Following on from the Khazri thread here's an update on Fabio...... On-loan Sunderland attacker Fabio Borini got his second goal inside five days yesterday evening having tucked one away in AC Milan’s Europa League tie with Bulgarian champions PFC Ludogorets. The man signed from Liverpool in 2015 has struggled for playing time since Gennaro Gattuso was named as manager of the Rossoneri in late November, but he will have done plenty to impress his boss having broken his goalscoring drought in their weekend league win against S.P.A.L. Borini replaced Hakan Calhanoglu from the bench in the 75th minute in Razgrad with the game already basically won, but was able to to put it to bed after getting on the end of Franck Kessié’s cross with a fine finish that went beyond Renan in the Ludogorets goal and into the back of the net. In a week where other Sunderland loanees have also excelled, Borini is making all the right noises having struggled to hold down a spot in the side since arriving in Milan last summer. Under their former boss, Vincenzo Montella, Fabio played in a variety of different positions - including right wing back, on both flanks and at centre forward - and was seen as a utility man with the ability to ‘do a job’ in a number of roles across the pitch. I can’t profess to having seen a great deal of Borini in the red and back this season, but we do, as always, know just the person. Peter Coiley - writer for SBNation site The AC Milan Offside - dropped by Roker Report HQ for an espresso and a quick chat to give us an update on how Sunderland’s £10m-man is doing back in his homeland. please log in to view this image RR: Fabio Borini hasn’t really played much under Gennaro Gattuso, but he has scored two goals this week. Do you think there’s a chance that he’ll be afforded an increased role in the side? AC Milan Offside: It’ll depend on how well guys like Abate and Hakan play because he’ll typically fill one of their roles if needed, but the second that Hakan starts playing poorly, Gattuso switches to looking at Borini or Montolivo/Locatelli in the midfield, putting Bonaventura on the left wing. I think that he may see a starting role this weekend against Sampdoria. RR: Interesting. It’s understood that there’s an obligation for Milan to buy Borini upon the completion of his loan, a deal worth £5.3m. Do you think this represents good value for Milan, and do you think that there’s a long-term future at the club for Fabio? AC Milan Offside: I think that’s a fair valuation based on what we’ve gotten out of him. Not much was expected and he even got player of the month from our site because of the work he put in. He adapts to the role that he’s asked to play in without the slightest look of anger. I think that he could be there for a while, but he may itch to get more playing time, and could be better off at a place like Sassuolo or Verona - some place that could use him more regularly. RR: I suppose that it’s an issue we had ourselves with Borini here, and when he played for Liverpool - finding a settled role for him in the team is difficult. He’s not particularly outstanding in any position, which is why he gets moved around so much. How do fans of AC Milan typically view Fabio - do they like him? AC Milan Offside: They love him. He gets the respect because his work rate is phenomenal. He’s not the most technically gifted, which I can imagine is one of the reasons that settling into one offensive role is difficult for him, but he gives 100% every time he’s on the field and that’s what’s asked in Italian football. If he loses the ball, he goes back to get it without taking a moment to sulk. please log in to view this image Interesting stuff. Having lost his mojo when playing under the boring and predictable tutelege of David Moyes last season, it would appear that a move back to Italy to kick-start his career with a big club has done him the world of good. As mentioned in the chat with Peter, Sunderland loaned Borini to Milan with an obligation to purchase for a fee of £5.3m. The details of that payment have never been made entirely clear, but had been assumed to be payable come the end of the season. The Rossoneri’s initial approaches for Borini were rejected by Sunderland, but in the end Milan paid a small loan fee and agreed to pay the player’s wages in full, with three or four payments of the £5.3m to be wired to Wearside - starting in the summer of 2018. Sunderland Chief Executive Martin Bain has already indicated that Borini’s move to Milan being made a permanent one is a mere formality. If it was appearance-related, the clause has probably already been triggered with the attacker having started 15 games in Serie A this season.
My memory of him is one, shortish, spell of relegation saving (delaying?) brilliance, with a deal of huffing and puffing the rest of the time. On the credit side he ALWAYS gave 100% and always looked enthusiastic. But we paid too much and to be honest he was never as good as he claimed. Perhaps the main problem was that he thought of himself as a striker, but his record didn't show that. Nobody seems to have worked out just what his best position is and this seems to be the case at Milan too. Perhaps the simple answer is that he is a 'Utility Man who can be an impact sub'. Whatever, get the money and call it quits. IF, and it's a huge IF, the Manager gets the chance, he should use the money to improve the squad because whichever league we are going to be in, we will need to.
Don't rate him in the slightest. Don' particularly like him either. Milan have fallen a ****ing distance.
I thank him for his goal against the scum and his penalty against Chelsea, but other than that he can go and feck himself. He never even really wanted to come to us in the first place. We embarassingly stalked him after his loan spell with us even though he told us that he had no interest in signing cause he wanted to try get in the Liverpool team. He finally admitted defeat after about a year, when he realised that Liverpool and nobody else wanted him.
Just how much we will benefit from these sales is debatable. I read somewhere that we will only get peanuts for the lot of them, as the lone deals come into the reconing, so very little will land at Cookies door. If this is true just get shot of them all asap and move on.
Funny though isn't it because you're absolutely right and ability wise he'd fit in with a top end championship side but here he is playing for AC Milan, one of the greatest teams of all time, historically anyway.
