Suso starring for AC Milan: Ex-Liverpool player thriving in Italy
Friday 23 December 2016 16:17, UK
Former Liverpool youngster Suso is finally beginning to fulfil his potential in Italy with AC Milan. Adam Bate checks in on the Spaniard's progress ahead of Friday's Italian Super Cup between Milan and Juventus in Qatar, live on Sky Sports 4 HD...
In the end, Milan did not win last month's Derby della Madonnina. Inter escaped with a 2-2 draw. As a result, Suso did not feel obliged to follow through on his pre-match promise to walk home if he scored two goals. Even so, he had produced the performance of a winner.
The first goal showcased his close control, barely breaking stride as he collected the ball and promptly dispatched it into the far corner with his left foot. The second highlighted the variation in his game as he went outside his man and slotted home with his right instead.
These are the sort of moments the young Spaniard has long looked capable of delivering. Indeed, the only surprise is that there have not been more of them. Now 23, it feels as though Suso's big breakthrough has been coming for some time.
Part of Spain's Under-19 European Championship winning squad in 2012, his talent was identified early on. His old Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers was an admirer, giving him his Premier League debut at the age of 18 against Manchester United.
Suso subsequently had a year on loan in La Liga with Almeria and spent the second part of last season with Genoa. In fact, his San Siro double was not even the first time that the player has scored twice in a Serie A derby - doing so for Gian Piero Gasperini's Genoa against Sampdoria in May.
But there's a growing feeling this current run of form could be the precursor to a more sustained spike in performance. The gifted playmaker has earned the trust of his coach and goes into Friday's Italian Super Cup as arguably Milan's best hope of beating favourites Juventus.
Only two men have more Serie A assists, while he's also among the top 20 goalscorers in Italy. Suso ranks fourth overall for successful dribbles so far this season too. This is a player who is proving both exciting to watch and effective with it.
The plaudits are arriving. Milan president Silvio Berlusconi has spoken of Suso's "great class" and identified similarities with club legend Roberto Donadoni. Meanwhile, Gazzetta dello Sport recently compared him to Arjen Robben. It seems the penny has dropped.
It could so easily have gone the other way. This time last year, Suso's agent was agitating for a route out of Milan with the player rooted to the bench. First Pippo Inzaghi and then his successor as Milan coach Sinisa Mihajlovic were unprepared to offer him regular football.
But the appointment of Vincenzo Montella, the man whose Sampdoria side had been on the receiving end of Suso's goals for Genoa, has proved significant. And Montella believes there is more to come from a man who has only given a glimpse of his gifts so far.
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"He has enormous potential, but needs to grow in his consistency and also self-confidence," said Montella recently. "He is a little shy and ought to take more risks in the final third. He has to be more incisive, because he has the quality to do that."
Those words echo the view of Rodgers at Liverpool back in 2012. He saw someone who "still has a lot to learn" but "has got a really good appetite for the game" as well. Tellingly, he added: "If his fight matches his talent then we will have a very good player."
It's been a bit of a battle since then, across those three leagues and two loan spells. Indeed, there is still some uncertainty over Suso's best position and not just because Rodgers coined the term "false winger, that seven-and-a-half role" to describe his use of the player.
For his part, Suso admits that he has always considered himself a No 10. But it is on the right of Milan's midfield that he is getting games. Delivering for Milan on a more regular basis is the challenge as it is only consistency that has eluded him up until now.
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But it's Suso's habit of delivering in big games that he will be hoping to repeat on Friday. He provided the assist for Manuel Locatelli's fine winner the last time the two teams met in October in what was Milan's first victory over Juventus in four years.
If he can do something similar again, it will underline his impressive progress. There will, of course, be no offer to walk home if he scores twice in Qatar. But the former Liverpool talent is finally making the sort of strides so many believed was always possible.
