Diego Moreira has three goals in his last 66 minutes of Serie A football, all scored as a substitute, and is Milan's top scorer in the opening stretch of the season despite starting just once.
That single stat frames the conversation around the 22-year-old perfectly. A summer signing from Strasbourg, Moreira has done everything asked of him from the bench, yet Ruben Amorim continues to hold him in reserve. With a congested schedule waiting after the international break, the question is no longer whether the Belgian deserves more minutes but where on the pitch he should get them.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, Moreira's output from limited action has made it impossible to ignore the case for a regular starting role. His first San Siro goal came against Lecce after replacing Alexis Saelemaekers in the 69th minute, celebrated in front of the Curva Sud. Three goals from six appearances, five of them off the bench, is a return most strikers would envy.
Moreira himself addressed the situation after the Lecce win, telling DAZN: "It's not up to me to decide, because if I could I would decide to always start. It depends on the coach, he decides what he thinks is the best eleven. We'll see if I can return to the starting lineup after the break, but for now that's fine."
The positional puzzle is what makes this more than a simple minutes debate. His only start came at right wing-back against Juventus, filling in for Samuel Chukwueze. Amorim has said publicly that fitting both Moreira and Chukwueze into the same XI is difficult, given that both are attack-minded wing-backs who leave gaps behind them. The pair have shared the pitch only twice, both occasions when Milan were chasing a game. Against Lazio that gamble paid off handsomely, with Moreira scoring twice from the left wing-back spot to rescue a match that looked lost. Against Benfica in the Europa League, the same roll of the dice came up short.
The Lecce game offered something new. Amorim pushed Moreira into the attacking midfield role behind Gonçalo Ramos, and Milan frequently shifted into a 4-4-2 shape with the Belgian operating as a left midfielder. For the first time he had a natural left-sided defender behind him, first Pervis Estupinan, then Davide Bartesaghi, which kept the team's balance intact even with his forward runs.
Asked where he prefers to play, Moreira was diplomatic: "Anywhere. I like starting on the right or the left, further forward or further back. I play anywhere with joy and always give my all."
He joins up with Belgium during the three-week break, with their first fixture coming against Italy. After that, a dense run of fixtures gives Amorim little reason to keep his most productive attacker on the bench, and every reason to settle on exactly where Moreira fits best.