It’s almost certain that AC Milan will sign a centre-back this summer, given the exit of captain Alessio Romagnoli. However, whether it will be a well-known profile or rather a low-cost option remains to be seen.
The Rossoneri are expected to focus on Pierre Kalulu and Fikayo Tomori as the centre-back duo next season as well. However, they also want a player that can compete with them on a consistent basis, keeping the level high.
According to Corriere Dello Sport (via MilanNews), apart from names like Sven Botman and Gleison Bremer, Milan could also turn to a low-cost option such as Pablo Mari. After six months on loan at Udinese, his position on the wish list has improved.
The Spaniard is owned by Arsenal and given that the Gunners paid around €14m for him two years ago, he would be significantly cheaper than Botman and Bremer. He remains a goal for Milan, therefore, albeit perhaps not the most popular one.
Would look like a decent backup option if it’s on loan, though I can’t see how his style would blend with the current tactics.
cb position is never needed.
heck just loan a player for 4 seasons straight for position 4 CB
the korean guy is looked better than him
Indeed, as backup cb and as asian marketing, i think the korean guy is a better target
Why would anyone pay a fee for Pablo Mari and his salary while being able to extend Romagnoli for less money in total? If Arsenal give him away, take him, but I doubt that it would be under 6-7M.
Why would you sign him for a few and pay his wages when you can renew Romagnoli? He is worse than Romagnoli and I doubt Arsenal will just give him away.
Ever think that Romagnoli doesn’t want to resign with Milan? Was offered more by Milan than Lazio and turned it down. You can’t make an out of contract player stay if he wants to go somewhere else.
Romagnoli would have signed 6 months ago if an offer wasn’t a downgrade of more than 50%. I do understand him, I would also wait out to see which offers I have and consider my position after that. For example, what if Chelsea, who is losing 3 defenders on a free transfer this summer makes him an offer with higher salary than he earns now? He was downgraded at Milan both in his team place and his new wages would also be a shadow of what he got.
No, I don’t think that is the case. He would have put pen to paper already if the offer was closer to what he earns now. But from the news he was offered a final amount and now he has to check other offers and consider what is best for him. Normal, he has lost his place in the 1st team but considering the offers he got until now I don’t see any issues with him resigning for a slightly higher amount and a bit of pep talk about his importance to the team.
I think you answer the question. Romagnoli has lost his place as a starter and Milan is offering a lower contract, so he wants to go elsewhere. People have one sided views of how negotiations work. They think “oh just renew him”, but if the player doesn’t want to renew then it won’t happen. I get that buying a player may be more expensive in the long run, but maybe there are circumstances that we’re not aware of, such as Romagnoli’s agent being the Raiola agency, which is notorious for request big agent fees. So if they’re asking for 10m agent fees, and 4m in salary for 4 years, that’s 26m over the course of the contract. Pablo Mari’s current value per Transfermarkt is 5.5m. Let’s say he moves for 7.5m, his agent being not Raiola requests 3m fee, and his contract request is 3m for four years (currently 5.2m at Arsenal, of course the usual EPL inflation), that’s 22.5m over the course of the contract. So that’s a 3.5m savings for the club, not to mention a player who will understand he is a backup and be humiliated by being a captain on the bench.
*and *not* be humiliated by being a captain on the bench.