AC Milan Teenager Alphadjo Cisse Says He Has Only Shown 70% of His Ability

AC Milan teenager Alphadjo Cisse says he has only shown 70 percent of what he can do, even after a record-breaking start to the season.

The 19-year-old midfielder spoke to Rai Sport after scoring the winner in Italy Under-21s' European qualifier against Armenia. 

"This year has brought me a lot of joy. I've only shown 70 percent of my capabilities so far, I know I can do much better," he said. Looking ahead, he added: "The goal brings me a lot of happiness, and from now on I hope to be able to show lots of other characteristics."

Cisse has hit the ground running under new Milan coach Ruben Amorim, scoring against Torino and Juventus. He built on a productive loan spell at Catanzaro last season. His early goals have also earned him a place in the record books. He passed Patrick Cutrone as Milan's youngest Italian league goalscorer since 2017, then set another mark for consecutive away goals in the three-points-per-win era.

That form has carried over to international duty, and he is now seen as one of the most promising young midfielders in Italian football.

A busy run of games awaits. Milan travel to Sassuolo in Serie A after the international break, then face Salzburg in the Europa League. With a heavy autumn schedule coming, Cisse has a chance to win a regular starting place if he backs up his words on the pitch.

A quick note: the source calls him an "Azzurrini international" and says the Armenia game was a European qualifier, but it does not give a date or score, so I left those details out. The line about the "San Siro prodigy" and "shattered longstanding scoring records" was also a bit loose, so I stuck to the two records the text actually names.