Okafor is the “12th” Man” for Milan as the trend of making a difference continues

Noah Okafor has had to make do with substitute appearances for much of his first season at AC Milan and he continues his trend as an impact player.

MilanNews recalls that Okafor came on for Rafael Leao in last night's 3-1 win against Club Brugge and took literally a few seconds to pick up the ball on the left, shoot past his man and pass it back to Tijjani Reijnders for the first Goal of his later double pack.

In fact, his impact was so rapid that Leao – the man he replaced – still wandering around the edge of the field Towards the Milan shelter. He stopped and saw the winger serve the midfielder, raise his arms in the air and continue his journey across the pitch.

This season, Okafor has played nine games with a total playing time of 301 minutes, contributing one goal and one assist. He scored the goal in the first game of the season against Torino, a 93rd-minute equalizer to salvage a draw.

Last year, Okafor played 36 games with a total playing time of 1,005 minutes, scoring six goals and providing three assists. He was crucial in the final game of the Champions League group stage when he came on as a substitute in the 83rd minute and Chukwueze provided the assist for Newcastle's winning goal.

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He also scored the late winner in the dramatic 3-2 away win at Udinese, while he came on as a 71st-minute substitute against Lazio at the Stadio Olimpico and scored the only goal with two minutes left to secure a place in the Champions League .

The numbers show that Okafor is Milan's “12th. Man,” in the sense that he might not be in the starting lineup, but he’s almost guaranteed to do something if asked. Paulo Fonseca is betting heavily on the Austrian and given Rafa Leao's poor form it is not out of the question that he could start on Saturday.

Rossoneri fans are also happy with Okafor's performances, especially considering the fact that the signing from RB Salzburg cost around 14 million euros last summer. The most important thing for him will be to reduce the number of (minor) injuries that caused him to miss parts of last season.