It was probably to be expected given the absence of any concrete rumours, but AC Milan had a quiet deadline day and only completed a couple of loan exits.
As Calciomercato.com report, there is some surprise that the winter mercato seemed to drift by for Milan, without the acquisition of a central defender that even Stefano Pioli publicly stated that he wanted.
The decision had already been made before the match against Bologna after some deep reflections on several points regarding the situation at the start of the mercato versus that towards the end.
The first concerns the positive signs from Matteo Gabbia and the upcoming returns of Fikayo Tomori and Malick Thiaw, which somewhat reduced the urgency to get another player in.
Another factor that influenced was the economic one: none of the objectives explored presented favourable conditions, and there was no desire just to do business for the sake of it.
Then, the eliminations from the Coppa Italia and the Champions League shifted the objectives of the season towards qualifying for the next UCL and trying to go on a Europa League run, with the Scudetto out of sight.
The final reason is that there will likely be a change of head coach at the end of the season, so investing in a player that might not be the best fit for the next manager would not be wise.
