Mathieu Flamini

Calcio Debate: What Has Happened To Mathieu Flamini At Milan?

A match made in Heaven is descending into Hell for the Frenchman - why has he failed, and can he yet redeem himself?

Milan are finally beginning to look like a real team again. A golden era was forged at the turn of the millennium under the guidance of Carlo Ancelotti, but what many people forget is the plight that plagued the club in the years prior to that and how close the Rossoneri have been to a regression in the past two years.

Another refusal to age gracefully and limp wrist replacing iron fist in the transfer market has already damned the Diavoli to an under-the-table affair with the ugly kid-sister that is the UEFA Cup, having been dumped by the Champions League in the most humiliating fashion last season.

They finished fifth - that, after being given a number of lifelines by Fiorentina - and to boot, they were knocked out of the Champions League in just the second round by Arsenal. Cesc Fabregas may have scored the crucial goal late on, but it was gift-wrapped by the hapless Zeljko Kalac. Emmanuel Adebayor may have added a second when the tie was dead-and-buried, but it was Mathieu Flamini who established himself as one of Europe's top midfielders at that moment in time, 11 months ago, shackling €120 million man Kaka and completely shutting down Milan's midfield. He made an ageing 'Rino Gattuso look like Emerson, the man who transcends age itself.

The bosses in Via Turati liked Flamini so much they had to take him. It was a signing lamented by Gunners manager Arsene Wenger, whose unrelenting, recession-busting approach to wage structuring allowed his revelation of the season to leave for free to one of Europe's big boys.

Contrary to popular belief, it was not just the cash that lured the man now infamously nicknamed 'Fla-money' to the fashion capital, but also the opportunity to play in a league of which he is extremely fond, a country of his ancestry; and what a capture it could have been for Milan: Flamini was ranked second in Goal.com's top 20 transfers of the summer, but it has all since been modest anonymity for the all-action midfielder.

The French international has started just nine of Milan's 20 Serie A games along with five fleeting substitute appearances, most of which were during the Rossoneri's rocky start to the season. But now, brimming with confidence as they are, Mathieu is stuck making conversation with Giuseppe Favalli on the bench to ease the pain of perpetual rejection.

Gattuso will miss the rest of the season recovering from an operation and Milan have been linked with replacements all through this January transfer window. It's just demeaning. Flamini, surely, is the replacement. Was he not bought to succeed Gattuso, having outplayed him and his team over two legs, earning the nickname 'Mattuso' in the process? Ancelotti's old favourite, Massimo Ambrosini, continues to get the nod in the absence of Ringhio and sometimes, in a complete reversal of his recent philosophy, Carletto has even put out Galactico line-ups sans a ball-winner in the middle of the park. Insanity.

The arrival of David Beckham has inspired Milanello, as has Kaka's decision (or Silvio Berlusconi's masterstroke) to stay at the club. Their confidence is sky-high and the football, as was evident in the 4-1 thrashing of Bologna, is back. Maybe it's time to give Flamini an extended run in the team - he can surely do better than Ambrosini - or is Ancelotti seeing something that we have all missed? Maybe the former Marseille man is not made for the Italian game? But why wouldn't he be?

The very idea that players such as Marc Overmars, Thierry Henry and Patrick Vieira who dare 'betray' Arsenal for the glitterati of continental football are doomed to failure is just absurd - there is something more going on here. Flamini's value cannot be underestimated nor his decision to leave so vehemently criticised - it was and remains a golden opportunity to go on to bigger and better things. He is still just 24 years of age, and having been signed on a free transfer, has a lot to offer this Milan side in transition.

He fits the mould of an inspired Beckham, of a re-energised Kaka and an emerging Pato. The plodding of Andrea Pirlo, a still-inconsistent Ronaldinho and an average Ambrosini are fast becoming denizens of the periphery and this should not be feared, but embraced amongst the likes of Ancelotti and his superiors. Sending Flamini the way of countryman Yoann Gourcuff could be a move they live to regret like no other.

It is too soon to label Flamini a flop and without question it would be a mistake to dip into the transfer market to snap up another central midfielder as some kind of replacement. It cannot be forgotten that even if matters don't work out for him in the middle, this is a player who made his initial breakthrough at Arsenal as a stand-in left-back in the side that scraped its way to the 2006 Champions League final off the back of defensive solidity - and Milan is a team in need of some more energy coming from the wide areas and assuredness at the back, after all.

His start has been nothing short of a shame, but Mathieu Flamini still has so much to offer the Rossoneri. It would be their failing, not his, if he is unable to emerge and prove wrong the critics he has been carrying on his back since leaving Arsenal. The move still has all the ingredients for further success, Milan just have to let it happen.

Sulmaan Ahmad, Goal.com