NIKOLAOS MICHELIS, FOLLOWING GABBIA'S FOOTSTEPS

Carlo Ancelotti created Pirlo as a playmaker, dropping him deeper after a career as a no.10. Riccardo Monguzzi, in the Rossoneri U17, had the idea of transforming Matteo Gabbia from a central midfielder to a centre back. And the last beneficiary of a long list of advantageous Rossoneri position changes was Nikolaos Michelis. 

Having arrived at AC Milan in January last year from Asteras Tripolis, the Greek needed a few months to adjust to Coach Giunti’s style. And due to a difficult period for the Primavera team, which led to relegation, Nikolaos couldn’t squeeze into the side last season. However, everything has changed this current season. 

A midfielder himself with a good CV, Coach Federico Giunti felt he could reinvent Michelis into the role of a central defender. The turning point was on 19 October 2019, AC Milan v Cremonese, when the Rossoneri were losing by one goal at half-time which prompted two changes from Giunti: off came Pecorino and Caldara, on came Colombo and Michelis. After that, the scoreline was already overturned by the 66th minute. 

From that day on, Nikolaos Michelis became an irreplaceable element in the team’s central defensive partnership, and Potop, Merletti and Tahar would have to take turns playing alongside him. Since that game, AC Milan v Cremonese, he’s not left the pitch and has played 14 games in a row, completing the full 90 in all of them. From the class of 2001, he’s a key cog in the side, his positioning is obsessive and his parallels with Gabbia are very pertinent: they have the same physique, Nikolaos is 192cm tall while Matteo is 189cm, they were both originally midfielders and they both have a great ability to play out from the back. And, above all, they’ve both undergone a successful position change that could help them forge a great career. 

Coach Giunti, the inspiration behind this move, retraces the ideas and motivation that led to this successful decision: “At first, when we signed him in January, we trained him as both a midfielder and centre back, because he could play both roles well. But this season we made the choice to constantly play him as a central defender; as well as an obvious improvement in all the aspects required to play as a defender, he’s also capable of starting play from the back with immense quality.”

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