Milanello View: The Metronoic Montolivo at Milan

Riccardo Montolivo's arrival at AC Milan last summer carried little doubts from many Rossoneri faithful on whether his the right man to lead Milan's midfield line after being left with names such as Andrea Pirlo, Clarence Seedorf and also Gennaro Gattuso. That trust didn't escalated much during the early part of Milan's new season as they were struggling to pick up positive results, while Montolivo himself was still adapting with his new teammates along with several different midfield positions during those days.


However, as time goes by, the ex-Fiorentina's men finally found his feet at San Siro especially after several big performance against top sides such as Inter Milan and Juventus which immediately lifted his name into the heart of Rossoneri's faithful. When Stephan El Shaarawy received tons of praises for his brilliant goal scoring display, especially in the first part of this season, Montolivo's influence grows bigger at the Red and Black squad as his consistency also escalated into the heights that rarely seen during his last couple of seasons in Florence.

His latest goal against Chievo showcased how he has become one of the heroes for Milan in their current exciting season, filled with youth presence, raw talents and exciting results. From having the danger of being at the mid-bottom level, Rossoneri have now grow into a Champions League main candidates and possible runners up finish by the end of season. Aside from bright performance from their youth talents and Mario Balotelli's arrival on January, Montolivo's solid performance in midfield simply helped this emerging side compete with the top sides in Italy.

Montolivo might not possessed Andrea Pirlo's vision or Clarence Seedorf penetrative play, but the 28-year-old Italian international can be considered as a much more complete midfielder with a very good passing qualities, vision of his won and also excellent defensive work. His character is pretty much what Rossoneri needed the most in their transitional season as Monty possessed a much more solid mixture of playmaking ability along with that battling in winning the ball from opponents. Without many technically solid teammates in that middle area, the ex-Fiorentina star simply provides a unique balance which often escalated the Red and Black performance.

Being brought in a free-transfer deal, many fans are now cherishing Adriano Galliani's work as Montolivo has proven that his affection towards Rossoneri during his childhood days has helped him a lot in acquiring that step forward in terms of responsibilities and performance which is needed when ones are playing at big clubs. The new metronome will surely be the new leader for Milan's young squad in years to come as he has already being given the trust by management along with senior teammates in holding that armband when seniors such as Massimo Ambrosini or Christian Abbiati is absent.

With a potentially much more young look on Milan midfield next season, Montolivo will continue to carry the responsibilities in guiding his teammates along with the club achieving their targets. However, before that happen, the former Atalanta youth player must set his focus fully on Rossoneri's remaining matches this season as they are aiming to secure that Champions League position.