Geoffrey Moncada is speaking directly with AS Monaco to try and move AC Milan towards the finish line in the Youssouf Fofana saga, according to a report.
Calciomercato.com begin by summarising the overall philosophy of Milan this summer: to sign players in 4/5 roles under the best possible conditions. Timing is not considered a problem because the main objective is to bring in quality, and that is why Milan has not yet thrown in the towel for Fofana.
Despite this, there have been ‘numerous problems’ encountered in the negotiations with Monaco. Yesterday Moncada reactivated contacts with the Ligue 1 club to try to ‘mend the rift’ that arose over the past few days.
The French club did not appreciate the Rossoneri’s strategy, because they reached an agreement with Fofana before starting to negotiate directly with them. Moncada worked for Monaco before and is trying to leverage the good relationship to try to find a solution that satisfies all parties.
Milan once again have to battle Manchester United though, just as they did for Joshua Zirkzee. Now the Red Devils have also started contacts with Fofana’s agents, all while Monaco want €25m to sell but the Rossoneri are only offering €17m.
The philosophy of the directors is clear: they will only pay a fair price. A turning point is now needed though and Moncada is using diplomacy, but if that is not enough he will turn to Manu Kone from Borussia Monchenglabdach.
Like Moncada is a respected name in Europe in these matters. Cool story
😂😂😂 yes, the former footballer and highly respected …. Looking through notes … Mr. Moncada.
If only ACM have a former player, one of the best players in his position ever, and highly respected across the football world for his class, who they could have used….
If only…
Exactly, if only we had this former player clubs like Monaco would drop their panties immediately and basically hand us their players! /s
I’d love to see Milan sign a proper #6, a holding DM like Ugarte, Prati, Amrabat, Trinidade or Tessmann and finally play 433 for what this team is 70% built already.
What are they going to do with all them mezz’alas that failed to convince in double pivot role?
Considering Fofana comes, he and Bennacer are the only two naturally capable of playing in double pivot. Musah maaaaybe, but not Reijnders and RLC. I don’t even count Pobega and Adli since they’re as good as gone.
This midfield is completely out of balance for 4231.
Maignan
Calabria–Tomori–Pavlović–Theo
Musah/RLC–DM/DM–Reijnders/Bennacer
Puli/Chuk–Morata/Jovic–Leao/Okafor
Balance👌
I hear ya Ted. Seems we love a revolution!
If we only want to buy 1 DM we could keep Adli.
Bennacer (RLC) Reijnders (Musah)
DM (Adli)
Benny could also play DM from time to time if needed.
Very true. Idk why everytime I see musah play the dude is up there on then rw. Like every single time he carries the ball on rw or runs to rw. One dimensional like a line of that white power you snort through the
Thw question is why management don’t want to sign true and proper DM? Is there any journalist Out There who can interrogate ’em about this mercato.
Oh well, now that we (likely) buy Royal, if we buy another DM and also decide to offload Pobega, the truth is, we still need to offload 3 players. Because Pobega is one of homegrown player…
Adli, Benny, RLC, Kalulu, Thiaw, Jovic, Okafor, Saelemakers. Pick 3 to offload.
yup. I have hopes but same concern. to add to it, let’s say we buy a proper #6. That means we only have one lol . no depth. A Reijnders works better with a true #6. Similar to Pirlo with Gatusso or Ambrosini. RLC could in theory because he’s a massive dude but he loves going forward. Musah can and actually did it for the US a few times fairly well. Problem is, he just turned 21, so. As i’ve always said, he’s still an idiot. DM is like a CB, you make a mistake, it’s probably a goal. (unlike say a CAM or a LW) .
I asked this question at the very beginning of the transfer window ie what formation are we going to play and do we have the players for it. If 4231, then we don’t have proper pivots,. If we’re playing 433 we dont have a proper DM. And in both cases we don’t have a proper DM.
