Although he has not yet secured a regular starting position since joining the club, Diego Moreno, the striker AC Milan signed during the summer, has delivered impressive performances, scoring 3 goals to become the team's top scorer. Marco Guidi, a journalist from La Gazzetta dello Sport, has analyzed the performance of this promising Belgian talent.

Below is Marco Guidi's article:

Moreno is proving himself with remarkable speed. In his latest 66 minutes of Serie A action, all coming off the bench, he has scored 3 goals, underscoring the urgent need for the team to utilize more consistently this winger signed from Strasbourg during the summer. Gerry Cardinale, owner of RedBird Capital, who greatly admires this promising Belgian talent, must be delighted with the €50 million acquisition (plus add-ons).

Last Sunday evening, Cardinale even came down to the sideline himself to embrace his "favorite Moreno" during the pre-match warm-up. Diego responded eagerly, and after being substituted on for Saelemaekers in the 24th minute of the second half, he repaid his owner with his first goal at the San Siro, rushing straight to the Curva Sud to celebrate wildly.

Hot Form

In AC Milan's first 6 matches of the season, the former Strasbourg player has started only once, in the opening match against Juventus. Nevertheless, with 3 goals scored, Moreno has already become the Rossoneri's top scorer in the early season. This has led to widespread speculation about what else this promising Belgian talent must do to earn a regular starting position.

"It doesn't depend on me, because if it did, I'd want to start every match... but it's up to the coach to decide which 11 players are best. We'll see if I can return to being a starter after the international break, but for now it's fine," the Belgian talent said diplomatically. In short, the decision rests with Ruben Amorim. In the Lecce match, Ruben Amorim continued to use Moreno as a "secret weapon" to change the game in the second half. But beyond playing time, another question is where Cardinale's new favorite player should be deployed.

Versatile Player

In his Serie A debut against Juventus (his only start), the Belgian winger was deployed as a right winger, which was no coincidence: Moreno replaced Samuel Chukwueze, whom Ruben Amorim had converted into a dynamic winger. When the Portuguese coach opts to start the Nigerian player, it often becomes difficult for the former Strasbourg player to get playing time on the opposite flank. This pairing of a "two-winger" front appeared in the second half of only two matches, both times when AC Milan were chasing the game.

Against Lazio, this tactical adjustment proved highly successful. Moreno, deployed on the left, scored 2 goals, allowing the Rossoneri to achieve an incredible comeback in a match that seemed already lost. In the Europa League match against Benfica, despite playing enthusiastically for 33 minutes, he could not add another goal and could not bring the team back into the game.

In the recent match against Lecce, Ruben Amorim tried an interesting new setup: moving Moreno up to play as one of two attacking midfielders behind Gonçalo Ramos. However, strictly speaking, last Sunday evening, AC Milan played more frequently in a 4-4-2 formation, with this talented Benfica academy product playing effectively as a left midfielder.

Amorim's experiment is intriguing because it was the first time Moreno played alongside another left winger (first Estupinyán, then Bartesaghi) providing support behind him, maintaining a good balance between attack and defense. So what is Moreno's preferred position? "Anywhere really. I like playing on the right or left, further forward or deeper. I'm very happy to play in every position and always give my all," the Belgian player answered diplomatically.

Moreno (who, along with De Winter, has been called up to the Belgian national team for this Nations League period, while Saelemaekers was not called up) will be with the national team during this three-week international break (their first match is against Italy). But when he returns, with a congested fixture schedule, he will have more opportunities to convince Ruben Amorim to finally give him regular starts, something that fans are already eagerly anticipating.

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