Rade Krunic’s situation is a peculiar one, and it cannot be ruled out that he could say goodbye to AC Milan as early as the January transfer window as per a report.
Having signed from Empoli in the summer of 2019, Krunic has spent most of his four-and-a-half years at Milan as a bit-part player and a rotation option in the midfield under Stefano Pioli.
However, in the summer – when Fenerbahce were pressing with interest and even made offers – Pioli decided to put him quite literally at the centre of his new 4-3-3 system, converting him to the defensive midfield role.
Now Krunic is back to being far from an immovable member of the line-up, as seen through the fact he started the crucial Champions League game against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night on the bench.
As Calciomercato.com report, the renewal talks are not going well either. There is still a ‘great distance’ between Krunic and Milan in the negotiations for the renewal of the extension of his deal, which runs out in June 2025.
Not only that, but in the event of no agreement being reached in the coming weeks, the path could be opened for a sale in January should the right offer come in.
I bet Moncada will go for that Schalke kid instead of proper DM.
That kid is good, but we don’t need 4 (5 if you include Adli) mezzalas.
Exactly my point. We need a DM.
Moncada dream; to field 11 mezzalas, all u23.
Nice work, got in before the usual Krunic criticism.
By all means, sell Krunic in January rather than losing him for nothing but we’re not going to replace his experience.
It is very hard to see how the team gets better for the second half of the season if Krunic is replaced with another kid who is not even a specialist DM.
Slowly but steadily things are falling into place. Honestly this guy is like grabbing from the stands a young man in good physical shape and throw him into the game. It’s been so evident for years that he shouldn’t be a professional player, at least not one playing in Serie A let alone a team that’s won the champions league seven times.
He has disgraced our shirt for long enough. He and Pioli must leave, I’m sure both have enough money to go and live together wherever they want to. Far away from Milan.
Disgraced our shirt? In what sense has Krunic disgraced our shirt? You know who’s a disgrace? Donnarumma. Hakan. Not Krunic. He’s an average player suitable for the likes of Empoli or Udinese at most. But he always played to his best for this shirt even though his best is far from Milan’s standard.
How is a Scudetto winning player “average”?
Your idol’s time is coming to an end. Him and his lover Pioli. I can’t wait until they’re both gone by January; best New Year’s gift a true Milan fan can ask for. I’ll send you a box of tissues to wipe your tears away. Real fans want results, not these terrible performances. Are you even a fan!? Haha
Time for Krunic to stay home with Piloi’s baby. Maybe he will send you his new address so you can visit.
Just be real here, he’s a bench player. I’ve never insulted him or anything but I always deemed him average, a number for the bench, a patch to field anywhere needed.
You can deem him anyway you like it doesn’t change the fact that he played 28 times in a Scudetto winning season and started every knock out game on the way to the semi-finals of the Champions Lesgue.
That puts him in the top 1% of players to have ever played the game.
A good 50% off average!
You once wrote here before concerning the Milan greats of the past who won trophies a’ plenty. That among the icons and legends, there were also back ups and for lack of a better word average players.
Not all of them were world beaters. So is it impossible that among the scudetto winners, there won’t be average players. I don’t hate krunic, but I certainly don’t rate him as a high performing player.
He is a good back up to plug up when the team is winning and you need stability Mos Def not an out and out starter.
By feeding on the 10 other players next to him. Was Bonera one of the best defenders? Hell no! But he got quite a few trophies.
I’m no Krunic fan but that’s harsh. He works hard and appears to be a good teammate, that’s not disgraceful it’s just average
He’s had far more success than his teammates….
Again with defenders like you who needs detractors! And reality.
Spot on, he’s so bad, it’s truly a disgrace
A little too late. The Krunic experiment has already ruined our season.
Not to mention the value lost by not selling him in the summer when Fener really wanted him.
Krunic helped us win a scudetto and he is a good player. I am sure everyone single one of us that posts here is trash playing the sport so a bit of humility and gratitude helps.
