AC Milan have the signing of a new right-back high on their list of summer priorities and they are preparing a big for Lille’s Tiago Santos, a report claims.
We were the first to report Santos’ name back in April, stating that the management are looking for a new right-sided defender and that a verbal bid of €12m had been made. Since then, confirmations regarding out story have followed from various sources.
According to Calciomercato.com, the imminent arrival of Paulo Fonseca as the new head coach will accelerate things because he wants a strong right-back and not just a simple alternative to the captain Calabria.
Looking beyond the lower costs compared to Spurs’ Emerson Royal, the Portuguese coach has indicated Santos as the ideal reinforcement given that he made 43 appearances under him for Les Dogues, with three goals and two assists to his name.
Lille paid €6.5m to sign him from Estoril just 12 months ago and are now looking at the possibility of making an excellent capital gain. Milan meanwhile to try to speed up the process, with Giorgio Furlani, Geoffrey Moncada and Zlatan Ibrahimovic preparing a bid.
The structure should be as follows: €10m fixed base plus €2-3m bonuses plus a future resale percentage in favour of the Ligue 1 side. It could be the latest instalment of what is a very hot axis between the two clubs.