Andre Silva should be given a chance to start at Milan

Andre Silva, the Portuguese International, has earned himself a starting spot in coach Gennaro Gattuso’s lineup.

After a big summer move to Milan from FC Porto for €38 Million Euros (TransferMarkt), the 22 year old has not been given a fair shake to claim a starting spot for Milan. Gattuso has opted for the more experienced Nikola Kalinic, who has underperformed and played poorly at times.

Silva, who has played all 6 games in the Europa League for Milan, and scored as many goals has shown he is capable of manning that spot as the lone forward in Milan’s formation. He has played in 12 Serie A league games, but only four times as a starter and that hurts forwards more than it helps. Familiarity is important and if Milan and the midfield have a different forward every week results will suffer as they have been with Milan sitting in 11th place so far this season.

Can you imagine a lineup with Giacomo Bonaventura and Suso helping feed Silva over the air and through the play of the game? It can and should work, considering all three players skill. Silva is a great header, passer and finisher. In the Europa League he has been lethal having scored six goals with an average of close to 3 shots a game. That’s pretty impressive percentage of near 50% accuracy in the Europa League (WhoScored). He just has not been given that opportunity in Serie A. This is what Milan need a finisher because they have been pretty good at creating, it is just that Kalinic is not a good finisher. Milan stand at 4th with 17.4 shots per game, now that does not include quality of shot, but we can still see that they are approaching goal. Silva could be the spark that ignites Milan to a strong second half of the season if given a good run.

A lineup with him in it for this weekends game against Cagliari could be the first step for a great start for Milan.