AC Milan are looking to sign a new central midfielder to allow Ismael Bennacer to recover at his own pace, and Samuele Ricci of Torino is the player that reportedly tickets a lot of boxes.
According to Calciomercato.com, Milan’s strategy for the winter mercato is to sign a young midfielder with high potential who can enter the rotations and be a starter for years to come, with extra impetus on them being an Italian player due to the squad list issue.
In the past summer mercato there was an enquiry by Milan for Ricci, and the player himself was asked during an interview with Rai how it feels to be linked with not only the Rossoneri but Manchester City too.
“It’s certainly a great pleasure, but I’ve learned to know football a little. When things go well you are linked to these clubs and it’s gratifying because it means that the work is the right one, the path is the right one,” he said.
Ricci ‘would willingly embrace the Rossoneri project’ as per the source and this is certainly the first of the reasons why Milan should focus on him. The second reason, as mentioned, is linked to the compiling of the squad lists for Serie A and the Champions League.
The third and perhaps most important factor that should push Milan towards the ex-Empoli player is purely tactical. Paulo Fonseca’s midfield only has Youssouf Fofana as a player who can sit in front of the defence, with Tijjani Reijnders the man tasked with roaming further forward and creating.
Over the years, Ricci has been able to play both in a three-man midfield and in a double pivot, which would also guarantee Fonseca greater freedom in switching between a 4-2-4 or 4-3-3 or even a 3-4-3.
The issue? Torino president Urbano Cairo’s demands to sell his jewel, but that’s another story entirely. At present the door to negotiate is open and Milan must at least try.
28-30M with 10% resale, the fee we should be getting from Bennacer and RLC sales. Add Frendrup from Genoa at 20M and we have our midfield. Less reliant on Morata in CAM position as well since Tiji will be able to play there as well.
Upgrade Chukwueze, Gnoto can be a great choice or Berardi (both have their positives and negatives).
Get Maldini, RB and Tammy in the summer.
This is some dejavu bs for me. Last season was Buongiorno this Buongiorno that and ofc we didn’t pay 35M for him.
Now is Ricci this Ricci that and ofc we aren’t gonna pay 35M for him. And Torino will get that in the summer. They won’t sell in the winter.
Yesss yess lets go aaaall in with alll of ours 20 mil € ,but first negotiate a couple of months with offers 12-13-15-16-17-18-19-19.1-19.5 and theeen check mate with 20 !!! Nobody could resist. Everybody just waits for cardinale to gift him a player for 20 so he can sell him for 40 and earn money cause everyone is fool but only cardi is smart
HAHAHA We litterally have no chance for him
If the club gets him then it’s good, what I will suggest the club should do is to begin to think of how to buy more young Italian players for our youth teams, then begin to introduce them to the team gradually, players like Zeroli and Vos should be in our team, even in defence we can introduce some .
Is he even a proper DM though? I watched him and a bit of Torino games, and he always played relatively close to the strikers. I don’t know how well he would fit in a double pivot. Not least because his slim physique.
“Torino president Urbano Cairo’s demands to sell his jewel, but that’s another story entirely”
That’s not another story, that’s the story.
Forget it. Our cheap management won’t ever pay what is needed to get Ricci. This ship has sailed. We could have snatched him earlier when he was still cheap. Now it’s too late.