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When Mo Eisa arrived through the door at Stadium MK, fans were jubilant with the calibre of signing they had captured.
The arrival of the striker changed the previous philosophy and was one of the first examples of the Dons’ fresh approach towards developing their squad.
With the exclusion of Chuks Aneke and Kieran Agard from the 18/19 season, fans have been fed a diet of loanee forwards leading the line such as Will Grigg, Max Watters, and Carlton Morris to name a few.
With the club signing Mo Eisa for an undisclosed fee from Peterborough United, believed to be in-and-around the million-pound mark, the Dons brought into their ranks a central striker known for his poacher’s instinct and ability inside the 18-yard box to carve open chances out of nothing.
Having flattered to deceive during his only season in the Championship, when in 2018/19 the forward only featured five times for Bristol City in the whole campaign, he rejuvenated his career of sorts in League One at Peterborough for the last two seasons, averaging 1-in-3, netting 16 times. His time at the Cambridgeshire side coincided with Jonson Clarke-Harris’ sensational form, so his chances became limited during the second season of his spell.
With the Dons placing the lion’s-share of the squad investment into one player, it highlighted the belief and commitment Milton Keynes were showing to their style of play, demonstrating that if the right player was available who suits their system, then Chairman Pete Winkelman would back Director of Football Liam Sweeting’s judgement with whatever financial muscle is required.
So far decisions Sweeting has taken have already begin to pay off financially and in their performances on the pitch. Matt O’Riley was one of the first players identified by Sweeting and after signing for a nominal fee, the midfielder departed for Celtic for a reported fee of £1,500,000 plus incentives just over 12 months later.
When Eisa was signed, then manager Russell Martin was hoping to mould the Sudanese striker to his style, but after Martin departed just 24 hours into the new season, it was the new Head Coach, Liam Manning, that inspired his transformation from a structured poacher into the versatile frontman he is today.
Despite the highly-coveted talisman getting off to an excellent start scoring-wise bagging three goals in his first five appearances, outside of the goals his performances appeared to work a little against what was being asked of him.
Having been used throughout his whole career to date as a poaching number nine, when it came to his involvement in the build-up play, transitioning through the phases into the final third, the big-money signing struggled to adapt and saw a large dip in confidence and effectiveness, ultimately leading to a barren run of games where he failed to assist any goals and only found the net twice in 17 matches.
Supporters began to question why the club had spent such a considerable outlay into a player that does not seem to suit or have the ability to utilise his teammates as well as had been desired, but after the turn of the new year fans began to see what the scouting believed they could unearth from the striker’s abilities when they made the initial purchase.
In an odd sort of way, it is almost as though a new signing has arrived given the vast improvement in Eisa’s all-round game and effectiveness to the Buckinghamshire outfit.
Under the stewardship of Manning, the 27-year-old has found a new lease of life being involved in the build-up and creation of moves, regularly dropping deep into his own half to receive the ball and influence the development of goalscoring opportunities.
With his added contribution seeing the centre-forward now more heavily involved in the matches, it has not gone unnoticed this has correlated with a ten-game unbeaten run with Eisa causing the net to ripple in four of these matches, taking his season tally to 11 from 29 games.
His influence in the team has meant opposing defenders can no longer ignore his forays defensively, but have to mark his movements, creating openings and opportunities for others on the pitch.
He may not have had his greatest performance of the season at home to Wigan Athletic, lacking his usual threat from recent weeks. You do have to give credit to the visiting central defenders for not allowing the Sudanese striker a minute’s piece, no matter how deep he dropped in search of the ball.
This match may have also been a sign of how his game is more suited to playing in League One compared to the Championship, but in saying this just seven days ago Eisa scored the decisive winner to nab all three points against top of the table Rotherham United, making a superbly timed run before coolly slotting home from inside the area.
The Dons are sitting comfortably inside the playoff places with eight matches of the season remaining, having drawn at home to second place side Wigan Athletic 1-1. Whilst they remain third thanks to goal difference, it will take a highly unlikely collapse by their most recent opponents given the fact they have three games in hand.
If they somehow should manage it, you can bet your bottom dollar that Eisa has struck the back of the net on multiple occasions in doing so.
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