HERE is an article written by a Milan fan, and a reader of this website, Kay Delverro from Milan, about Alexandre Pato. If you want to write an article about Milan and having it posted on the blog, email us.

By the beginning of the year 2006, a new horizon breathed around Brazil, as a new wunderkind, full of promise, had his name on the lips of several selecao fans. Brazil had been relatively disappointing in their quest for a record 6th Fifa World – Cup trophy, as they crashed out in Germany in the Quarter – final. With Ronaldo aging and loosing form, amidst being overweight, it was evident that Brazil needed yet another youngster to take the mantle of one day leading Brazil to World Cup glory, just as Ronaldo had did.

Born in Pato Branco in Brazil , Alexandre Rodriguez da Silva, also known as Pato had been signed by Sport Club Internacional, a rival of the club he supported as a child ; Gremio. He was immediately dispatched to compete in the Campeonato Brasileiro Sub-20. Though he was only 16yrs and very young to be playing in an U 20 tournament, he ended up as the top scorer of the competition and inspired his current club to beat his childhood club Grêmio, 4 – 0.

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It was no surprise, when he was promoted to the senior team in November that year, after he had just turned 17. In his eagerly anticipated debut, Internacional played against Palmeiras in the Campeonato Brasileiro. Pato scored within the first minute of the game to give Internacional the lead, and before the 17 yr old was substituted in the 77th minute, he had scored one goal and made two assists.

Pato was subsequently added to the roaster of Internacional players who played in the 2006 Club World Cup and at 17 years 102 days old, he became the youngest player to score in a FIFA organized tournament  after breaking Brazilian legend Pele’s record, after he had scored against Wales in the 1958 world cup, at 17 yrs 239 days old. Pato’s goal came against Al – Ahly of Egypt. His 6 goals in 10 league matches and 4 goals in 7 Continental tournament matches was enough to alarm several top sides in Europe to enter into a bidding war to prize the youngster away from Brazil.

Milan beat stiff competition from Chelsea and Real Madrid, who reportedly offered more money for the youngster. However, Pato comfirmed his decision to join the Rossoneri was because he wanted join his mentor Ronaldo at the Club. Other influential people who helped were Kaka and largely, Leonardo (current Inter coach). Though he had to wait until January 13 2008 befor he played for Milan competitively, he scored in his Serie A debut for Milan, as the Rossoneri trashed Napoli 5 – 2 at the San Siro. Fellow Brazil stars Kaka and Ronaldo were all on target. On 28 January in that same year, he hit a brace against Genoa, as Milan defeated the Grifoni 2 – 0. It was a good first season for “the duck” who ended the season with 9 goals from only 12 starts.

The following year, the 19 yr old took Serie A by storm, at a point in time hitting 10 goals in 8 matches. Ronaldo was absent in Milan and the honors of leading the attack had fallen on Pato and Inzaghi. Ronaldinho had just been signed from Barcelona. Pato scored several important goals for the club, including goals against Udinese, Fiorentina, Napoli, Roma and Inter. It is worth noting that, Pato’s consistency upfront limited, together with Inzaghi, when former Milan Superstar Kaka went on injury, for a combined period of two months that season. Kaka had been Milan’s leading assists player and his absence cost the team. Pato however went on to become Milan’s top goal scorer with 18 goals, and participated in 36 league games. It is also worth noting that Pato played mostly as a Striker in this era with Inzaghi, supported by Kaka, Ronaldinho or both and not at the Right wing.

A change in Managers in the 2009/10 season saw Pato drift to the Right Wing, as Leonardo played a 4-3-3 formation. Pato was awarded the Serie A Young Player of the Year award, becoming the first Brazilian to win this. Pato started that season well after hitting a brace against Siena, to help Milan win 2 -1. Pato had many memorable performances that season. After virtuoso performances against Real Madrid, Roma, Bari and Fiorentina, Pato suffered a hamstring injury, which will cause him to miss several important fixtures during the season, including a Champions League away tie against Manchester United. His absence forced Leonardo to play Huntelaar as a Right Wing in this game. Milan will go on to be humiliated 4 – 0. Due to recurrences in his injuries, Pato only played 20 league games scoring 13.

Pato started this season netting two goals against Lecce but got injured after the first two matches and was ruled out for three weeks. Upon his return he scored 2 goals against Chievo. Till date, Pato has scored 11 goals in 14 starts for the Serie A leaders, with 1 assist.

The Prince will become King! Baseless Criticisms against Pato

There is no doubt Milan has in their ranks arguably the best young forward in Europe. Unfortunately, many Rossoneri fans have started calling for Pato’s head with some making so many criticisms against “the duck”. Some sections are calling for him to be sold. Here are some of the criticisms that some fans are leveling against Pato.

  1. He is too injury prone. He is made of glass
  2. He is inconsistent
  3. He cannot play with Ibrahimovic
  4. He is sometimes selfish

Whiles I respect everyone’s opinion and acknowledge the fact that we are all entitled to one, I think it will be detrimental to our club growth to sell Pato at any cost at this time of his carrier. Here’s why:

Injury prone?

With the first criticism of Pato being injury prone, it pays to note that his injuries have only been recurrent during last season and this season.; A period where he has suffered three hamstring injuries.  As I pointed out earlier, in Ancelotti’s final season in Milan, Pato played 36 league matches out of 38. This clearly shows that he is only having a rough patch with injuries but should recover fully after sometime, once his body fully develops. He is only 21, and the likes of Messi and Van Persie will tell you how many injuries they suffered when they were of such age. Also, it may not be necessarily wise to sell a player only because you feel he is too injury prone. The likes of Robben, Marco van Basten, Alessandro Nesta and Francesco Totti have made illustrious careers, and can be considered as some of the best players of all time, even though they barely stay fit throughout a single season. Should Thiago Silva also be sold since he is also injury prone?