Under Pioli and the last two managements, we’ve progressed enough that we are now in a position that he is not starting material. The general direction and outlook for the club is fantastic. The club’s future is bright. Once you get old enough that crashing out of the CL no longer lingers in your buddy for 3 weeks, you can see through the shit and realize better things will definitely come because the structure is fantastic. I feel that selling Krunic is a bit of a graduation. I’d like him to be sold, but with half a Bennacer, we have already have seen what losing all players in one position can do. If it happens great, if not – we get depth.
For me, in order to sell him we MUST get a proper defensive midfielder in the same transfer window.
Thoughts on Kalvin Phillips? or Perhaps Lesley Ugochukwu? It seems our budget tends to be around 20 million for transfers.
This whole he’s better than the average person is not a viable argument when discussing how good a professional athlete is. It’s the stupidest argument around and makes you seem stupid. No duh he’s miles better me, you and all the other amateurs out there but we’re not being paid 7 figures to preform, he is. Based on that he’s not good enough. Facts, just like Christian Zapata wasn’t good enough even though he worked hard, played hard and had the occasional great performance. Go get him for your rec league and win all the trophies but for me selling him for anything more than 6M is a good deal.
Exactly!!!
I’m as certain during the summer that what our management signed weren’t good enough as much as I’m certain that ppl who complain or trash Krunic don’t have a good understanding of football. Many of you cringe when he’s on the field because he “passed backwards” or the safe pass to the nearest free person. I cringe when he’s not there and there are these massive gaps in the middle of the park and in front of defence. Its two sides of the same coin.
So far no one else suggested maybe if Simic starts put Krunic as DM to help him out in defence 🤷♂️..he slots in between the CBs anyways and is the best midfield defender whether people like it or not
People don’t know if they want a Pirlo or Van Bommel type of player in DM position and just throw random insults. They say he doesn’t create anything and passes backwards all the time but I thought that’s why they brought bunch of ball carriers in Reijnders, RLC and Musah. To mix it up.
But fact remains, Krunic is not a DM and this midfield is poorly constructed. No specific roles asigned, just bunch of running and chasing.
All facts Ted. Perfect example Pirlo vs MvB. Do they want that nice passing but without Gattuso mopping up or do they want defensive solidity. Krunic passes to the free person, and you can basically bet your last dollar it would reach that person whether it be RlC, Reinjders, Tomori, Thiaw or Mike….but the ball reaches to them safely..he’s not a creator. My impression is that’s why we bought all those creators 🤷♂️
..so they can create lol. I dunno anymore
So true!
Part of me probably sympathies because I play a similar style!
I don’t even think it’s Krunic. It’s more the idea of Krunic. People just want change. The excitement of using their imaginations to sign some imaginary player. Krunic probably brings them crashing back to earth.
Once he’s gone they’ll move onto someone else. And the club will use the Krunic’s of the world to keep the churn going.
Haha 😂 I play the same position now or at the CB (before was CAM as I loved Kaka and modelled my game after him) but as I got older and slower it became Nesta and all those Defensive minded players lol. They just intrigue me alot from a positional sense.
The DM is incredibly difficult to play. You have to know when to move out of the slot, when to attack, when to press and one of the craziest things…when to “let someone pass by you” (trusting your defenders behind you and you alot back). Its sooo tight to pass into spaces too.
At CB though, I make the DM hold his place and I mop up. So sometimes when I see my DM move out of his position I tell him to stay where he is and I’ll take the 1v1 as most times the attacker wants the DM to move to create space between the CBs (you’ll see this in games too just like us vs Dortmund) . So usually when the DM holds his position, attacker either has to run wide on the wings which means he’s further away from goal or move central where he ofc runs into the DM. Its crazy.
But anyways like you said I have a feeling it’s the idea of him not him per se. I think they want to see Adli’s types of passing which they don’t get from Krunic but they’re not seeing the holes left in midfield too. And as Ted said, it’s really poor management from a personnel perspective too.
CIAO!!!!! And don’t come back!