Squad is constructed badly but ppl will continue to say we’re knocking management etc etc
Words will not mend the rift. The only way to do that is to raise the price significantly, plain and simple. I’m not saying Milan could or should do that, but if they want him, that’s just the reality. If they really believe in him, it’s better to pay up now, instead of going for a
cheaper option they don’t believe in as much. Easy for me to say, but anyway,………
No it’s not, Milan could wait 5 months and sign him for free. Monaco have little leverage and are holding out hope that Man U comes around. For the most part the buzz about Man U is most from the Italian media and not so much from English press which makes me think it’s more a pressure campaign drummed up by Monaco.
First, there is no reason that Monaco can be irritated by this approach which is totally common.
Second, my doubt with Moncada is whether or not he is capable of constructing a well-balanced team. So far, the judge is out.
If ACM doesn’t sign a true and capable DM, this Mercato will be a failure. Plain and simple. Hence the transfer strategy and management have failed.
Maybe Fofana is the right guy, maybe 17 mill is fair, maybe not.I don’t know. But I do know, that the team is in dire need of a hard working, tackling DM with grit. A Gattuso kind of type.
So true.. even though Morata, Pavlovic & Royal were brought in , within the budget, that kessie type player, the team desperately has needed now since he left , this mercato will be a failure.
We all remember when we dominated other teams with the best midfield in Serie A and we can’t win with the current midfielders in the favoured 4-2-3-1, especially now that Pulisic will be the no. 10 emphasizing the need for a ball winning, physical defensive screen in front of the back four.
The management have known this and should have already got their man in July ,not on the eve of the season opener. No ifs or buts.
When I think of a good number 6 i think of Yahya Toure in Barcelona or Busquets or patrick viera. Gattuso type of a number 6 would be chaotic for us.
First – If Moncada has a good relationship with, and is well respected by Monaco he would have approached them FIRST, not after he approached and negotiated with Fofana. Embarassing.
Second – This is the problem when you have cheap ownership.
You don’t buy players that necessarily fit what you are trying to do – you buy players because you can get them for cheap or at a discount.
So yes – we are completely unbalanced as many have mentioned above
I hate to say it but we aren’t getting a DM. We have RLC, Benny, Reindjers and Musah for the double pivot. Only Benny is a real double pivot – RLC and Reindjers are not and Musah has a lot of learning to do. but like I said when you are just buying players because you can get them for a good deal – you plug them in wherever you need them. Anyways that is 4 mids for 2 positions – not to mention we still have Pobega and Adli there as well. Both out of position as well. So the chances of us signing a Fofana are slim to none
Our market: Morata (13M), Pavlovic (20M) and Emerson (15M) – is likely closed (save for a potential loan deal). 13M + 20M + 15M = 48M. Minus the CDK (22M) and Simic (3M) we are right at our transfer cap spend of approx 35M (48M – 25M = 33M) So unless we sell a Benny, Salad or Adli or Pobega – nobody else is likely coming.
But apparently to the Redbird lovers we are “cooking” again. Ummmm….ya sure.
But hey at least we are Profitable!!!!!!!
Good times
Same dragged out argument, Juro. Give it a rest. You were doing the same thing last summer too, remember? And objectively the level of the squad has been raised since then.
Before you say it, YES, not all holes were plugged. Work in progress. They are clearly aware of the need for a DM. I’m nervous that it is cutting close into the start of the season, but I’ll wait until the window is shut to see if they addressed all our needs or not.
To each their own. I guess same dragged out rebuttal from you.
” And objectively the level of the squad has been raised since then.” How? Kessie, Tonali, Bennacer will always be better than Reinjders, Musah, RLC in any formation. Now if u say we improved the subs in the attack sure il give u that but objectively one cannot say last year’s squad was better than recent years past or even the year prior for that matter and there’s basic stats to prove that
Juro your first argument is BS because that is a standard practice. Remember how Maldini just let players negotiate with other clubs so they had an easier time walking out for free? Good thing Maldini is so well respected it really helped Milan not lose over 100M worth of talent for free…
Standard practice is to speak to the club first bro smh. It’s actually in the rules.
How does this go back to Maldini??? You guys be weird like that when someone critiques the current management. Can you not build up an argument in favour of Moncada? . You’re trying to define Moncada based on someone else. just define him on his own merits