AC Milan CEO Ivan Gazidis faces a dilemma regarding what to do about midfielder Lucas Paqueta, according to a report.
Paqueta arrived from Flamengo last January for a fee reported to be in the region of €35-38m – depending on which outlet you believe – and after a promising first few months as a Milan player things have gone downhill.
The Brazil international has found game time harder and harder to come by under head coach Stefano Pioli, and he even declared himself unavailable for selection for a game against Brescia in January amid rumours in the media claiming he was struggling with life off the pitch.
As Calciomercato.com notes, the 22-year-old has been on a constant decline that has led to a rejection by the current coach, and his future is a knot that needs untying in the summer.
Pending the situation regarding the next coach (Ralf Rangnick the most touted name), Gazidis and Elliott are dealing with a first problem: Paqueta is currently practically ‘unsaleable’ and not in a good way.
This derives not only from the player’s performance, but also from pure market aspects. The first is related to the inevitable devaluation that follows the Brazilian’s performance on the pitch. Milan rejected an offer from Leonardo and PSG for €20-22million in the most recent window, demanding €35m.
This is of course a high evaluation and one that cannot go down too much in the summer considering that there is still around €25m attributed to his name on the balance sheet, a figure that few clubs would be willing to pay at the moment.
Potentially interested clubs such as Flamengo, his former team, no longer seem as interested, so Milan are therefore called to a reflection in view of next summer, the report concludes.
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