In the Serie A standings for the 2020/21 season, the Rossoneri AC Milan is leading the pack. In Pioli's formation, the most surprising defensive player this season, except for the rapidly rising Italian Calabria, is the 20-year-old French teenager Kallulu who joined from Lyon before the summer transfer window.
Due to the successive injuries of the main defender Kjaer and the first-round replacement Gambia, Pioli resolutely chose to leave the opportunity in the long-lost battle between Musacchio, Duarte and young player Kallu To the French. Strong3strong never expected that he, who was fully trusted by the coaching staff, gave the club a huge surprise.
Born in Lyon on June 5, 2000, Pierre Kallulu entered the Lyon youth training system when he was 10 years old. It is worth mentioning that the three brothers of the Kalulu family are all professional players, and they all come from Lyon’s youth training-the eldest brother Aldo was born in 1996 and served as a winger. He once represented Lyon’s first team and scored goals. He played for the British crown Swansea on loan; his second brother Redian was born in 1997 as a defender. He is currently on loan to Ajaccio.
Pierre grew up better than his two brothers. Not only was he selected for the French U20 National Youth, he became the captain of the Lyon youth team. In the 2018/19 season, Kalulu was promoted to Lyon U19 and made his mark in the Youth Champions League. Last season, he started in all 9 youth UEFA Champions League games, played in 8 games, and sent 2 assists. This season, Kalulu put on the captain's armband in the Youth Champions League, and sent 1 assist in 7 games, while at the same time in Lyon B team won a lot of opportunities to play. In the league match against Amiens in February this year, Kalulu was selected for the first time in the Lyon first team squad, but failed to get a chance to play.
When he was in Lyon, he only played at the reserve level, and Kalulu was eager to get a first-team contract. However, fierce competition from Dubois, Raphael, Tate and others has left this Lyon native with little hope of being in Rudy Garcia's team.
This defensive player’s contract with the French team officially expired last summer.This is why AC Milan can only pay half a million euros in youth training compensation to bring it to the San Siro Stadium.
Maldini played a key role in the signing of Kalulu by AC Milan. It was the persuasion of the Milan legend that made the young Kalulu choose to join the Rossoneri. The club's director of scout Moncada also favors Kallulu and regards him as a key figure in Milan's future defense.
Kalulu, who has a strong athletic ability, can be used for both central and right back positions. Speed is his biggest advantage. With excellent physical fitness, he can go back and forth at high speed on the side. As a defender with a height of 184cm, the height and leg length are also the characteristics of Kalulu. He is very good at using his advantage in leg length to complete the interception. After standing in position, Kalulu likes to stretch his leg to complete the steal. His stealing skills combined with physical confrontation can often complete the task of regaining the ball.
Kalulu is also a defender with a good body and stealing ability, and he also has a certain degree of twisting and throwing skills. After getting the ball on the offensive end, Kalulu likes to pause for a while, then complete the task of leading the ball, turning around, and speeding up the breakthrough. In passing, Kalulu still has a clearer idea and thinking.
In the youth team, Kalulu often uses long diagonal passes to provide width. When playing as a central defender, he can often send a strong slash long pass from the backcourt to find the left winger. In this way, he quickly changed the offensive direction and broke through the opponent's blockade, so that the opponent did not have much time to organize the defense, and the winger also had time to control the ball before being pressed. As a full-back, he has a wide range of passing lines on the right. Whether it is an inverted triangle or a diagonal pass, he has tried in the game.
Kalulu has played 10 games in AC Milan this season. In the case of averaging only 60+ minutes per game, he can also contribute 1.2 steals, 2 interceptions and 2.2 clearances. The defensive data is quite brilliant. .
AC Milan will play a 4231 formation this season, and Kalulu is more of the team's left center back. He played a part of the role of protecting his midfielder through frequent looting.He has a strong sense of crisis protection in the game, and through his agility and reaction advantages, Kalulu has a great advantage in his shots. Take advantage of their speed and flexibility to frequently clear threats out of the restricted area. This season, Kalulu's personal first goal in Serie A was also because of his super reaction ability.
However, in the details of defense and offense, he still has many shortcomings that need to be improved. Strong3strong's positional sense is not good enough and his header prevention and control ability are the areas he needs to improve most.
Although he was the captain of the Lyon youth team, Kalulu is not a defensive commander type player. His sense of position is weak, and there will often be some dislocations. Due to his lack of experience, he relied more on physical talent to complete the rescue when facing the opponent's attack.
Kalulu is a lean type, has a good bounce when fighting for a header, but is not good at card position. From the statistics, we can see that the success rate of Kalulu's high-altitude ball competition is less than 50%. In addition, Kalulu's pass success rate in Serie A and Europa League this season is around 86%, the data is not particularly good, and it does not reach the level of a central defender. From 's basic passing skills and overall view, there is still room for improvement.
is young and Kalulu’s biggest asset. The Rossoneri, who trusts young players, also gave him plenty of opportunities and space for growth.
With Kalulu, AC Milan has a defender who can serve in multiple positions. The interception and sprint capabilities he brings to the team also provide more depth for the Rossoneri lineup.
The 20-year-old Black Pearl has a bright future.
.-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-