While Milan's big coup this transfer window was signed Mario Balotelli, the most important item on their agenda will be keeping hold of the superb Stephan El Shaarawy. Just 20 years old, El Shaarawy has made a storming start to the season, scoring 18 times and setting up 4. Single handedly, Stephan El Shaarawy has saved Allegri's job this season, without doubt being the one highlight of Milan's torrid season until a few weeks ago. El Shaarawy is also beginning to break through into Prandelli's Italy squad and will, without doubt, become one of the talismanic figures in that side.
So what makes El Shaarawy so special?
Well, apart from being one of Italy's brightest sparks since Andrea Pirlo, along with Marco Verratti, he is sensational to watch. People often say nothing changes a game like a dribbler, none like El Shaarawy and his dribbling, especially when he can finish so spectacularly as he regularly does. He also has the innate ability to turn something into nothing, sub-consciously picking the ball up on the half way line and spraying a wonderful 60 yard pass into a team mate, or on the other hand using his destructive dribbling, going past 2 or 3 and then slotting home. His shooting from distance is also another skill of his to behold, cutting in at will and unleashing one of his powerful drives rocketing towards the keeper. El Shaarawy also has pace and acceleration in abundance, which has made AC Milan a major threat when counter-attacking this season and now with M'baye Niang getting more of a chance in the starting XI and the signing of Mario Balotelli, Milan have become extremely dangerous going forward.
Now for the stats to help make sense of this all. Stephan El Shaarawy has average around 3 shots per game this season, which adds up to 90 for the whole season, therefore El Shaarawy is only converting 1 in every 4 shots through-out the course of this year. You can look at this one of two ways: This is poor for someone who I have talked up so much, or exceptional for a winger who manages to get himself into great positions. I'll go for the second, for good reason as his positional sense for someone so young is outstanding. Interestingly though, for every time that El Shaarawy loses the ball, he will almost always win the ball back, proving the old adage "Defending from the front." is not yet dead. For a wide player El Shaarawy has an astonishingly high pass completion percentage of 83%, for someone who normally is expected to cross and play longer balls is something to behold.
It's not all blue skies for Milan's wonderkid..
It there is one area in which 'El Pharone' can improve it would have to be how clinical he is in front of the net, hitting the target with just 1 of every 3 attempts on goal. However, when he does get his shots on target, the keepers have a lot of bother in stopping them. His shooting is inconsistent at times, and El Shaarawy can generally dip in and out of a game far too much to be of any impact on games, recently a 0-0 draw at Cagliari El Shaarawy looked lifeless and struggled to get into the game and was eventually subbed off after the hour, so keeping 'SES' in the game is a must and with good reason with the magical moments he can produce.
Now for the stats to help make sense of this all. Stephan El Shaarawy has average around 3 shots per game this season, which adds up to 90 for the whole season, therefore El Shaarawy is only converting 1 in every 4 shots through-out the course of this year. You can look at this one of two ways: This is poor for someone who I have talked up so much, or exceptional for a winger who manages to get himself into great positions. I'll go for the second, for good reason as his positional sense for someone so young is outstanding. Interestingly though, for every time that El Shaarawy loses the ball, he will almost always win the ball back, proving the old adage "Defending from the front." is not yet dead. For a wide player El Shaarawy has an astonishingly high pass completion percentage of 83%, for someone who normally is expected to cross and play longer balls is something to behold.
It's not all blue skies for Milan's wonderkid..
It there is one area in which 'El Pharone' can improve it would have to be how clinical he is in front of the net, hitting the target with just 1 of every 3 attempts on goal. However, when he does get his shots on target, the keepers have a lot of bother in stopping them. His shooting is inconsistent at times, and El Shaarawy can generally dip in and out of a game far too much to be of any impact on games, recently a 0-0 draw at Cagliari El Shaarawy looked lifeless and struggled to get into the game and was eventually subbed off after the hour, so keeping 'SES' in the game is a must and with good reason with the magical moments he can produce.
