Tuttosport is reporting that Milan have agreed terms with Suso and all that is left is to agree a fee with Liverpool and to decide whether to take the player in January or the summer. Suso is on the last year of his contract and with the prospect of losing the versatile playmaker on a free, Liverpool will have to decide on his future sooner than they hoped. Milan had already tried to sign the player on a loan deal in the summer.
Suso is a very interesting player at least. He has the potential to become the sort of player that Isco currently is for Real Madrid, though at the young age of 20, he still has glaring weaknesses. He spent last season at Almeria in La Liga, which was his first full season of first team football. During that season, he managed seven assists, which was frankly quite impressive. It was more than the total managed by such veterans like Arda Turan.
At a mere 159 lbs, the 5'10 is very agile, good in tight spaces and enjoys a dribble like any technically sound winger should. Unlike many youngsters who use their dribbling to offset their lack of passing ability, Suso is a magnificent passer --as evidenced by his assist total for one. He can read opposing defenses and make passes through the defense into dashing forwards without much difficulty, an attribute that's very rare in players his age.
As mentioned above, the usually inverted left winger is already versatile. At Almeria, he was used as a right winger in a 5-4-1, an attacking midfielder in a 4-2-3-1 and as a deep lying forward in the 4-4-2. It will grant Inzaghi the freedom to move insert him into the lineup without having to sacrifice other creative players. With Alessio Cerci's arrival and Stephan El Shaarawy's return to form, both wings seem to occupied while the middle might also cause some problems with Keisuke Honda's importance.
As far as weaknesses, while Suso has the technique and has shown that he can score from out of the box and from free-kicks, he does suffer from impotency in the goals category. With Almeria, he managed only three goals from 64 shots, 22 of those which were blocked. He also has a low pass completion percentage, 72%, which is easily explained by the fact that he does play a high number of through balls, while also indulging in unsuccessful crosses. He also has a tendency of holding on to the ball for too long or trying to create too much on his own. Which leads to losing possession and wasting opportunities.
Of course he also lacks a bit defensively as most young attacking players do. He's not a very good tackler and he often em[ploys the fake defense tactic of jogging and pretending to engage an attacking player.
Regardless, at 20 years old, he contributed to 10 goals to help Almeria's survival in his first full season as a first team player. Milan would be getting a player who has all of the ability to be a star with the proper development for free and that's not an opportunity that comes along very often.
There's also this video for those who haven't seen him:
UPDATE!:
Suso's agent: "I can confirm that there is an agreement between Milan and Suso for a 4-year contract."
@suso30oficial
— AC Milan News (@Milanello) January 6, 2015