The Real Mr X

Adriano Galliani is widely considered as one of the football world’s most economically astute minds. Ever since Silvio Berlusconi took over the reins of the side and appointed him as his no.2; Galliani has proceeded to establish his reputation as a shrewd market tactician never to be taken for a ride under any circumstances.

GALLIANI


During the last summer transfer window, this ingenious transfer guru came up with a ploy to keep the media, who always switched into top gear during that time of the year, very busy guessing. He announced that we were going to make a marquee signing, someone already established as a football star who would add more strength in depth to the team; presumably someone like Ibrahimovic or Robinho who completed their Milan deals the previous summer.

This revelation caused quite a stir within the press especially in Italy. The press houses started their eternal search for Mr X, garnering so much attention it was arguably the most protracted transfer of the summer. We were linked to everyone from Catalonia's prodigal son Cesc Fabregas to Santos' injury prone midfielder Ganso; Claudio Marchisio, Ricardo Montolivo, and even all the way to Russia and Honda, to Madrid and Kaka. Galliani, of course, gave little away; he just threw away little clues, releasing a supposed identity kit with some features, which meant nothing, really. The press, and the fans too, gobbled it all up, intensifying their search for this mysterious footballer.

In the end, though, everyone was hugely disappointed; Alberto Aquilani was the only "big name" to arrive, with hitherto completed free transfers Taye Taiwo and Phillipe Mexes joining hugely rated Italian youngster Stephan El Shaarawy as the new arrivals at the club. There was also a last minute swoop for Palermo midfielder Antonio Nocerino, who arrived for €500,000 plus half of Primavera defender Ricardo Ferreira. Another mediocre, low cost solution for Galliani, we all thought.

NOCERINO (MR X?)


Yet Nocerino might just turn out to be the elusive Mr X. Many fans were furious after the closure of the window, having spent the entire summer searching for Mr X and ending up with virtually nothing. Most of the fans who still had not gotten over Kaka's exit pinned him as Mr X, whilst those looking towards the future mailnly focused on Ganso or Hamsik, with the more wild fans living in their own fantasy world settling on Fabregas. So obviously Aquilani and this Nocerino dude were a huge drop in quality from any of he above mentioned, and many fans believed they would do little to improve the quality of the squad. Nocerino was mainly viewed as an okay player, a competent squad player and nothing more; a poor man's Gattuso, if you like. His first few games in Red and Black seemed to confirm this, as he showed a lot of verve on the right of our midfield three, lots of brawn but seemingly no brains. Things did not look too rosy for our new recruit and fans already started calling for his head, conveniently ignoring the fact he had been thrust straightaway into a new team due to injuries and was arguably being played out of position!

This is because Nocerino himself stated he feels much more comfortable on the left side rather than the right; and Allegri, being the astute man manager that he is, listened to him and moved him there. And it is in that position that he has proven to be a real gem for the team. He now offers more offensively whilst retaining his defensive bruteness and has significantly improved on the technical side of his game. One consistent fixture of Milan games now are his intelligent runs forward which Ibrahimovic somehow always manage to spot and then sends him an over the top pass. He now offers a more genuine goal threat, with his hattrick against Parma ample proof of that. He has netted 5 times this season, also managing to miss a couple of sitters in true Robinho fashion. He's now one of the mainstays of this Milan side, his recent injury in the game against Viktoria Plzen being viewed as a big blow to the team: more than anything else that should prove how he has grown in leaps and bounds since moving to the Rossoneri.

We might not have gotten the big name, Hollywood style Mr X we were promised; but I believe in Antonio Nocerino we have a more efficient version. If Mr X was supposed to come and improve the side and make us more likely to compete on all fronts, Nocerino has done just that: and the best part is we paid virtually nothing for him compared to the fortune we would likely have spent on Mr X!!. Obviously the side would need some improvements come January, but till then we can revel in the joy of Galliani pulling off another huge coup!. He gave us Mr X, he just wasn't the one we were expecting!!!!!


moonbyte