After a month of rumours and reports, we have arrived at the final day of the 2025-26 winter window, also known as deadline day. Join us for the live updates as the AC Milan mercato news comes in.
Winter deadline day 2026: Latest AC Milan news
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We can now recap the business that Milan did during the mid-season window.
Ins
🇩🇪 Niclas Füllkrug (32, from West Ham) – Loan with option
🇮🇹 Alphadjo Cissè (19, from Hellas Verona) – Permanent
🇲🇦 Yahya Idrissi-Regragui (18, from Chelsea) – Permanent
🇦🇹 Magnus Dalpiaz (18, from Bayern München) – Loan with option and buy-back
🇮🇹 Jacopo Sardo (20, from Monza) – Permanent
Outs
🇸🇪 Max Ibrahimovic (19, to Ajax) – Loan with option
🇮🇹 Diego Sia (19, to Mirandes) – Loan
🇮🇹 Kevin Zeroli (21, to Juve Stabia) – Loan
🇷🇴 Andrei Coubis (22, to Sampdoria) – Permanent
🇮🇹 Vittorio Magni (19, to Cesena) – Permanent
🇷🇴 Matteo Dutu (20, to Dinamo București) – Permanent
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There goes the final gong: the 2026 winter transfer window has officially closed.
We will recap all the business done by Milan shortly, but it would be fair to say deadline day provided drama yet fell short in terms of signings expected.
Will the business (or lack of) done by Igli Tare, Giorgio Furlani and co. be enough to secure a top four spot? The remaining 16 league games will tell us, starting tomorrow in Bologna.
After Alphadjo Cissè and Yahya Idrissi Regragui were announced earlier today, a third signing has arrived: Magnus Dalpiaz.
The young full-back joined from Bayern Munich and – as the club have confirmed – he will start life with the Futuro.
AC Milan have officially confirmed the signing of Alphadjo Cissè on a permanent deal from Hellas Verona.
A statement on the club’s official website confirmed the deal, and also that the teenage forward will continue his loan spell at US Catanzaro until the end of the season.
AC Milan will not proceed with the signing of Jean-Philippe Mateta after further medical tests on his knees in Paris today.
The Rossoneri doctors did not get sufficient guarantees from the checks, and so Milan have decided to walk away from the talks.
Just a few hours before the winter window closes, we are none the wiser as to whether AC Milan will sign Mateta or not.
Reliable sources disagree on what the hold-up is. Sacha Tavolieri believes it is because of commissions to intermediaries, but Matteo Moretto think it is still knee concerns. Time is ticking.
AC Milan’s management have decided not to pursue a deadline day deal for a central defender, according to Corriere dello Sport.
Instead, they will put faith in internal options, above all Koni De Winter. Is it the right move? Tell us in the comments.
According to Sky, it’s almost time to see how the Mateta-Milan situation will end up.
A response is expected shortly, but the broadcaster says to keep an eye on Juventus, who have already expressed interest in the Frenchman.
AC Milan will not sign Axel Disasi from Chelsea, with the defender West Ham-bound instead. However, there seems to be a bit of confusion regarding why exactly the Rossoneri gave up.
This morning’s edition of Tuttosport writes about how Milan are plotting a revolution in their attacking department.
Santiago Gimenez is almost certain to leave in the summer while Niclas Füllkrug might not stay. Mateta is the target for now, but Igli Tare is maintaining contacts with Dusan Vlahovic’s agent.
AC Milan head into deadline day still unsure if they are going to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta, despite a deal being agreed with Crystal Palace.
Extra medical checks are required on his knee, and it is not the first time the Rossoneri doctors have been cautious. Deals for Victor Boniface and Marc Pubill were kiboshed over similar concerns.
AC Milan have got their first deal officially across the line, as Yahya Idrissi Regragui has arrived from Chelsea.
The attacking midfielder will initially join up with Milan Futuro under the orders of Massimo Oddo, and becomes the latest player to swap Stamford Bridge for San Siro.
One of the good bits of news from the winter mercato has been the renewal of Mike Maignan, who signed until 2031.
In a feature last night, we looked at the chronology of events leading up to his signing, including the figures who made a big impact behind the scenes and changed his mind.
Milan are looking to complete deals for three young talents before the window concludes, and are well on the way to doing so.
Alphadjo Cisse and Yahya Idrissi Regragui both arrived at La Madonnina clinic yesterday morning to undergo their medical tests ahead of signing.
Meanwhile, right-back Magnus Dalpiaz is also set to sign from Bayern Munich, having landed for a medical this morning.
