All week we will be unveiling the winners of our Team of the Year voting with a mixture of regular and guest writers. Here’s your winner for the trequartista position, as Francesco Pizzolla explains

Kevin-Prince Boateng arrived at Milan under curious circumstances. The German-born Ghana international had impressed at the 2010 World Cup and caught the eye of Genoa owner Enrico Preziosi. Preziosi bought Boateng and brought him to Serie A. However, after undergoing a medical with the Rossoblu and signing a deal, he was loaned to Milan with an option to buy. It was definitely strange to see Milan getting a midfielder on loan from Genoa, usually it’s the other way around.

As soon as Boateng arrived at Milanello he impressed. Boateng is a player that is rare in Serie A, a unique mix of sublime technique and ferocious work-rate, every manager’s dream, the real definition of quantity and quality.

Allegri at first inserted the Ghanian into a central midfield role, but after noticing his great ability of making great runs and joining the attack, Allegri decided to play Boateng behind the two strikers. Allegri’s move was a great success, as Boateng really made that trequartista role his own over the course of the season and was a crucial part of Milan’s success. Garnering 29% of your votes he held off Javier Pastore (21%) and Francesco Totti to become the inaugral winner.

Now that Milan has signed him fully and he has a year of Serie A experience on his shoulders, “Big Bang” Boateng (as he is called by Milan announcer Carlo Pellegatti) is only going to get better. Maybe we’ll even get to see another moonwalk…

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