Breaking Down What Luiz Adriano Will Bring to AC Milan

Going into the summer transfer window, AC Milan had needs everywhere.  One of those areas was the striker position, where the Rossoneri hadn't had a consistent contributor since 2012, when Filippo Inzaghi retired and Zlatan Ibrahimovic was sold to Paris Saint-Germain.

Since then, names like Giampaolo Pazzini, Stephan El Shaarawy, Mario Balotelli, Alessandro Matri, Fernando Torres and Mattia Destro have come and gone.  None has taken the mantle of No. 1 striker and made it his own.

Vice-president Adriano Galliani hoped to change that this summer.  He struck out immediately to get a top goalscorer.  After an embarrassing miss in the form of former Porto striker Jackson Martinez, he managed to land two potential line-leaders.

The first, Carlos Bacca, arrived with a high price tag—€30 million—and high expectations.  The Colombia international had led Sevilla to consecutive Europa League titles and was among La Liga's top scorers.

The other new arrival, Shakhtar Donetsk's Luiz Adriano, came in as less of a known quantity.

The Brazilian hit man began his career in his homeland at Internacional.  Used as a bit-part player in his young days, he scored three times over two seasons and took home a FIFA Club World Cup winner's medal in 2006.  In the spring of 2007, Adriano, then 19 years old, was transferred to Shakhtar.

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He remained a bit-part player for the proceeding two years before he began to start in 2009-10.  That's when the goals came.

The hard numbers aren't eye-popping—from 2009-10 through last season, he averaged 11.5 goals in the league with only one 20-goal season and 19 goals over all competitions.  But that is as much to do with the Ukrainian Premier League, which is much smaller than most of the major leagues in Europe and even smaller now due to the armed conflict dividing the country—fewer teams means fewer games in which to compile stats.

What did show itself was consistency.  In all but one of the six seasons in question, he finished lower than seventh in the scoring race only once (2012-13).  He also scored consistently at the European level, averaging 4.6 goals per year in continental competition—a decent number when you consider how often Shakhtar either played only the group phase or early in the knockout rounds.

So what are Milan getting with Adriano?

Simply put, a consistent and predatory goalscorer who can be counted on to provide an attacking threat.

Adriano is adept at finding space and exploiting it.  When he gets an opportunity in the attacking third, he goes after it like a heat-seeking missile, exploding into the voids to threaten the goal.  In the air, he plays like a man six inches taller, rising above defenders to head the ball in.

He's not the archetypal Brazilian forward who dribbles rings around defenders to score.  He's more of a poacher.  A one-touch-and-fire kind of guy.  And he does it extremely well, and he's frighteningly accurate.  According to WhoScored.com, both of the shots he's gotten off this season have been on target.  When he gets into position, he is an absolute menace to opposing keepers.

Enhancing his game is his passing ability.  Again, Adriano isn't archetypal in this aspect of his game.  He isn't the kind of player who surveys the field and then picks the exact right ball to play.  Again, the one-touch aspect of his game comes in.  His perfect through ball to Bacca against Empoli two weeks ago is exemplary of his skill in the ball.

He took one touch to control a long clearance, looked up, and slipped a perfectly weighted through ball to the onrushing Bacca, who executed a perfect breakaway to score Milan's first goal of the season.

There were concerns about Adriano coming into the season.  Some wondered whether he and Bacca were too similar to play together in the same formation.

Others wondered if he was all he was cracked up to be given the fact that he's gotten so few call-ups for Brazil in a period when the Selecao have been forced to field the likes of Fred and Jo in major international tournaments.

Still more pointed to an ugly incident in the 2012 Champions League group stage as a sign of immaturity.  Two minutes after Danish club Nordsjaelland took a surprise lead, then-Shakhtar midfielder Willian was trying to give the ball back to the Danes after play was interrupted due to an injury.  Adriano, either unaware of the situation or not caring, stepped in front of an unsuspecting defender, stole the ball and scored an equalizer.

He eventually scored a hat-trick in the game, but UEFA suspended him for one game for unsporting behavior.  This wasn't an impulsive teenager doing it, either—he was 25 at the time.

Fortunately, he hasn't been involved in another such incident since.  As for his absence from the national team, that may well have been a side effect of the league he played in.  Only time will tell.

But for now, all signs indicate that what Milan fans have to look forward to are incisive runs in the attacking third and accurate shooting.  Bacca was the bigger name, but Adriano may very well end up being the bigger prize.