EXCLUSIVE FEATURES
SM Exclusive: Torino insider lifts the lid on Meite – playing style, strengths, weakness and potential
By Oliver Fisher - 18 January 2021, 17:06
AC Milan welcomed their first recruit of the winter mercato on Friday night as Soualiho Meite joined on loan with an option to buy from Torino.
Despite the fact he has been in Serie A for over two years now, he arrives as somewhat of an unknown quantity to many fans given that he has been plying his trade in a team that has struggled a bit in that time.
We spoke to Matteo Pedrosi of the Corriere Granata to get the low-down on what we can expect from Meite, while you can also read our player analysis here.
Could you please give a brief assessment of the type of player we are getting and what positives he can offer?
“If we make a technical-tactical consideration, I think Meité is a useful reinforcement for Milan, I think he can be functional to Pioli’s way of playing, he can represent a valid alternative to Kessié, but he could also play alongside him if needed,” Pedrosi told us.
“He has the advantage of being a modern midfielder, with good technique, physical strength, good control and dominance (or coverage) of the ball. But he also has defects: he is inconsistent, he does not always play concentrated (some of his lapses have been fatal), sometimes he tends to overdo it when he has the ball between his feet, sometimes he sins in excessive affectation and in this he has not improved since his arrival at Torino.
“He has important numbers, precisely because he has a good technical quality and control, but sometimes he unnecessarily exceeds in dribbling, rarely affecting the finishing. Some statistics I have read are likely to be misleading if extrapolated individually.
“However, I repeat, his task at Milan will be different, so I believe he can be useful to the cause. In Giampaolo’s Torino he did not perform because he was employed in a role that was not congenial to him: for the reasons I listed above I do not think he is a mezzala, he does not fit in continuously, he rarely shoots and he is not a man to make the last pass. He had some decisive assists but did not have consistency.”
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