Why Jeremy Menez Is AC Milan's Most Selfish and Talented Player

AC Milan’s leading scorer is also their leading frustration.

They’ve been here before. Mario Balotelli was the same way: a talented forward with a tendency to drift out of games. 

Now they just have the French version.

Jeremy Menez is enjoying a career year at Milan. His 12 goals are tied for third among players in Serie A. He has saved Milan from losses and scored a further four game-winning goals. 

All of that does not sound like someone who has let his team down. But statistics do not tell the whole story, and Menez's is a tough one to tell.

The 27-year-old arrived at Milan vowing to change his ways. He had played for big clubs before—Monaco, Roma, Paris Saint-Germain—but he never really made it. 

Coach Filippo Inzaghi gave him another chance, making his first signing the Frenchman. As such, Inzaghi has relied heaviest on Menez, playing him for a full 90 minutes even when he should come off.

His biggest contributions have been singularly spectacular. In many ways, Menez is the ideal descendent of the YouTube generation: a few seconds to capture an outrageous move, a cool backheel flick, a devastating run. He’s done all of that so far with Milan. 

But the highlights cut out the rest, like a deceiving brochure for a player who is greedy and sloppy. There are more and more instances when Menez keeps the ball for far too long. He would run himself into a dead end when a simple pass would get him out of it. 

In one episode against Cesena, it was Menez blowing past the majority of the team, almost sprinting the whole pitch. The move began with so much promise. It fizzled out quickly. Menez hogged possession the entire way, ignoring open team-mates, ending up in the corner with a low-percentage shot that made its way into the stands.

It was typical Menez, a breathtaking bit of skill without any end product. 

It’s as if he is trapped in his own complacency, knowing he will start every match regardless. Sometimes the selfish decision has worked in his favour. He scored against Napoli by drilling the defence and taking a shot for himself. It worked. But Menez appears hellbent on doing it again and again until the move works once more.

His goals also deceive. Half of them are penalties, much like Balotelli’s. His output lacks the variety a top goalscorer needs. 

So that’s probably why Milan brought in Mattia Destro, a traditional No. 9 who will score exclusively from open play, a striker in its truest form. 

Little service goes to Destro, perhaps a symptom of a team still under the spell of Menez. It is precisely Menez who should feed Destro, who in recent games has been forced to run deep into his own half just to get a touch on the ball.

Menez has not made it easier on Destro, and the Frenchman has certainly not served as a foil for the Italian. It’s often just Menez and the road in front of him, blinders on, the goal in his sights. It's his greatest strength and biggest knock.