Hatching a Plan for AC Milan to Get Misfiring Andrea Bertolacci Back on Track

Andrea Bertolacci is struggling.

The 24-year-old international is under major pressure at AC Milan.  After the collapse of their big-money attempt to sign Geoffrey Kondogbia fell through—he ended up signing with cross-town rivals Inter—the Rossoneri needed to identify another midfielder quickly.  Vice president Adriano Galliani's relationship with Genoa, which has produced several transfers over the years, quickly saw Bertolacci become his new target.

The deal came through quickly.  After buying the second half of his rights from Roma, Bertolacci signed with Milan, with €20 million going in the other direction.

Having to justify a transfer fee that high is brutally unfair to Bertolacci, and it's going to be very difficult for him to do so.  Talented though he may be, €20 million was an overpayment.

According to Transfermarkt.com's estimations, Bertolacci's value tops out at €15 million.  For him to live up to his cost, he's going to have to perform at a very high level indeed.

It's been clear that the pressure of Bertolacci's fee is getting to him.  Much like Paul Pogba at Juventus, who was thrust into a leading role in the Bianconeri midfield for the season's first two months after transfer departures and injuries depleted the unit, Bertolacci is trying to do too much.  That, in turn, is pulling him out of his game, making him try to do two of everything with one kick of the ball.

The result?  A totally lackluster showing, starting from preseason and extending into the league campaign.  So poor has his performance been that many have already put him on the fast track toward being one of the biggest transfer busts of the season. 

Milan's midfield is one of its key weaknesses right now, and Bertolacci is a big reason why.  What it needs is a plan to get the youngster back on track and playing well—if not up to his fee, at least up to what he was capable of doing at Genoa last year, when he scored six times and notched eight assists.

Today, we're here to offer up that plan in three steps.

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Step One: Get Him Confident

Confidence is a key factor in the performance of any player.  If he doesn't believe in himself, he's not going to do anything on the field.

With that in mind, it's important that Milan keep his spirits up.  Fortunately, it was presented with a building block to do just that on Sunday against Torino.

For the first time all season, Bertolacci actually looked good in a Milan shirt—not like a world-beater, but certainly not garbage, either.

The game statistics from WhoScored.com tell a lot, particularly in the defensive area of the field.  He made five tackles and two interceptions—both well above his season averages—while blocking a shot and only being whistled for an infraction once.  It was an excellent display of what he can do defensively when he's on form.

The other end of the field was a mixed bag.  He only completed 74.3 percent of his passes—almost dead even with his season average—but his gut-busting run into the box in the second half led to Milan's most important pass of the night: a square pull-back to Carlos Bacca for the game's opening goal.

While he was dispossessed twice and guilty of six unsuccessful touches, he also managed to draw four fouls.  Given the whole of the performance, Bertolacci was deemed man of the match by WhoScored.

This could be an important moment for him.  With his first good performance under his belt, some of the questions may finally be clearing from his mind.  It's imperative that coach Sinisa Mihajlovic starts him in the next few games in order to allow him to build on it.

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Step Two: Take the Pressure Off

As noted previously, Bertolacci is under a ton of pressure to justify that transfer fee of his.  It's most likely a key factor in his tendency to overplay, something that has also been seen when thrown into some high-pressure games during UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying with the national team.

It's telling that what was likely his best performance in Savoy blue came as a substitute against Norway.  With qualification already confirmed, there was a relaxed atmosphere coming into the match.  Even though Italy was trailing at the time of his introduction, he looked much more assured.

Given Milan's current situation and its urgent need to climb back up the table, there is certainly going to be a high-pressure environment at the club.  What Mihajlovic can do to ease things up on Bertolacci himself is to get more out of his midfield as a whole.

Giacomo Bonaventura is key here.  If he can keep up the form he's in and shoulder the burden that trequartiste of old, like Gianni Rivera, did for their teams, there will be less need for Bertolacci to try to play beyond himself.

What Milan shouldn't do is make a splashy signing in the winter transfer window.  The squad is bloated as it is, and adding more weight to it is going to be counterproductive.

It will also heap even more pressure on Bertolacci to keep his place on the field.  That fee is a large part of what's keeping him in the starting XI—another big-money player coming in the winter might make that less of a guarantee.

It's better for Mihajlovic to do that by tinkering with what he has—which leads to...

Step Three: Alter His Role

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This may sound strange, but it's possible putting Bertolacci in a box-to-box role doesn't maximize the midfield as a whole.  If he were to be moved out of that role, he might be able to change his form for the better.

That's why Bertolacci should be tried at the regista position.

Mihajlovic has tried and failed to find a midfielder to sit in front of the defense this year.  Early games saw Nigel de Jong give it a try, but he's more of a destroyer than a passer, and the experiment predictably failed.

He was replaced by Riccardo Montolivo, the only natural regista on the team.  But Montolivo is not the player he was when he achieved so much success at Fiorentina—and certainly not the "new Pirlo" he was made out to be when he was signed three summers ago.

While not as natural a fit to the spot as Montolivo, Bertolacci playing in front of the defense can have its advantages.  It would make full use of his defensive strengths while allowing De Jong back onto the field in the box-to-box role that is natural to him.  That in turn would give Milan a bit more bite defensively.

With Bonaventura making the main offensive moves and Juraj Kucka doing a little bit of both from the other box-to-box spot, this new look could have some success for Milan—and frankly, given the current state of the midfield, something needs to be done.

If Bertolacci plays as the regista in that new-look lineup, he may just be able to break out of the funk he's been in since signing with Milan—and at least show Milan and its fans that the money spent on him wasn't a total waste.