After Sunday’s 2-1 win at Genoa, Rúben Amorim did not defend his record signing. He turned on his own team.
“It’s a team problem, we’re not helping Ramos, but he’s helping us a lot. It’s a process, a journey,” the head coach told reporters.
Gonçalo Ramos cost Milan about €74m from Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, a club record and Amorim’s first signing. Eleven Serie A matches later he has two league goals. At Marassi it was Christian Pulisic who put away the winner from a Ramos pass.
20th in Serie A for box entries
The paradox is written into the numbers. Within the Milan squad, Ramos ranks first for interceptions and recoveries, second for receptions, touches and duels, and third for passes, with more touches than any team-mate in the middle third and the opposition half, per the Sky Italia breakdown reported by Goal.
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The team picture is the opposite. Milan top Serie A for build-up actions per 30 minutes of possession, but sit 20th for entries into the final third and into the opposition box, and 18th for the share of touches inside the penalty area.
Amorim was blunt in the same press conference: “I think it’s difficult for a striker when he doesn’t score goals. But I’ll repeat: we don’t spend much time in the final third of the pitch.”
A different striker at Milan and for Portugal
The contrast with Portugal is sharp. Across five Serie A rounds Ramos has averaged 11.5 km per match; across four Nations League games with Portugal he averaged 8.3 km. In that Portugal window he scored three goals in three matches.
At Milan the 25-year-old is scoring once every 397 minutes. The ratio at PSG last season was closer to one goal every 93 minutes. Only around 11% of his Milan touches have come inside the opposition box.
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Pulisic picks up what Ramos leaves
Pulisic is the forward in form. The American is scoring regularly again as a second striker, finishing the spaces Ramos opens by dragging centre-backs away from goal, a pattern Milan have now leaned on against Genoa and in earlier wins.
Milan have scored 23 goals in 11 Serie A matches this season. Ramos’s share stands at two.
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