The storm Alphadjo Cissè

No one, at least according to them, has been rushing him or putting him under pressure. Yet, between the compliments and comments from the bench in the press (ranging from “He’s not going anywhere, he’s absolutely ready” to Ruben Amorim’s “I love Cissé”), and a starting place in the first league match, a bit of haste and pressure is bound to have crept in. At nineteen, however, if one perceives the rush and pressure as an insurmountable problem rather than an opportunity, there is a problem, at least in football. Against Torino, Alphadjo Cissé started from the first minute, paid no heed to the pressure and put everyone else under pressure instead. First match for Milan, first goal. And he could well have scored a brace.

Alphadjo Cissè’s performance wasn’t perfect; he made plenty of mistakes – with shots and crosses – and was often inaccurate both in his movement and in his passing, but he gave his all. And above all, he was carefree. Alphadjo Cissè wasn’t afraid of making mistakes; he didn’t hold back, and at times he was even a bit over the top. Alphadjo Cissè is a stormy footballer: he sweeps across the pitch, overwhelming his opponents, both when he has the ball at his feet and when he’s trying to win it back because, as is only natural, a striker would rather control the ball than chase after it to challenge for it. Because Alphadjo Cissè demonstrated in a Serie A stadium what he has always done – first on the small pitches of Treviso and then in Serie B wearing the Catanzaro shirt: playing alongside the big names and not caring if he was the smallest. After all, just playing was enough for him, because playing came naturally to him.

The Italian striker still has room for improvement, but he will get there. You learn much quicker on the pitch than from the bench, and Ruben Amorim has so far shown his faith in him not just with words but also on the pitch. In Italy, however, players are often deployed in unlikely positions instead of relying on twenty-somethings; they claim to do this for the players’ sake, so as not to burn them out. This is typical of a country that regards thirty-year-olds as ‘boys’. Ruben Amorim, at the very least, does not adopt this paternalistic attitude. He may have other attitudes, but not this one. Of course, it must be said that there weren’t really any great alternatives: Christian Pulisic is carrying an injury, as is Rafael Leão, and Samuel Chukwueze is now playing as a wide midfielder. Now the Portuguese manager will have to make it clear whether his comments about Cissè were merely words of encouragement for a player making his debut in a Milan shirt as the only viable option, or whether they were genuinely meant.