AC Milan owner Gerry Cardinale has given the green light for the management to try secure Lazio’s Mario Gila ahead of the summer.
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Milan have that there’s currently no scope to sign Kim Min-jae, whose salary at Bayern Munich is beyond Milan’s parameters given that he earns over €9m net per season plus bonuses.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
So, the directors have turned to Gila, whose contract with the Biancoceleste expires in 2027. Massimiliano Allegri likes him because he can play in both a three-man and a four-man defence. The coach has given his full support to the deal, which is being carried out by sporting director Igli Tare.
Tare brought him to Rome when he was working at Lazio and helped him establish himself in the Italian league. Even before becoming AC Milan’s sporting director, Tare had never hidden his admiration for the Spaniard.
Competition to overcome
The negotiations to land Gila are not easy, as Inter, Juventus and Napoli are all pursuing him. All have inquired about the player’s entourage and indirectly tested the waters to understand how much Lazio expect to get from his sale.
And this last obstacle risks being the most difficult to overcome, as negotiating with Claudio Lotito is complicated, especially with multiple clubs interested in one player. From this perspective, the fact that his deal runs out at the end of next season does not mean he will be sold on the cheap.
In the past, the Lazio president has even risked losing a player for free (sometimes it has actually happened) rather than sell them at a bargain price. In Mario’s case, 50% of the proceeds from the sale will go to Real Madrid.
Competition and the ‘tough guy’ Lotito are making negotiations for the Spaniard an uphill battle, but that doesn’t mean Milan won’t try. The Rossoneri are offering a maximum of €20-25m, including bonuses. Will that be enough? We’ll see.
The Rossoneri believe they have good reasons to retain Gila. One of them is qualification for next season’s Champions League, which is still awaiting confirmation but is not far off, thanks to their six-point advantage with four games remaining.
The Spaniard will be offered a winning project, because the goal over the next two seasons is to sew a second star on the chest of the Milan shirt. Allegri returned to Milan at the end of May with this in mind.
Cardinale – who attended the match against the Bianconeri on Sunday – spoke with his executives and with Allegri. Most importantly, he gave the green light to making an attempt for Gila, who is one of several targets.
He must be really good if Cardinale approves. He knows these things for sure.
Yeh that’s what I was thinking – Cardinale the man with a -50 footballing IQ…
Cardinale needs an assistant to remind him of all the rules while he is watching a game.
he has the great foolani the statistic master
He was googling it during the game – didn’t you see him looking at the phone pretty much all throughout the game? Was probably also checking to see who plays for his club.
He was checking how his stocks are doing, couldn’t care less about football.