After years looking to find his feet around Europe, Suso has finally found home at the San Siro.
On Saturday 19 November 2016 AC Milan attacker Suso celebrated his 23rd birthday, and 24 hours later nearly wrote himself into Rossoneri folklore with a Derby della Madonnina brace, but an injury-time Ivan Perisic goal denied victory.
However, while the number of candles scattered over the Spaniard’s cake had relatively little significance, this season looks to becoming something of a coming of age for the one-time teenage sensation.
Rejecting the overtures of Barcelona and Real Madrid, Liverpool won the race to convince a 17-year-old Suso to leave his homeland, but after just one goal in 21 appearances left tagged as someone never to fulfill their potential.
That was probably a little harsh on the Spain Under-21 international, who was enjoying a year on loan at Almeria when the Reds embarked upon their closest Premier League title challenge in nearly two decades.
There was also another reason, or man, why Suso found opportunities extremely limited at Anfield, and that was Phillippe Coutinho.
The Brazilian who swapped Milan for Merseyside 18 months before the Spaniard took the reverse trip, was thrilling English football with amazing technical ability and explosive bursts from the clutches of opposition defenders.
Therefore, when the club had to decide between the ex-Inter attacker and youngster they had been grooming for first-team stardom there was only one winner and did little to stop him walking away to the Rossoneri for free.
Had there been more than 19 months between Suso and his South American elder, it is expected more would have been done to see him sign a contract extension at Liverpool, but they had found the player who would surely become the focal point of the side for the foreseeable future.
Therefore, it was a surprise to many that it never quite took off for Suso at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza after moving during the summer of 2014, although, just five Serie A outings in his first year indicate that he was not afforded many chances by coach Filippo Inzaghi.
Milan coach last season, Sinisa Mihajlovic, appeared to share the sentiments, though, and he was seen just once before heading to Genoa for the remainder of the campaign.
Whether current Rossoneri coach Vincenzo Montella was casting a watchful eye on his talent while in charge of city neighbours Sampdoria last term is yet to be discovered, but in a Grifone shirt Suso was finally showing he could be a Serie A game-changer with six goals in 19 games.
Montella certainly hasn’t copied the Genoese blueprint – used as the foil for central striker Leonardo Pavoletti – to get the most out of the 23-year-old. Instead, positioning him on the right-hand side of a three-man strike force, that allows him to cut inside to devastating effect – as seen against the Nerazzurri.
Surprising many to be sitting third in Serie A, just four points off perennial league champions Juventus, Suso’s contribution to the Milan revival is obvious – providing six assists from the 30 chances created and chipping in with 5 goals.
The last time he was left out the starting line-up by Montella was their 3-0 defeat away to Genoa. Coincidence?
Many Liverpool fans feared this was the type of influence the young attacker could provide, but was so desperately missing during his time in England and softened by the presence of Coutinho.
Yet, it was a talent that always looked destined to deliver on a major stage and could be set to help carry the Rossoneri back into the Champions League and Europe’s elite.
Part of the youngest Rossoneri team for some time, nearly 100 top-level appearances almost makes him an ‘experienced pro’ among those so young, and maybe that responsibility is having an equally positive effect.
If he and his teammates can continue their upward trajectory, the Rossoneri will finally have got the bargain it looked back in 2014.
