AC Milan have presented a contract offer to Matija Popović and his entourage in a bid to win the race for his signature, according to a report.
Gianluca Di Marzio reports that Milan are moving ahead of the January transfer window. The scouts are very attentive in the international market and they are monitoring various profiles who could be a good fit for the future.
Midfielders Assan Ouedraogo of Schalke and Gabriel Silva Moscardo de Salles of Corinthians are on their list, as well as the Montpellier striker Akor Adams, but Matija Popovic also stands out on the list.
His contract with the Serbian club Partizan Belgrade will expire at the end of December, therefore in just over a month, meaning he can leave for just a development fee. He will turn 18 on 8 January 2024 and is is one of the most coveted young players on the market.
Milan know this and moved quickly, presenting the player and his agents with a contract running until 30 June 2028. They believe that with his size, finishing, technique and dribbling that he could be a complete centre-forward in time.
Last May, at the U17 European Championship, his Serbia faced Italy and Spain in the group. Popovic was decisive in both matches: two assists in the 2-0 victory against the Azzurri, one in the draw with the Spaniards.
It is no coincidence that the competition for him is intense, from all over Europe, but Milan hope the offer they have put forward will be enough to close the deal and thus secure an important talent.
That’s a bit of a Dollarumma situation for Partizan. Their best young talent leaving for a development fee.
Not the best way to start your career imo.
He’s probably better off signing a contract with them and playing a year of 1st team football. Then Partizan can get some money in also
Yep. What goes around comes around, which is what always made me not as angry at Donnarumma as others, because we would do the same to smaller clubs if we had the chance. All clubs try to acquire players as cheap as possible, while all players try to get the highest salary possible, with some exceptions.
It’s the world we live in I guess
I don’t know if it is the right move for him. He sure is one of a talent but joining Milan of all club at an age of 17 is not the smartest move for a creative player like him. Some RB Club, Dortmund or Brighton would have been the better choice.
Yeah he will go to the Primavera, where careers go to die
True
Facts!
I’ve been preaching for a while now for players not to join our Primavera if they want to see time in the senior team. Buy and loan back to club should be in the best interest of the player
And then we’ll never see him again, because 1.5 years from now when we’re crying for a striker and he’s score 25 goals in the Bundesliga his price will be 80m. It’s now or never for us. My concern is with our club, not his career. Naturally, I’d want him to come now and have a great career with us in the perfect scenario, but if push comes to shove I’d rather sign him now and if it doesn’t work out it doesn’t work out, rather than pass on him and then regret not signing him when he’s scoring 25 goals and worth 80m.
Remind me again how many of these under-20 players we’ve bought recent years have made a difference in our senior team? Kalulu is the only one I can think of and we’ve bought at least a dozen of them. Even more actually.
Just like SJF said above… Milan primavera is like a graveyard.
I’m not against signing young players who join the senior squad, like Kalulu did. It’s all these amazing prospects we have signed in recent years who join the Primavera and never make it to senior team.
I remember a player named Kerkez, whom we brought for nothing and ended up rotting in our primavera squad before moving to the Eredivisie and then the EPL.
This kid who could have been Theo’s deputy is now valued at 18M according to Transfermarkt.
So I join the majority here, what’s the point of recruiting young players if it’s to let them rot in the primavera. Pioli also seems to not be very interested in young players.
Bro, you use the worst example. We have a left-back worth 60m who on his day is an unstoppable freight train that can score 7-8 goals per season. Kerkez by his own words wanted to be a starter. Do you think we’d have sat Theo to start this guy? Or would you have preferred to sell Theo just so we can start Kerkez? Theo can be our LB until he retires (if he so desires it), and the only way Kerkez was going to get some time was if he was going to turn out better than Theo. Is Kerkez going to be better than Theo? So far the evidence suggests no. Why waste time on this?
It’s a fair comparison.
He didn’t insist on being a starter, what he wanted was to be part of the 1st team squad not the Primavera.
Regardless, how long would he have tolerated being a sub? The issue still remains: if he’s that good, the expectation would be to eventually be a starter. As long as Theo is there, that won’t happen. So as a sub he would have gotten more time, but not nearly as much as at Alkmaar which is what properly increased his ability and value. Kerkez is water under the bridge.
I mean, the only way to justify being upset about Kerkez would be to argue that we could have cashed in on Theo for 60-80m this past summer, instead of Tonali, to fund the summer transfers, and we would have had Kerkez as a good replacement, but that assumes that club would have known in the summer of 2022 what they were going to do in the summer of 2023, and I don’t think that’s possible since 2023 was a reaction to the prior season. As they say, hindsight is 20/20.
I admit I did forgot Kerkez’s statment.
But regardless, in terms of minutes with the first team, he had NONE. Perhaps trying to use him in some games could have been possible, or perhaps converting him into a more polyvalant player who can also play as a CM or as a defender (Kalulu was also used in many roles before).
But we gave up on him without even trying.