COP or DROP: Lucas Paquetá x AC Milan

Item: Lucas Paquetá

Brand: AC Milan

Made in: Brazil

Release date: 27/08/1997

Price: €35M

The first signing of the Milan winter market has a name and a surname long known. Like when a New Year's Eve a child asks his father insistently to be able to burst a few bangs before midnight, so did Leonardo: the Brazilian executive has placed the blow for a couple of months. Now the unboxing has become official: Lucas Paquetá is a new Milan player.

The fans dream, with that final accent on the "a" that brings to mind sweet memories from the previous decade. Meanwhile, Gattuso tries to solve a pleasant puzzle: how to use the 1997 class? In his last period at Flamengo, Paquetá has evolved as a player, he has moved from being a playmaker to being an all-pitcher, a bit the role that the Rossoneri coach has designed for Calhanoglu. It seems that Ringhio wants to play his new card in the middle of the field, from mid-wing, Bonaventura style. We'll see.

Meanwhile, the fans are questioning: how is this really Paquetá? Worth 35 million spent for him? How much will he play? To adapt to our league, how long will it take? To this and other questions I will try to answer below with another COP or DROP.

Best Case scenario: Ricardo Kaká

Better to clarify right away: Paquetá is a completely different player than Kaká. The number 22 was explosive, fast in the long, devastating in the open field, very vertical. Paquetá, on the contrary, prefers to play more internally and farther from the door. He does not have the scorching shot of Ricardo, Lucas prefers dribbling brains that tilts the legs of the opposing players. But the best case scenario remains a Ricardo 2.0, at least in fact: the new talent of Gattuso could immediately break the jacket and adapt quickly to the Serie A, also in light of the work that Barbieri (formerly the Flamengo coach) has done on him , retreating its range of action and making it more involved in the team's maneuver, even from below. Paquetá remains a very technical player, and in the game of Gattuso, one like him can be wonderful. An extra weapon for the fourth place fight, which would bring Milan back into the Champions League, which in turn brings us back to the name of Kaká.

Worst Case scenario: André Silva

There were several worst case scenarios in this case (Ricardo Oliveira, Gourcuff, etc.), but I preferred to bring to mind a fresh memory: the Portuguese has been paid a lot and has made very little, both with Montella and Gattuso. He did not take the field too often (Europa League apart), was bypassed in the hierarchies by both Kalinic and Cutrone, evidently the coaches saw a chronic slowness in adapting to Italian football. And, according to his performances, they were both right. The worst thing possible would therefore be a small and sporadic minutage, with wrong play and first grumbling of the public and the appellation "parcel" stuck in June. Then, the return to Brazil on loan, Gabigol style (another case in point).

Expected scenario: Suso

That is to say: the technique is there, but it will probably serve a period of not indifferent running-in. Among other things, they have the same foot, the left-handed, even if their areas of the field are different. Suso took a while to get Milan, he had to go on a pilgrimage to Genoa to find himself, who knows if something like this will happen with Paquetá. The fans hope to see him immediately at work, but "patience" is the watchword in cases like these, because the risk is to burn too quickly. After a healthy adaptation to Serie A, the Brazilian could really secure a front row position in Milan that will come.

Curiosities:

Some pill to fall in love with Paquetá: his name is actually Lucas Tolentino, but he was born on the island of Paquetá and then voilà, the nickname is served; another nickname: he's called "Wizard"; at the age of 15 he was only 153 cm tall, then he underwent specific treatments and today he is 182 cm tall; it may seem strange, but it is strong to the head; his first goal with the Flamengo shirt came from midfield and at this point let's say goodbye like this: