Samuele Ricci is a 23-year-old midfielder who has joined AC Milan from Torino in a deal that is expected to reach €25m.
I Rossoneri then had to wait until the arrival of their new sporting director, Igli Tare, to finalise the negotiations and agree on a very reasonable fee at the end of the day for a valuable player who can add a lot to Milan’s midfield in the long term.
It is worth noting that Milan succeeded in securing the player’s services despite interest from other teams, most notably Manchester City, which highlights the value of this promising midfielder.
In this tactical analysis and scout report on Ricci style of play, I will explore the player’s characteristics and how he can be utilised to enhance Milan’s tactics.
The football analysis will also shed light on how Massimiliano Allegri can utilise Samuele Ricci and further develop his characteristics, focusing on his actual weaknesses and potential areas for improvement.
Samuele Ricci Style Of Play
Samuele Ricci began his senior football career with Empoli in 2019, developing within their youth system to reach the senior squad.
He soon attracted the interest of many Serie A teams, like many other players who emerged from Empoli, such as Ismaël Bennacer, Rade Krunić, and others.
Ricci was then loaned to Torino and began to shine remarkably, especially in the last two seasons, and particularly in the 2023/2024 season, attracting more interest from Serie A teams, such as Milan.
Ricci is primarily a regista who excels at playing in front of the defence, combining physical strength, agility, and technique.
Being one of the best players under pressure makes him a unique midfielder who can be trusted to build up from the back and be responsible for initiating attacking actions or circulating the ball swiftly, even under heavy pressure.
Ricci can also be effectively used as a central midfielder, as he has played in this position, whether with Il Toro or the Italian national team.
But given Allegri’s desired playing system wherever he went, it is more likely that Ricci will become Allegri’s first-choice regista in an expected 4-3-3 formation.
Yacine Adli will become the second-choice defensive midfielder (if staying at Milan), and Youssouf Fofana, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Warren Bondo; Luka Modrić and Granit Xhaka will battle for the two central midfield spots.
Ricci declared before that his reference and idol has always been Andrea Pirlo, a former Inter Milan, AC Milan, and Juventus player who was famously used as a deep-lying playmaker in front of the defensive line.
Likewise, Ricci will most likely be interpreting the same position at Milan but with slightly different roles since Ricci has better defensive abilities than Pirlo.
Nevertheless, we cannot compare Pirlo’s playmaking and shooting skills to Ricci’s at the moment because Ricci still has a lot to prove in this regard.
What Ricci masters is the ability to play in front of the defence while resisting pressure and knowing how to escape using his agility, body feints, dribbling, and passing skills to overcome the various difficult situations he is usually put in.
This makes him a very valuable player to any team, especially in the possession phase.
Another important factor that enables Ricci to win most duels in front of the defence is his excellent athletic form and his ability to run a lot without the ball, proposing passing solutions to the goalkeeper or the defenders.
This makes Ricci’s efforts even more precious as he guarantees his availability in front of the defence even when he gets marked by re-positioning himself a bit away from the opponents to receive the ball and deal with it in a way that eliminates that first line of pressure.
Samuele Ricci Role In Countering A High Press
The following example highlights Ricci’s ability to eliminate Germany‘s high pressure by positioning himself in a spot that allows him to receive the ball and provide a forward pass to his teammate.
Providing this type of pass may seem easy, but in reality, it requires making the decision beforehand to make that pass quickly without controlling the ball.
Ricci often resorts to this type of solution to relieve pressure, scanning the pitch before receiving the ball to make a decision a moment before catching it, which facilitates the process for him and confuses his opponents.
This was exactly Pirlo’s way of eliminating the high pressure placed on him, with Pirlo attempting more body feints than Ricci when the situation does not permit opting for first-touch passes.
The above picture highlights Ricci’s excellent vision and his ability to understand his surroundings and find the best possible way to escape pressure without losing the ball.
Gaining time over his opponents is one of Ricci’s most notable preoccupations, and that’s what makes him capable of winning a large number of duels per match in that area.
In addition to this role, Ricci will serve as the link between the defence and potentially Modrić and Xhaka.
One of his roles will be to provide passes to these two players and rotate with them to reach the final third more easily.
Moreover, Ricci will have to provide the wingers with through passes and long passes whenever needed, especially whenever they move without the ball behind the defensive line.
That’s why it will be fundamental for Allegri to work with Ricci to enhance the quality of his crosses and long passes, and intensify the training to make them as surprising and quick as possible, thereby confusing the defenders and reaching the wingers in the necessary time.
Another important aspect that needs consideration is the remarkable defensive addition that Ricci can contribute with when out of possession.
Ricci wins 60.4% of the total defensive duels on average, and that’s a good enough rate for a midfielder.
Ricci’s physical strength and his often successful and crucial sliding tackles can greatly help Milan in the defensive phase.
He will guarantee a strong line of defence just in front of the defensive line, with the help of the two central midfielders.
He proved with Torino that he is tough to beat in one-on-one duels, and that’s already very important for a team like Milan, which was using a different system that does not rely on a midfield trio but instead on two central midfielders with mixed defensive and attacking roles.
With Ricci at Milan, the team will guarantee more balance and security in the defensive phase.
Ricci will be instructed not to advance as high as the central midfielders, which will always alleviate the danger of opposing counterattacks.
Samuele Ricci Sliding Tackle
Furthermore, Samuele Ricci’s pace and ability to run fast to catch opponents, especially during counterattacks, will be very valuable for Milan, as Ricci does not give up easily.
He often succeeds in intercepting the ball even when he is at a disadvantage, like in the following example, when he was far behind in the action but still succeeded in intercepting the ball thanks to a quick run and a sliding tackle against Juventus.
Acting like a third centre-back in this action means that Allegri will certainly be securing his team’s defence properly, with Ricci always present alongside the defensive players.
Samuele Ricci’s experience in a very similar role at Torino will further facilitate this defensive duty.
That said, Ricci will need to be very attentive to his attempted tackles.
On certain occasions, he tends to overuse the sliding tackles, resulting in dangerous fouls and recurrent yellow cards.
Monitoring his sliding tackles and knowing when to use them and when exactly to avoid them will be necessary to not repeat the same mistakes with Milan.
Samuele Ricci Weaknesses & Possible Improvements
In addition to perfecting his sliding tackles, Ricci will need to work on improving other aspects to do well at Milan and become a reliable starter for Allegri’s side.
One of the most notable aspects is the lack of consistency that Ricci needs to overcome during his upcoming spell with Milan.
In fact, Ricci’s performances with Torino experienced some ups and downs last season.
Although the performance drop can be attributed to the overall decline in the Torino team’s performance during certain periods of the season, Ricci will need to ensure consistency when he joins Milan, as things will surely be different with the Rossoneri.
Failing to perform well in one or two games can be crucial for his journey with the team, as there is always a high level of competition for each position in this type of club.
What will help Ricci remain consistent is that, unlike at Torino, he will be playing alongside quality players in almost all positions; however, this also presents a challenge through stiff competition.
In fact, Milan and Torino are collectively very different in terms of performances, stability, consistency of results, and the level of Ricci’s surrounding players.
Furthermore, it will be crucial for Ricci to enhance his shooting abilities and, more importantly, take more shots on goal to become more effective in the attacking phase, given that his current numbers are actually low in this regard.
Samuele Ricci Stats
Additionally, increasing the number of dangerous passes and key passes per match is fundamental for a player like Ricci to break through defensive lines and contribute to assists and goals.
Ricci’s assist-making numbers are also poor, even though his passing accuracy rates are high enough.
In order to become a much more valuable deep-lying playmaker for Milan, it will be necessary to work on improving the crossing quality and mastering and intensifying key long passing, even though Ricci already attempts long passes very often, but not yet with the needed perfect pinpoint accuracy.
Conclusion
Samuele Ricci will be a valuable tool for Allegri to build his new Rossoneri side.
He has the needed traits and talent to perform well as a regista.
That said, Allegri and Ricci need to do a lot of work to reach the Italian player’s full potential and improve his weaknesses to make him one of the best, recognising that he is not yet a complete midfielder.