One of the more intriguing stories from Sunday’s coverage concerned Sergio Ramos.
Milan are believed to be looking for an experienced centre-back as cover, and the Spaniard’s name was mentioned by sources in Italy and Spain.
The big news of the past 24 hours is that Milan have agreed a deal worth ‘in excess of €30m’ to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta from Crystal Palace.
However, it emerged last night that the club want to undertake further medical tests on the striker’s knee, and an answer is expected this morning.
It’s that time again! Thank you for tuning in to SempreMilan’s live minute-by-minute coverage of the 2026 winter window deadline day. It promises to be a busy one, with plenty of things still up in the air, so sit back and strap in!
“Can’t wait” for another set of last second last option not thought through transfers today.
Wondering if the Boniface handling will be the new Milan-style way of saying: “we promised you the world but got cold feet now, sorry bro”. Not saying it’s not a legitimate fear and worth checking, but two times in a row is probably not a coincidence and future targets will have that in mind.
Well, in hindsight, pulling out of the Boniface deal was the right call. Although I was excited about him joining us.
Well look at Boniface situation now. They got it very much right not to proceed.
But Mateta has no significant history in the last few seasons, so I think is more likely we will proceed.
I 100% agree about Boniface being the right choice, but they knew from the start what his situation is and in my opinion decided against the move only because of the fan/media backlash they faced. I am speculating of course, but the second medical was to save a face when breaking a done deal. Moreover, they got a double-the-cost, more inappropriate to the Allegri-system player, who is historically equally injure-prone and are trying to bank on him 5 months later.
I was excited about Boniface myself but what is done is done. Mateta doesn’t have that kind of injury history. So if this is a problem with commissions and agents they have every right to pull the deal.
Double the cost ? I assume you are comparing his deal to the Nkunku one which I certainly can’t understand either but you do realize that Milan had a deal with Bonifaces club that would have made him cost around 40 mil. Up until now he has played 326 minutes in the entire season and even now is out injured again.
That’s unlikely. The city and the prospect of playing in a new stadium have huge appeal.
Futuro targets who have nothing wrong with their knees or other parts of their body don’t have to worry about anything.
Mateta must come here.
wait are you telling me we are replacing Gimenez and Fulkrug with Mateta and Vlahovic?
how big of an overkill is that?
Nkunku, Leao, Pulisic, Vlahovic and Mateta in one team should be illegal…
If not now because of the knee why would we sign mateta in the summer no sense
Just sign him
Mateta not being signed is a mistake. He doesn’t have a significant injury history at all. This doesn’t make any sense.
Unless it was an issue of commissions or agent issues, then that should have been said instead. Otherwise… No idea why they pulled the plug.
Maybe because NkuNku is going nowhere
I would still give this mercato a 6-6.5 because of Maginan being renewed and Fullkrug was good. But I really was hoping they would sign another attacking player.
Hahahh we are joke club. No one great never will come here. Why? Because you never know did we buy him or just tell at the end you have injuri problems and now all clubs will look at that player with problem.
We are small club with those owners and that is.
People who are berating the managers for not signing Mateta are missing the big picture. Sure, he’s been playing. But up to recently there was talk at Crystal Palace of him needing knee surgery. I’m quite suspicious that the talks about it only dried out because Crystal Palace were trying to get rid of him, instead of keeping him but going ahead with the surgery; so they stopped talking about knee surgery, not to scare out prospective buyers.
Yes, he’s been playing, and coming here for the remainder of this season on loan with no obligation to buy would have been fine, but that’s not the deal that Palace were willing to accept. They wanted a definitive sale for more than 30 million.
There were two medical exams, one in London by a clinic hired for it, and another one by a Milan staff physician, this morning. Both medical evaluations raised red flags regarding his knee. Instead of the Occam’s Razor simpler explanation that indeed, according to two different physicians, his knee is a concern, people here engage in conspiracy theories that Milan used the doctors’ opinions just to get out of the deal.
That was hardly necessary. If Milan simply wanted to walk out of the deal, they didn’t need any far-fetched, made-up physical problem; they could simply have said “sorry, we changed our minds and we are no longer interested in this player.” Why in the hell did they need to send a staff doctor for a second exam, if all that was needed to walk away from a deal would be to say “not interested”? Being interested, making an offer, and talking salary with a player, do not create an obligation to buy. That obligation only kicks in when signatures are added to a contract and a bank transfer is processed. There are literally thousands of possible transactions during a transfer window in European football for which a resolution is not reached and clubs simply walk away, for various reasons, such as coaches and/or managers changing their minds about a player, or, yes, big one, players not passing medical exams.