Inconsistencies?

Some say Pato is inconsistent, and therefore may not live to his full potential at Milan though very talented. But then again I ask you; which forward in Milan, since the days of Shevchenko has been consistent? A striker cannot play on his own, much worse one who is only 21yrs and plays in Serie A. Quite disturbingly; taking 35 top scorers currently in the Serie A this season, ONLY PATO AND PASTORE are 21 years old. Alexis Sanchez who is 22 follows this. The rest are all in their mid 20’s, late 20’s or early 30’s with Di Natalie, 34, leading the top goal scorers. On the contrary, whiles Pato has only started 14 matches and has 11 goals, Pastore has started 30 matches with 10 goals to his name. Infact last season, Pato was the ONLY one to be 20 or below, to score double figures in the Serie A. The other young scorer being Mario Balotelli with 9 goals.  Clearly in Serie A, the strikers mature with age. It is also worth noting that on the International front, Pato has scored for Brazil in every match he has played since Mano Menezes took over. The only game he failed to score was their 1 – 0 defeat to France. He did not play against Argentina. Pato that we know, is not the kind that misses an easy chance often but I’ll come to that later. To talk about inconsistency, do you know that Ibrahimovic has scored just 1 goal (a penalty against Napoli) in his last 9 appearances for Milan in all competitions?

Cannot Play with Ibra?

This is an argument that has been going on for long. Pato has been blamed for not being able to develop and understanding with Zlatan. Funny enough, people feel it is the duty of Pato to figure out a way of co – existing with Ibra and not the other way round. Whiles I dearly appreciate the impact that Ibrahimovic has had on the team, and the fact that largely thanks to his moments of brilliance, we are currently top of the table, (Though only just) he (Ibra ) is not a player that most forwards are able to play with. He destroyed Barca’s brand of football, even though he managed 21 goals in all competitions for the Blaugrana. Barca did not delay in shipping out the player who is as at now their record signing to Milan, despite the financial loss they must have made. The outcome is evident as Pedro, Messi and Villa are in free scoring form and complement each other all the time. Looking at Ibra’s statistics in Serie A, do  you know that his best season in Italy was in 2008/09 when he finished with 25 league goals to be crowned top scorer? Do you know that that was the first time in the striker’s illustrious career in Italy, that he had been able to score more than 17 goals in the league? Do you also know that in that season, despite the presence of Adriano, Cruz, Crespo and Balotelli, none of them was able to score even 11 goals in the league? Would you say they were also not compactible with Ibra? The less said the better. The last time Milan had an influx of forwards and attackers in a single season (2006), Shevchenko scored 19, Gilardino 17,  Kaka 14 and Inzaghi 12. Long balls were not targeted to one player in Milan as it is now.

He is too selfish?

Like I said earlier on, strikers need help to score. They need the contribution of midfielders to score goals. The likes of Messi, Xavi, and Alves all had double figured assists last season whiles Ibra and Iniesta contributed 8 and 7 assists respectively for Barca last season. In short, in a team where there are no players to give assists to strikers to score, the said strikers will likely be selfish. To further explain this, give me the opportunity to show you a comparison between Milan and the other teams in the top four of the Serie A and see for yourselves how deficient Milan are with players who can feed strikers balls to score.

Top Assists

AC MilanS.S.C. NapoliInter MilanUdinese Calcio
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 11Ezequiel Lavezzi - 11Samuel Eto'o - 6Antonio Di Natale - 7
Antonio Cassano - 5Marek Hamsik - 6Maicon - 6Mauricio Isla - 6
Clarence Seedorf - 5Andrea Dossena - 4Wesley Sneijder - 5Giampiero Pinzi - 6
Andrea Pirlo - 3Edinson Cavani - 4Dejan Stankovic - 5Alexis Sanchez - 5
Robinho - 2Walter Gargano - 4Goran Pandev - 4Kwadwo Asamoah - 4

With Inter Milito, Motta and Karja all have 3 assists to their name also. Maggio has 3 assists for Napoli with Soso and Pacienza having 2 each, whiles Inler Armero and Coda have 3, 2 and 2 for Udinese respectively. Only Antonini and Oddo have managed 2 assists each for Milan in addition to the above.

These figures show that Milan simply do not have players that can give the final ball to the strikers to score. This is the reason why Ibra does that work himself and Pato plays rather selfishly as you may say. Comparing our figures to the rest does not only show that we are lacking in the assist department, but that our three defensive midfielders that we play only make things more difficult more the likes of Pato to score. Before being sold, Ronaldinho had 3 assists and currently has 4 goals in 8 games for Flamengo. One may only wonder whether indeed he was not up to the task this season for Milan, after recording 14 assists and 12 goals last season for Milan, or whether the coach’s tactics may not have helped him.

Dunga was sacked from the Brazil National Team because he played too defensive, with an average two to three Defensive Midfielders per game. Under his system, Pato played 8 games and scored just 1. Mano Menezes was appointed Brazil Coach and he on the contrary, played a more attacking game with usually one Defensive Midfielder. The result, Pato has scored 3 goals in 4 matches.

To conclude, there is no doubt, that Pato is the stand out of young forwards in the whole of Europe and should Milan enhance their play or put in more attackers in the team, rather than play old defensive midfielders, Pato will surely become King pretty shortly. The sad part is Robinho who plays behind the two strikers only has 2 assists.

People have also suggested who we should buy after we sell Pato but let me point out to you that, Benzema(23yrs) has 10 goals in  26 league matches. Guissepe Rossi (24yrs) has 15 goals in 27 league matches, Pedro (23yrs) has 13 goals in 28 matches whiles Aguero (22yrs) has 12 goals in 24 matches……Are they doing that much better than Pato is?

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