Why Milan should sell Pato
Have Pato's injury problems proven too much for Milan?
One feels the time has come for Milan to decide; to persevere with Pato or allow him to leave. There have been numerous reports this season that the club are willing to sell him should the right offer arrive.
Indeed, in January he was almost sold to Paris Saint-German, and despite being offered €35 million, Adriano Galliani and Co. decided it was not enough. Yet, after two season fraught with injuries, this was probably an acceptable offering. One suspects that had Milan not botched their pursuit of Carlos Tevez, then perhaps PSG’s offer would have been sufficient.
Ever since arriving in the fashion capital in the winter of 2007-08, the player known as ‘the Duck’, has been lauded as Milan’s answer to Lionel Messi, amongst other praises. His lightning speed and clinical ability in front of goal had Serie A defenders shivering at the prospect of facing him.
And it all started according to plan. At the tender age of 18-years-old, in a league not known for blooding youngsters, the young Brazilian made an instant impact scoring nine goals in just 13 starting appearances.
A year on and a year older, Pato became a key player in Carlo Ancelotti’s side as he made 36 appearances notching an impressive 15 goals. It seemed the Brazilian was following in the footsteps of another Brazilian who enjoyed a meteoric rise at the San Siro, a certain Ricky Kaka.
But, cracks started to show the season after. Despite enjoying a fruitful partnership in the Milan attack alongside countryman Ronaldinho, Pato started to suffer from a number of injuries that saw him miss 15 matches. Nonetheless, he still ended the season with a respectable tally of 12 Serie A goals and with his reputation enhanced by his memorable two goal haul at the Santiago Bernabeu against Real Madrid.
Since last season, however, Pato has slowly become known as much for his mercurial talents as his injury problems. In the current campaign, which is well over the half-way point, the Brazil international has made just seven starting appearances in the league and just two in the Champions League. In total, he has been out for over three months and has already missed as many games as he did throughout all of last season, 13.
The fact that Galliani was willing to listen to offers for the Milan number 7 reveals much about the clubs’ current position regarding their prized asset; they are ready to sell him.
And doing so may be the best option, especially while he can fetch a transfer fee of roughly €30 million. Matteo Bisoffi, an expert in training professional athletes recently advised that the way to solve Pato’s injury problems would be for a change to be made to the player’s training regimen which aimed at changing his playing style. The consequence, as Bisoffi goes on to outlines, “gone will be the lightning pace and quick reactions that he was well known for at the age of 18, and instead he will have to become more attuned to a game based on power and physical strength. That is the price he will have to pay for the growth issues of the past few years.”
If Bisoffi is correct, then this emphasises why selling Pato makes sense. The player’s best attribute is his speed coupled with his goal-scoring ability. If he loses his pace, it raises doubts as to how effective a player he can be. For those who watch him week in week out, correction, whenever he has been fit which more is like once a month, will know that he is not exactly the most intelligent of strikers. His work off the ball leaves much to be desired. His decision making is poor and his passing ability is equally poor. Unless he is being feed directly into goal-scoring positions, as he was when Kaka and Ronaldinho were strutting about next to him, he simply is ineffective as his display against Juventus highlighted last weekend.
Carlo Ancelotti seems still interested in taking Pato to Paris. Should he ask his Arab owners for the funds to do so in the summer, if the offer is anywhere close to €30 million, than maybe it is time to sell. One suspects that Milan are willing to do so. Pato’s time at the Giuseppe Meazza may be coming to an end.
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