Article about Musah. I haven't read it yet, pasted here first. Headline caught my eye.
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The miseducation of Yunus Musah at Milan
USMNT and AC Milan midfielder Yunus Musah
By Jeff Rueter
April 22, 2025Updated 1:22 pm EDT
Before Yunus Musah could collect a pass from Kyle Walker early in the first half, a Fiorentina opponent was converging.
The quick action should not have come as a surprise for the 22-year-old. Musah’s stock rose on the back of some precocious play with Valencia and the U.S. men’s national team, particularly as a box-to-box midfielder. When presented with space into which to run, his athleticism and close-control dribbling has allowed him to quickly progress upfield. When presented with little room to roam, he has shown a willingness to keep it conservative and recirculate.
On April 5, however, Musah was not playing as a number 8. Instead, AC Milan manager Sergio Conceição lined Musah up in a double-pivot alongside Youssouf Fofana, facing Fiorentina’s three-man engine room. It was a more withdrawn role than his preferred utilization, but the hope was that the similar role description would still set Musah up to succeed.
Back to that ball from Walker. In the seventh minute, Musah was moving toward his defense to collect a pass up the channel from the England international. Fiorentina’s numerical advantage put Nicolò Fagioli in prime position to quickly pounce, and Musah attempted to dribble around the Italian. It’s a natural maneuver on the wing, but one that requires precise execution in the heart of the park. Unfortunately for him, he wasn’t so nimble on this occasion.
The ball trickled away from Musah and right to Fiorentina, giving the visitors a chance for an unexpected short-field counter. Another midfielder, Rolando Mandragora, collected the ball and caught Fofana in two minds about whether to converge or let off and pick up another defensive mark. It created enough time for Mandragora to bypass Fofana with a quick pass to Albert Gudmundsson, who dribbled toward the touchline and crossed in front of the goalmouth for a clumsy tapped-in own goal.
Merely seven seconds passed from Musah’s dribble attempt to Fiorentina opening the scoring. After tracking back in vain, Musah looked to the sky in dejection. No teammate approached to console him.
Minutes later, Fiorentina doubled its lead. Musah had done well to recover and defend Walker’s usual terrain down the right flank, but when he forced his opponent to pass backwards, it was to a player standing where Musah would usually be in midfield. His unmarked cross flew into the box, leading to an easy squared assist for a Moise Kean finish.
Even after his team halved its deficit, Musah was visibly shaken. In the 23rd minute, Conceição made a dramatic first-half tactical substitution, pulling Musah for another striker and dropping Tijjani Reijnders back into midfield. Although Milan rescued a 2-2 draw, this was a missed chance to make up ground in Serie A against a team directly above them in the table.
It was also an awful shift for Musah, who has been an unused substitute in each of Milan’s two ensuing matches. As the 2024-25 campaign nears its end – and the second leg of the Coppa Italia semifinals vs. rival Inter Milan beckons on Wednesday – he looks to be a shell of the prospect who was among Europe’s most promising midfielders less than two years ago. For a player whose trademark characteristic is his smile, there’s been little to celebrate in a setback of a season.
At this point of 2023, Musah looked to have outgrown Valencia.
Then just 20, he had drawn plenty of praise for his breakout performance at the 2022 World Cup, teaming with Weston McKennie and Tyler Adams to give the U.S. a coherent midfield trio. Musah didn’t have McKennie’s vivacious personality, nor Adams’ tireless work rate, but his technical ability and linking of both the defense to the midfield and the midfield to the forward line made him an essential part of Gregg Berhalter’s side.
He had also become a mainstay for his club, logging 2,120 minutes in La Liga. By and large, those shifts came as a central midfielder, just as they had in Qatar. It was easy to see why Milan was among his suitors, as then-manager Stefano Pioli’s team had a clear need for a progressive box-to-box midfielder. They got their man, spending £17 million ($21.8 million) to sign Musah shortly after acquiring Pulisic.
While Musah was still filling other roles, especially out wide, this was the year that saw Valencia work to refine his game in the heart of the park. Previously, the club had alternated him between midfield and right wingback, enjoying his progressive dribbles as an outlet to build up the pitch. The concentrated focus in midfield helped show he could fit the role, and this was the year (and set of shifts) that ultimately won Milan’s favor.
Throughout 2023-24, Pioli experimented more with a base 4-3-3 formation. It was a natural alternative to the 4-2-3-1 that Milan used heavily throughout Pioli’s tenure, and one that provided Musah with shifts in his preferred role. While Musah was needed to play other roles, from a deeper defensive midfield spot to a few roles along the right flank, he still logged much of his minutes in central midfield.
More importantly, it helped Milan to a second-place finish in Serie A after finishing fourth a year prior. However, Pioli announced his plan to depart the club as the season neared its end. Paulo Fonseca was appointed before the start of preseason in early June.
Fonseca operated in a base 4-2-3-1, only sparingly shifting to a three-man midfield. Poor results led to his sacking in late December, with Conceição stepping in to start the new year. While his approach asked for more long balls and direct attacks than Fonseca’s, Milan still predominantly stayed in a 4-2-3-1 with a double-pivot at its midfield base.
In Serie A, Milan has used a three-man midfield just three times since changing coaches. As a result, Musah has had less time in his preferred role than at any point of his senior career.
To understand why Musah’s ever-changing role could directly lead to his awful 23 minutes against Fiorentina, let’s strip the situation down to its basics.
Here is a young midfielder who was signed on the back of his box-to-box work. Currently, Milan does not play with a true number 8, leaving Musah to bring his approach to either defensive midfield or attacking midfield. The more advanced role invites a player to take more risks: more of the dribbles Musah enjoys taking, more high-risk passing. This is where Musah has spent the most of his time in 2024-25.
Against Fiorentina, those same actions (like the dribble leading to the own goal) are more dangerous when attempted in a player’s defensive half. There are fewer lines of teammates to bail someone out after a mishap, and less time to form a makeshift defensive shape. An opponent of their caliber will hardly be wasteful when such a gift finds them.
Each role also asks a player to read a game in different ways. This isn’t a new issue for USMNT players at the club level, with McKennie and Pulisic having to change roles throughout their careers based on teammates’ availability and their coaches’ wishes. A young midfielder like Musah may drift even further from their eventual home as their athleticism outpaces their game reading. Before establishing himself as a defensive midfielder, Adams logged many shifts at fullback and wingback with his boyhood New York Red Bulls.
Another midfielder on the 2022 World Cup squad, Kellyn Acosta, did similar time upon breaking through with FC Dallas. For years, his midfield shifts were scattered in between starts at either fullback position. In his “My Game in My Words” installment on The Athletic, Acosta recalled that shifts at outside back allowed him to “take multiple touches and find my pass” without the quick decision-making necessary to navigate a crowded midfield.
