Zlatan Ibrahimovic must have felt like a caged tiger on Wednesday night, stuck on the sidelines once again as a niggling muscle injury kept the evergreen striker out of the Serie A clash with Sassuolo.
But at least Ibra had a birds eye view of the goal that gave AC Milan the lead at the San Siro.
Stefano Pioli’s supporting cast have made a habit of stepping up in the absence of their leading man this season and it was Hakan Calhanoglu, perhaps the most underrated attacking midfielder in Europe, who made his mark in midweek.
Cutting inside onto his right foot, the Turkey international arced a glorious 20-yard shot in the top corner – the eighth goal of his finest season yet in Milan colours.
Ibrahimovic was clearly impressed, too, via Football Italia.
With Calhanoglu’s contract due to expire in a matter of weeks, you would imagine that Zlatan will be desperate to ensure that Milan’s most prolific creator sticks around to serve up chances on a silver platter next term too.
According to Il Mianista, Calhanoglu is not short of offers from elsewhere.
Arsenal have allegedly made contact with Calhanoglu, putting a contract on the table for the ex-Bayer Leverkusen play-maker. Arsenal, however, are not understood have met the German-born 27-year-old’s £85,000-a-week wage demands.
On last night’s evidence, the Gunners should be doing everything in their power to lure Calhanoglu to North London.
Statistically more creative than Jack Grealish, Lionel Messi and Kevin de Bruyne, there are few players in Europe who can pull rabbits out of a hat quite as frequently as AC Milan’s number ten.
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