Imagine committing to spending more than €200 million in a single summer only to discover the most effective player in the squad was actually purchased for less than €7 million three years earlier. That sentence is a damning indictment of the money wasted by AC Milan before this season began, but it also serves to underline just how important Giacomo Bonaventura is to the side.
In time, Franck Kessie, Leonardo Bonucci and even Andrea Conti might surpass the 28-year-old in terms of importance and quality, but as 2017/18 has progressed, he has clearly been their key player.
With two games remaining, Milan sit in sixth place, unable to reach the top four berth they so desperately coveted at the start of the campaign and still not certain of even qualifying for the Europa League. Gennaro Gattuso replaced Vincenzo Montella back in November and initially sparked a positive response, yet recently they have struggled for positive results, winning just two of their last eight matches.
Bonaventura boasts largely unimpressive statistics, registering only seven goals despite taking an average of 2.2 shots per 90 minutes. He makes just 1.2 tackles and 1.1 interceptions per game and has managed to complete just 1.2 take-ons, but those numbers fail to paint an accurate portrait of what he actually brings to the side every time he steps on the field.
Simply put, Milan are a better team whenever Bonaventura is in the lineup. Indeed, the Rossoneri have lost three of the eight league games he did not start, their victories in his absence coming against Crotone, Cagliari, SPAL, Chievo and Sassuolo. Each of those clubs sit firmly in the bottom half of the table, with only the latter guaranteed to be in Serie A next season with just two rounds of action remaining.
It has been this way since he arrived at the club, already having played for no fewer than six different managers despite arriving less than four years ago. Bonaventura is one of very few players over that same period who has been able to grasp what it means to represent a side as prestigious as Milan, displaying a level pride so many of his team-mates lack.
To give such incredible effort despite being surrounded by inadequate talent both on the field and in the dugout takes something special, an intrinsic understanding of the history and traditions of the Rossoneri. A number of homegrown players including Gianluigi Donnarumma, Manuel Locatelli and Patrick Cutrone have gradually been brought into the first team and they too grasp the significance of pilling on the famous red and black shirts, but Bonaventura is arguably the only signing from outside Milanello to do so.
It is perhaps because he has always supported them, born much further south but joining the Atalanta youth sector as a teenager. It was after nine years there that he eventually made the move to San Siro and it proved overwhelming for Bonaventura as his agent revealed shortly after the deal was completed. “It’s true, when Giacomo signed, he cried,” his representative Giocondo Martorelli told a reporter from TuttoMercatoWeb at the time. “It was his dream to play for Milan.”
At times that aspiration has undoubtedly been tainted, Bonaventura suffering like any fan as the side limped to 10th, seventh and sixth-place finishes over his three full seasons there. Shunted around as various bosses tried various formations and tactics, he remained positive and always gave his best but will be glad to have returned to his natural role in central midfield since Gattuso was appointed.
This term has been the first time he has enjoyed continental football as he helped push Milan into the Europa League last-16 where they lost to Arsenal. Already out of Champions League contention once again, they are not yet guaranteed a European spot for next term following their cup defeat to Juve, but their creator-in-chief has demanded a renewed focus over their remaining fixtures while admitting there is a gulf between Milan and the league leaders.
“This team had a great journey in the Coppa Italia and gave our all, but you could see the difference in quality between the two sides,” Bonaventura said in an interview with RAI Sport after the Bianconeri ran out 4-0 winners. “Juve have been challenging for the Scudetto, Coppa Italia and Champions League for years, whereas our squad was really only created this year. Juve had Gonzalo Higuain and Claudio Marchisio on the bench, that says it all. Now we have two fundamental Serie A matches coming up and there’s a lot at stake, so we must immediately wipe tonight from our minds.”
It will take a lot of work and a lot more money to bridge that gulf, but in their No.5, the Rossoneri have a player they can build around, a player already at the level they crave to return to. He remains the club’s most influential and consistent star, now they just need to find a few more like Giacomo Bonaventura.
Hopefully for Milan, it doesn’t take another €200 million.
