Compare that to the stats of an elite winger such as Arjen Robben, who has three assists this season and is averaging 2.4 key passes per match for Bayern Munich.
Robben, of course, has never been accused of being overly selfless. But for someone with a reputation as a ball hog to outstrip another player by that much in the measurables for buildup play tells you how much El Shaarawy could improve in that area.
The signs are promising. Though his key-pass number is below one, he's notched three assists this season. He's also becoming a more vocal leader in the locker room. This week, he publicly threw his support behind embattled coach Filippo Inzaghi. Displays of leadership like that will go a long way toward him being a key cog for Milan for years to come.
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