Player Focus: Does Bertolacci Have the Bang to Warrant the Buck for Milan?

“It’s just what I always wanted,” Andrea Bertolacci smiled as he left Stazione Centrale, a red and black scarf draped around his neck. “Milan were my first choice,” he said before dipping into one of the club’s fleet of Audis, which was on hand to take him for a medical. Although a Roman and a graduate of Roma’s youth system, Bertolacci, unlike Francesco Totti and Daniele De Rossi before him, had always felt conflicted about who he supported.

A share of the blame is owed to Roberto Baggio. “He was my idol,” the 24-year-old told La Gazzetta dello Sport last winter, “especially during his time at Milan. I was so obsessed with him I even grew a ponytail. I think my mum still has it. I was a Milan fan at the time. But then my dad got hold of me and explained to me where I came from…”

Try as he might, papà Fabio couldn’t shake his boy out of it completely. As a Powerboat racer and a world champion too, he was on tour a lot and Bertolacci’s passion went undiscouraged. Milan chief executive Adriano Galliani was only too aware of it. “I always said to Galliani I wanted to come here,” Bertolacci enthused, “and my willingness to was an important factor.”

He is Milan’s first signing of the summer and the first of a new era: the B&B era of Silvio Berlusconi and Bee Taechaubol. That the transfer of Colombia international striker Carlos Bacca followed Bertolacci’s had many of the papers asking: Why always B? The anticipated arrival of promising midfielder Daniele Baselli from Atalanta only adds to the impression that Milan are not beset by a Hamletian dilemma in recruitment, emphatically resolving to B rather than not to B.

More journalists and cameramen than fans greeted Bertolacci off the train on Monday. While he doesn’t enjoy the profile of a big name player, he did command the sort of fee associated with one. Days after paying €8.5m for Genoa’s stake in Bertolacci, Roma flipped him to Milan for close to €20m. “I haven’t given it any thought,” Bertolacci said when asked about the price tag. Others have given it plenty though.

Bertolacci has cost Milan more than double what they paid for Kaka in 2003. He is also the most expensive Italian player traded within Serie A since the €30.5m Milan paid Lazio for Alessandro Nesta 13 years ago. The consensus is that Roma have sold well and got the better end of the deal, fleecing Milan. Aware of the money burning a hole in their pockets and how desperate they were to make amends after missing out on Geoffrey Kondogbia and Jackson Martinez, director of sport Walter Sabatini took advantage of them.

Of course, some among the Roma faithful would have liked Bertolacci to have finally been given a chance at the Olimpico but this outcome is probably best for all parties. While injuries meant Rudi Garcia’s midfield was often undermanned and overworked last season, it would still be difficult to see Bertolacci establishing a regular place for himself in the starting XI ahead of such fierce competition. Who would miss out? A fit again Kevin Strootman, vice-captain Daniele De Rossi, the conjuring Miralem Pjanic, veteran Seydou Keita or the club’s player of the season last term Radja Nainggolan? Now owned outright by Roma after they finally bought out Cagliari’s remaining share in the Belgian, that move, estimated to have cost the club €19m, is covered by Bertolacci’s sale.

Parallels between Alberto Aquilani’s sale to Liverpool have been made with Bertolacci’s to Milan. The offer was too good to turn down. Although it’s hard to escape the feeling Milan have overpaid - Italians are becoming a premium in Serie A like Englishman in the Premier League - it’s not to say they haven’t acquired a very useful and effective player.

A runner up at the Under-21 European Championships two years ago and capped for the senior team in November, Bertolacci’s progress has been exponential over the last season. A member of the most improved team in the league in Serie A, Genoa’s betterment mirrored his own. “I made a definitive step up under Gasperini,” he explained. “Now I play in the thick of the action. I touch the ball more and can get into the box, one of my best attributes.” His touches per game were indeed up at 60.8 from 52.8 in 2013/14.

What many admire in Bertolacci is his versatility. Like new teammate Giacomo Bonaventura, he can play in a range of positions. Initially a central midfielder, his coach at Roma’s academy Andrea Stramaccioni turned him into a shuttler while Gigi de Canio used to deploy Bertolacci behind the strikers at Lecce. “In modern football you need to know how to do a bit of everything,” he said, “and with Italy, Conte has let me know that he appreciates my application and willingness to learn.”

Milan’s new coach Sinisa Mihajlovic and Conte share the same tastes. It’s enough to remember how many of his former Samp players were called up to the national team over the last year. He likes players with hustle, self-sacrifice and a blue collar work ethic as much as Conte. In the campaign just concluded Bertolacci attempted more passes [1,487] than anyone at Genoa. When he wasn’t on the ball, he made himself busy, intercepting possession 43 times. Elsewhere, only Facundo Roncaglia and Tomas Rincon made more tackles (72). And yet, there’s quality as well as quantity to Bertolacci’s game.

Where he came on leaps and bounds last season was in his ability to set up his teammates. Bertolacci laid on eight assists, a startling improvement when you consider he had managed only four in the previous four seasons. He also scored six goals, including one from his own half against Milan, which featured him putting Adil Rami on his backside. When taken in isolation neither of those stats are particularly outstanding. But when put together, only Pjanic [15] combined for more goals and assists among midfielders in Serie A than Bertolacci [14].

He isn’t a Pirlo-like figure who Milan still so dearly miss at the base of their midfield, nor does he possess the sense of imagination Rui Costa once showed at its tip. But should Bertolacci repeat that level of production at San Siro, perhaps €20m isn’t all that outlandish a price after all.

Will Bertolacci be a success in Milan and how big of a gamble was the €20m fee? Let us know in the comments below