Strengths and Weaknesses of AC Milan Summer Transfer Signing Andrea Bertolacci

Throughout his whole AC Milan career, Andrea Bertolacci will have that transfer fee to justify.

The club paid €20 million for the 24-year-old midfielder, one of the biggest deals in all of Europe this summer. Rightly or wrongly, it’s now up to him to play up to that price.

But he does have the tools at his disposal to do it—even if those tools still need a bit of sharpening.

Bertolacci is going to score goals and set them up. He’s a creative influence in midfield and an ambitious shot-taker with a ferocious left foot, although he can also use his right. Milan don’t have many ambidextrous players, so already Bertolacci offers something the team previously did not have.

The long shot is a personal favourite of his. Bertolacci is not afraid to let fly a ball from outside the penalty area. But with that eagerness comes a little bit of carelessness. He failed to convert 85 per cent of his opportunities last season with Genoa, according to Squawka. For every shot on target, there is one off. It’s a game based on risk. It's also a lot of waste.

The long game is not foreign to Milan. They had Sulley Muntari taking those audacious shots from 25 or 30 yards away. Muntari would score the odd cracker and other times send the ball way into the stands.

Bertolacci would effectively assume the role of that long-range threat, with varying degrees of success. But he can hold on to the ball, too, which is probably when he's at his best anyway.

Just look at one of his goals for Genoa against Milan last year: Bertolacci ran through the midfield and past the defence before cooly slotting the ball past Diego Lopez. It was such a confident run, and with great dribbling. Bertolacci has the presence of mind to see open lanes and take advantage of them.

A little deke, a second’s pause, and off Bertolacci goes. Maybe that was the moment the player piqued Milan’s interest.

His attacking tendencies bode well for the philosophy of Sinisa Mihajlovic, who wants his team to play to win. “Our opponents must go back to being frightened of Milan,” Mihajolvic told Sky Sport (h/t Football Italia).

Bertolacci could play as an attacking midfielder or in a more central role with the freedom to push up. Mihajlovic does like to use a No. 10 in his 4-3-1-2 formation, but that position may be reserved for Keisuke Honda. The Japanese has been one of the better players in the early run of the pre-season and probably deserves a fair shot at his favoured position after a couple of years on the wing.

And that’s OK, because Bertolacci seems like the kind of guy who just wants to play every game.

“My role has always been midfield, but I’ll adapt to the needs of the team and the coach,” Bertolacci told SportMediaset (h/t Football Italia).

Besides, if Bertolacci can’t score all the goals, he can create them. The Italian contributed to 14 goals for Genoa in Serie A last season with eight assists. He can play the long and short ball to equal effect, but he prefers tighter passes.

The one worrying statistic is his passing accuracy itself. At 79.2 per cent last year, according to WhoScored.com, it’s the one part of his game that needs to improve. The majority of players on last year’s Milan squad had a higher passing percentage; that alone speaks volumes. 

Tano Pecoraro/Associated Press

Milan were one of the most undisciplined teams in Serie A last season, with many of those fouls coming as a result of lost possession. So the Rossoneri need to do all they can to keep the ball this time around.

The same goes for Bertolacci. Another downfall of his style of play is his own lack of discipline. He picked up 10 yellow cards last year; Philippe Mexes only had nine. That’s not a good statistic to win.

Bertolacci’s grittiness is the reason for the cautions, and it’s a side effect of his greater overall defensive contributions. Even though he is predominantly geared toward the offence, Bertolacci still comes back to help with the rest of the midfield. He is a better tackler than Giacomo Bonaventura and Riccardo Montolivo, making an average of 2.4 challenges every game, according to WhoScored.

Nigel de Jong badly needs help in the defensive phase, and now he will get it. The Dutchman was usually the only one to bail out the defence in times of need, which was the main reason for his own high number of yellow cards (11). The midfield will be much more responsible with Bertolacci beside De Jong.

His defensive side can also allow Honda to concentrate on the attacking side of the pitch. Since arriving at Milan, Honda has played out of position and has had to track back on several occasions just to get the ball. In that sense, Bertolacci is a great foil for Honda, cutting in from the left side to link up play or stop an opposing attack. Honda can pass those defensive responsibilities on to his new teammate.

Milan have lacked a proper transition game in previous seasons, a link between defence and offence. So it's up to Bertolacci to provide that spark and cover more ground.

In the end, the price for a player like Bertolacci is steep. But he has the potential to reach double digits in both goals and assists. There were only three players who did that in Serie A in the 2014-15 campaign: Domenico Berardi, Franco Vazquez and Paulo Dybala.

Last season was a breakout one for Bertolacci. Now he has to build on it.