Following the arrival of Dusan Vlahovic in January, many expected Alvaro Morata to be relegated to the bench. However, the Spaniard managed to recreate himself in a new role, acting as a sidekick for the club’s new golden boy.
Unfortunately for the Bianconeri, they couldn’t maintain this promising partnership beyond the previous campaign, as the 29-year-old eventually returned to Atletico Madrid after the expiry of his loan spell in Turin.
Therefore, Federico Cherubini spent the entire summer searching for a replacement; ideally someone who can act as an understudy for the Serbian bomber, and at the same time play alongside him when deemed necessary.
As we all recall, a plethora of options were proposed for the job. Long story short, Arkadiusz Milik turned out to be the one, joining Juventus on an initial loan transfer from Marseille at the end of the summer session.
Even though the Pole is donning the number 14 on his back, he remains a natural number 9… reminiscently to Vlahovic.
As proven by his Serie A goals against Spezia and Roma, the former Napoli man is more than a competent centre forward. He can genuinely replace his Serbian teammate and put his name on the scoresheet, whether as a second half substitute or even as a starter.
But here’s the main question regarding these two big men: Can they effectively play side-by-side in the same formation?
Apparently, Max Allegri thinks so, or perhaps he was so anxious to learn the answer that he decided to unleash the attacking duo in the Old Lady’s toughest fixture of the season thus far.
Due to the complex circumstances of the PSG encounter, it remains difficult to pass a final judgement. That being said, all of our matches appear to be complex affairs during this period.
But let’s just say the early signs suggest an uneasy partnership for both strikers. After all, we’re taking about two players with striking resemblance in their styles.
To their credit, they’re trying both trying to make it work, rotating in their defensive duties, while each one occasionally drifted wide to create some space for his partner in the centre.
Nonetheless, if you want to maximize on the potential of Milik and Vlahovic, then they both need to be present inside the opposition’s box, and this is where they risk stepping on each other’s toes. After all, a target man needs to be greedy at times, as the old saying goes.
Therefore, these two strikers are unlikely to form the most complimentary of partnerships, and rotating between them remains the more logical option for the manager.
Yet, desperate times calls for desperate measures, and amidst the current injury concerns upfront – mainly Angel Di Maria and Federico Chiesa – few would fault Allegri for testing the waters between Belgrade and Tychy.
