Corinthians director confirms details of Milan’s offer for André as ‘sales are necessary’

The sporting director of Corinthians, Marcelo Paz, has confirmed the details of AC Milan’s offer for the young midfielder André as ‘sales are necessary’. 

It was late last night that Matteo Moretto and Fabrizio Romano broke the news about the 19-year-old midfielder, stating that Milan were closing in on a €12-13m deal. Sure enough, the matter has only accelerated since and it seems a total agreement could be reached.

During a press conference in relation to the game against Novorizontino, Corinthians’ sporting director Marcelo Paz even confirmed the details of the offer (slightly higher than first reported). Furthermore, he made it clear that the club needs to sell players to survive financially.

“Was there an offer from Juventus? No, there was no offer from Juventus. The offer is from Milan. What is André’s market value? If you go to Transfermarkt, he has no market value. He is so young that he doesn’t have a market value yet.

“In this negotiation, he’s valued at around 24 million euros. And Corinthians owns 70% of André. So, if Corinthians makes the sale, it would be for 17 million euros because they own 70%. 15 million upfront and another 2 million in performance-related bonuses.

“These bonuses would be achieved while he’s still at Corinthians. So, if he reaches a certain number of minutes played here, the additional 2 million euros would be added. Because if this sale goes through, André would only go to Milan in the middle of the year. He would stay here until the end, even before the World Cup.

“And if the sale goes through, Corinthians would get 20% of a future resale. 20% of the capital gain from the future sale would go to Corinthians.

“Everyone knows that Corinthians needs to sell players, that was very clear, we have always said that, since the first day I arrived here. And it was stated by the club’s board, by the financial sector, by President Osmar, that sales are necessary to balance the cash flow,” he concluded.

The 70% makes everything sound a bit complicated, but it’s simply that André himself is entitled to 30% of the transfer fee. As has been confirmed by other reports, in order for Milan to proceed, the player has agreed to waive his part of the fee (so the total amount would, in fact, be €17m).