This is hardly extraordinary. Medical exams exist for a reason. Almost no transfer is ever done without a positive result in a medical exam (except maybe for the rarest cases of an athletic emergency). Of course clubs must ascertain whether or not a player they are considering and who will cost dozens of millions of Euros, is fit enough to justify the purchase. This is the rule; not the exception.
So, let’s say we signed him for more than 30 million and then earned a Champions League berth. Next season he’d be playing 3 games per week with Serie A, Champions League, and Coppa Italia; that spells disaster for someone with knee issues.
Yes, it would have been good to have him this season, but likely, given that indeed he seems to have a knee issue, only in a loan with no obligation to buy. For a full transfer of more than 30 million, this move was extremely risky given that two doctors have affirmed that his knee is a problem. That would have been for a season in which we’ll have Camarda back, hopefully more able to contribute to the first team, and in which there are other possibilities for a center forward, such as Vlahovic on a free transfer.
The bottom line is, if a player has a significant knee issue that spells disaster in the mid run, only a loan with no obligation to buy is a good deal. Signing permanently a player who has a knee that is a time bomb, is not wise.
It’s not that I think that our managers are fantastic. Much the opposite, I think that they are quite incompetent. If they wanted to add another striker, they should have moved sooner; not in the last couple of days of the mercato. But regarding this particular deal, if a player fails two medical exams, then yes, it would be madness to ignore the issue and sign him on a permanent transfer.
If he needed knee surgery, fair point and I will eat my previous words. There is no point signing someone in January who needs surgery that will sideline him several months.
That would be a waste of money.
But gosh darn it, I wish they had another idea for the attack then.
Thank you for this calm and measured response, unlike some of the hysterics we’re seeing all over the comments sections today.
One responsive comment to your very last paragraph, which is also a sentiment that has been expressed by others: I don’t think we planned to bring in another striker after Fullkrug at all. Fullkrug IS the attacking reinforcement until the end of the season. The problem is Fullkrug seems to have injured a toe in what, his second or third game with us. So this Mateta idea was a list minute thing by necessity, and then they must have seen an opportunity with him that hadn’t existed when they were looking at Fullkrug in December. People need to remember that Mateta has his own will and Crystal Palace does too. The same opportunity may not have been there in December, hence Fullkrug, but not Mateta because Fullkrug got hurt.
*last minute thing
*but now Mateta because
I not trust owners and managment. They lie all time.
Tell us Kalulu injuri cant play and now he is one of the best players at Juventus. Tell us Thiao also have injuri and he now play every 3 day games were is tempo more agresive then here at seria A. So what you wrote have sense if Arsenal or Bayern talk but we just lie.
Fulkurg he not have injury?? Guy not play one game 90min at West Ham. Abraham not good now Aston Vila take him after he have great season at Turkey.
Vlahovic he not injury now even not play at Juventus.
Nkunku not injury and he cant play now 90min every 7 days at slow tempo were Modric at 40 year can play.
Maybe you belive managment but i cant because i have brain and saw what hapens. Every word what i wrote here is true. We not club who have good managers.
We have sharks. Jashari not play 90min and tell us he injury at training,so that is true?? How that can hapens after medical we look and he come like a strong man.
So my point is too many lie here and i will celebrate day when this clowns sell club. If that mean we must go at seria B for me that will be fine.
At the end they buy GREAT ESTUPINAN who not injury but better we buy guy who is injury at rhe end we can tell he is injury,now we can tell he dont know how play football at all.
GIMENEZ is also deffender why because not score,usualy attacker score and he is injury and we play better without him.We now 2nd when he play we was 7th.
Mateta injury or not is better then Gimenez,Fulkurg or Nkunku not injury. Why: he have goals and they not.
Dang, cannot say I’m not disappointed but if he’s really carrying an injury, it’s a good call.
Ramos jugó en México, lógicamente ya no es el mismo aunque tiene experiencia eso ya no le basta, ojalá que no lo traigan…
3 youngsters who will disappear into the youth set-up and never be heard of again (unless it’s for another club). Whoopee-doo.
For balance, Fullkrug was a good signing and the renewal of Mike is huge. 7/10 for the mercato.
I think it was great news that we renewed Maignans contract but it’s hardly part of the Mercato as it doesn’t strength the team at least not from what we already got going forward until the summer.
I’d argue Mercato is 4 or 5 quite underwhelming but I didn’t really have any high expectations of us spending big so it’s not really a complaint either.
Shameful.
As usual…
Great striker. Less cost. But still thinking too much.