AC Milan have been forced to turn their attention away from Bologna striker Joshua Zirkzee with the Dutchman set to join Manchester United instead.
As highlighted by Calciomercato.com, there are three main reasons as to why the former Bayern Munich man will not be playing at San Siro next season.
It seemed for a long time that Zirkzee was destined to be the long-term replacement for Olivier Giroud and given it would only have taken a transfer fee of €40m to secure his services.
Personal terms with the player would also not have been a problem, but they still did not get it over the line.
The main reason for the deal falling through was the commission request from Kia Joorabchian. He wanted €15m and Milan were not willing to pay it, but Man Utd are willing to pay.
The interest of United intensified which is another reason for the deal disappearing. The Red Devils were always in the frame but once they committed to paying Bologna and the agent, Milan were dumped into second place despite thinking a deal could be reached on commissions.
Finally, Zirkzee was not quite as committed to joining Milan as it first seemed. The Dutchman seemed to have chosen Milan over the likes of Zirkzee and Arsenal, but Man Utd managed to change his mind with Erik ten Hag playing a major role.
Three reasons:
1. Dollars
2. Euros
3. Pounds
👏👍
Zirkzee would cost 40 + 15 and an additional 6-7 in salary, so on the one hand, it is actually a lot for a player with deep-lying forward characteristics, who had a weak first season and a quite good second season, and only in the domestic field. He won’t leverage Milan’s entire game, so in my opinion it’s a good decision not to pay that kind of money.
On the other hand, the interest in Morata, who scores around 10 goals every season and has 35 goals in 130 matches in Serie A, is pointless. We might as well buy Milik from Juve for 5 million and it will be the same.
The problem is that you can’t buy cheap and good, you have to choose. So Zirkzee for 55 could be too expensive and not work out, but there is no other way, you either spend that much, or add another 20 and get Gyokeres, or stay with Morata.
It’s bulls.. to say we agreed personal terms, but not the commission. He wants a signing bonus in the form of a colossal commission, that’s why he agreed on 4m or whatever salary.
Once official numbers are cleared we will see that either the commission went down and the salary up, or MU agreed on the same formula we were given.
Anyway, he seems to prefer the Premier League exposure, over the better club and project, so good luck and all the best. It’s his career and his financials, no need for us to hate on him or blame him in anyway.
12 goals 7 assists and people here think he is a 100m player and 55-60m is cheap lmao
This. And all that based on ONE SEASON.
I know
I don’t think it was his goal scoring prowess that attracted Milan, but rather his buld up play and contribution to goals that would work well with our wingers.
Either way, 55mil plus wages is too steep of a price and either way seems Kia was never going to sanction his transfer to Milan one way or the other.
Should have moved on from him sooner.
The agent has been planning this before he put his signature in Bologna Move. Not against Milan, particularly. He knew that 40m is relatively cheap in today’s market given his client’s potential, so he put it there so he can force the club to let him go when the time is right and asks for big commission to whoever want to satisfy that nonsense as the margin to his value in todays market.
I guess his real value is about 55m on today’s market, so there we go
Happy that Milan could walk away from that kind of extortion. Leao and Pulisic can give us those sort of stats, a striker should be measured differently…I’m prepared to wait to rue the day we let him go, but I don’t feel a deep sense of loss right now…
Same… hell warm bench in ManU
Just amazing how many people here still talk about Zirkzee limited to only his statistical numbers. Clearly those people didn’t bother to watch his (full) game, even once. If a club aiming for Zirkzee, they clearly know he won’t be the traditional no. 9 whose only job, skill, and knowledge is to score goals. They look for something different. If they only look for goals scored, they’ll look for other profile on the market.
That’s why Sacchi and Capello said that you just can’t go to players like Zirkzee to another player with entirely different characteristic (like Lukaku and Morata). It simply shows that the management doesn’t really have a fixed idea and criteria on what kind of striker they’re looking for to begin with.
That’s true. Zirkzee is one-of-a-kind player with unique characteristics. It would be stupid not to go all in on his profile, as he can only improve & his market value will skyrocket. You cannot just find players like that, even if you wanted to.
Another dumb decision by the dumb management. Morata instead of Zorkzee, are you kidding me?
Dense. take.
Carry on in the same fashion.
100% correct Ibrahim. I question the criteria they are using as well. Imo it seems the criteria has to fit an ROI than functionality to the coach’s system. The reason why I say this is the alternative being looked at. Morata is cheap and can maybe carry enough goals that we won’t miss Giroud but he is older. Zirkzee is younger so while maybe cost more upfront it was slightly too high to justify the return in the event he flops. Notice we’re not linked to any of the other young strikers (for good to bad). Perhaps the ROI is not there ie they’re too expensive for the risk. Management is saying better to get a proven striker and the best, cheapest one is indeed Morata. Lukaku would have been a decent punt too but he might also bee slightly too expensive
Yes, sadly the criteria is there’s no criteria. The certain thing is that now they buy player(s) just to fill the gap. Not considering the team structure, further growth, or simply our playing system. And a chameleon coach like Fonseca is a perfect person for that.
Let the clown go. We all know he belong to the circus anyway 😂
Im only have 1 reason: milan have no money. Thats it
Only one reason : MU can pay more money to JZ & his agent kia than ACM . Simple and case close. Just move on to another target , it is not like JZ only the striker that available in the world
If you guys have followed Marco Van Basten (ZirkZee’s compatriot) when he was asked his view about Milan’s pursuit of ZirkZee, his answer was lukewarm. At that point, I know Milan would not do extraordinary sacrifice to hire ZirkZee.
Likewise, this gentleman was never excited about the prospect of joining Milan. He was quiet most of the time.
” The Dutchman seemed to have chosen Milan over the likes of Zirkzee and Arsenal, but Man Utd… ”
HUH?