Ruben Amorim is not concerned about Goncalo Ramos' failure to replicate his Portugal displays with AC Milan as he is prioritising team performances rather than his striker's goal record.
Amorim not worried about Ramos' Milan performances
Goncalo Ramos has scored in his last three games for Portugal, but he has only found the net once for AC Milan since his big-money move.
Milan resume their Serie A campaign against Sassuolo on Sunday, having won three and drawn two of their first five games to start the Amorim era.
The Rossoneri's major acquisition in the summer transfer window was Ramos, who scored 45 goals in 131 appearances for Paris Saint-Germain and won 12 major trophies, including back-to-back Champions League crowns.
He only has one goal in five league outings for his new club, striking in a 2-0 win over Venezia in August, though he did find the net in three straight matches for Portugal during the international break, following Cristiano Ronaldo's abrupt exit from their camp.
But when asked if he had a plan to get more out of his new recruit on Saturday, Amorim said: "My job as a manager is getting the team to play better, it is not about putting one player in a position to score more goals individually.
"We need to create more chances for our strikers, all our strikers, to put the ball in the box more often. I have my own ideas, I know what we want to do."
Amorim is hoping to mastermind an immediate return to the Champions League for Milan, who missed out under Massimiliano Allegri on the final day of last season.
But looking beyond that, his aim is to bring major silverware back to the red and black side of Milan – and to do so relatively quickly.
"The idea is always to win titles, I don't know how long it is going to take, but we are taking those steps to win," Amorim said.
"In this club you cannot think we are going to win in two or three years, we are a top club, we have to think we're going to win now.
"It is step by step to reach this goal, as there are a lot of good teams in the league. Serie A is becoming a little bit different, the new rules about not wasting time are getting more minutes and speed into the game.
"People don't give Serie A the value it deserves. I am having fun preparing the games, I often have a lot of issues to deal with, as there are so many different styles."
Sassuolo could provide Amorim's men with a difficult test at Mapei Stadium, having taken seven points from their first five matches – including a dramatic 3-2 victory over Juventus last time out at home.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Sassuolo – Domenico Berardi
Berardi has scored 12 goals in 20 Serie A matches against Milan.
In the league's history, only Silvio Piola (22) and Enrico Chiesa (14) have scored more goals against the Rossoneri (Antonio Di Natale, Carlo Reguzzoni and Stefano Nyers also have 12).
AC Milan – Diego Moreira
Moreira has scored three goals for Milan in Serie A, despite only totalling 127 minutes across three appearances.
Only two players have netted four goals in their first four games for the Rossoneri in the competition in the 2000s – Mario Balotelli in 2013 and Krzysztof Piatek in 2019.
MATCH PREDICTION – AC MILAN WIN
Sassuolo have avoided defeat in seven of their last nine Serie A matches against Milan (W4 D3), including their last three (W1 D2).
It is their longest-ever run without defeat against the Rossoneri in the competition.
However, the Neroverdi have only won one of their last 10 Serie A fixtures against Milan to take place in the first half of the season (D3 L6): a 3-1 comeback victory in November 2021 with goals from Gianluca Scamacca and Berardi, and an own goal from Simon Kjaer.
But Milan are looking to go unbeaten in their first six Serie A matches of a season for the first time since 2022-23, and Opta's predictive model fancies their chances of doing so.
There could be plenty of entertainment in store, though, as Sassuolo – along with Monza – were one of two teams to both score and concede in each of their first five Serie A games this season.
The only previous instances of the Neroverdi finding the net in each of their first six top-flight matches of a season were in 2015-16, 2018-19 and 2020-21.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Sassuolo – 25.2%
AC Milan – 50%
Draw – 24.8%
