AC Milan Can No Longer Afford to Ignore the Form of Riccardo Saponara

On January 21, 2013, AC Milan signed Riccardo Saponara from Empoli. Then 21 years old, the attacking midfielder was in the midst of a fantastic season with the Azzurri, one that he would continue on loan and finish with 13 goals in 40 games.

With his help, Empoli managed to get within a hair's breadth of promotion to the top flight, something they eventually accomplished a year later, after Saponara's first season with Milan.

The young playmaker looked to be the perfect fit at Milan. The coach at the time, Massimiliano Allegri, is a man who prefers formations that utilize a trequartista like Saponara. He scored in the group stage of the U21 European Championships that summer, further enhancing his profile. Everything seemed primed for a breakout.

And then it all fell apart. Milan had needed an improbable comeback to qualify for the Champions League the season before, and Adriano Galliani made a panic move and reacquired Kaka from Real Madrid. The Brazilian had been one of the game's most feared players in Carlo Ancelotti's mid-2000s Milan teams, but he had languished in Madrid and was such a shell of himself that they let him return to Milan for no fee, only performance incentives.

The move was perplexing. Not only was Kaka nowhere close to the player he once was, he was now directly blocking Saponara, a player Milan thought so highly of that they had handed him the No. 8 shirt.

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Saponara was further hindered when Keisuke Honda arrived on a Bosman last January. Honda has been played more on the wing this season, but his best position is also in the hole behind the strikers. With two pedigreed internationals in his position, Saponara stagnated. According to WhoScored.com, the youngster only made the field seven times last year and only twice as a starter.

He has found playing time even harder to come buy this season under Filippo Inzaghi. He has only played once in a Milan shirt this year, in a 2-0 loss to Palermo in November.

Ironically, Saponara was one of the best players on the field for Milan that day. He completed 89.2 percent of his passes and delivered two key passes, as well as contributing a tackle and interception defensively. WhoScored only ranked Diego Lopez and Jeremy Menez ahead of him that day.

Despite that performance, he wasn't used again. In January, the Rossoneri loaned Saponara back to his boyhood club Empoli.

Saponara got right back on his feet. In his first league game as an Empoli player, he buried a penalty to temporarily level the match against Udinese. The next week his club went into the half up 1-0 on Roma in the Olimpico—but without him.

A moment of madness saw him garner two yellow cards in the space of four minutes, and his absence was felt. Without him linking the strikers with the rest of the midfield, Empoli suffered and surrendered the initiative to the capital club. Roma managed an equalizer and pressed hard, but Empoli held on for a point.

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Since his return from his automatic one-game suspension, Empoli hasn't lost. This past weekend he had what might have been the game of his life. He was denied an early score from eight yards out by an impressive save from Andrea Consigli but opened the scoring right on the restart after a fantastic solo run from the edge of the center circle.

After an own goal gifted the Neroverdi the equalizer, Saponara latched on to a throw-in and cut back for Levan Mchedlidze to score the winner. He put the game out of reach a minute later when he latched on to a through ball from Daniele Croce and beat Consigli with another hard diagonal shot.

After a year-and-a-half of stalling, Saponara has begun to return to the form that brought him to Milan in the first place. When his loan ends at the end of the season, Milan needs to take advantage of it.

The Rossoneri are in a rebuilding mode, and the midfield has been a serious concern. Riccardo Montolivo has been almost completely ineffective since arriving from Fiorentina. Inzaghi has been forced to play Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien at times this season—neither has been effective.

Nigel de Jong has been Milan's best player in the middle of the park, but his contract is up at year's end and signs are pointing to his moving on in the summer, according to the Daily Mail's Alex Harris.

Burying Saponara was a mistake to begin with. It was a mistake made by the front office and three coaches and exacerbated by the persistent playing of older players with lower ceilings. But his resurgence at Empoli could be a major turning point for both player and club.

With a dearth of quality players in the squad and a tight budget, a player like Saponara is a commodity Milan can no longer afford to ignore. The team has consistently buried this excellent young talent and it needs to stop.

When Saponara returns from his loan over the summer, he must be incorporated into the team's plans. With the proper pieces around him, his talents could spell the difference between a true challenge for the top five and yet another season out of Europe. If they make the same mistake again, they could set the team back even further.