Gianluca Di Marzio has offered some more insight on AC Milan’s pursuit of Joshua Zirkzee, revealing that he didn’t arrive because of a ‘matter of principle’.
In an exclusive last month we pieced together the full background on the move. The starting point was that the hunt for a new striker began practically at the end of last season, when it was certain that Olivier Giroud would not renew and would head for the United States.
Milan moved well in advance to try and get Zirkzee, reaching an agreement with the player over salary and expressing to Bologna that they were ready and willing to trigger the €40m release clause in his contract.
What happened then is now infamous: Geoffrey Moncada and Giorgio Furlani did not find an agreement regarding the high commissions requested (€15m) and they froze the negotiations after Manchester United entered. He ended up going to Old Trafford, and Alvaro Morata arrived instead.
Di Marzio gave an interview to Il Giornale and he spoke about why Milan abandoned their pursuit of Zirkzee having seemingly got so far to the finish line, confirming it was due to the agent’s requests.
“They made it a matter of principle. I also understand that these foreign owners who are used to other percentages in their negotiations find it out of the market to give 40% to the agent, they did not want to adapt to the market,” he said (via MilanNews).
“In the Bundesliga and in the Premier League it is the norm, for example Borussia Dortmund paid more in commissions than for the Guirassy card (€17m for the release clause and €20m in commissions).
“I understand that, but it is also true that the Rossoneri have missed a good opportunity to heavily strengthen the attack.”
Di marzio why not cough up 15m and give to zirkzee’s agent and see how your business will survive? ….it’s must be noted that Zirkzee might end up being a total failure at Manchester united… because of the arrays of stars ahead of him in the pecking order… It’s not possible for Rashford, Hojlund, Garnasho to sit for Zirkzee… He needs that time of adaptability and various factors that hinders adaptation to a new footballing culture …. Milan is absolutely right to abandoned the deal… afterall Milan aren’t a charity 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Remember Oroghi? He would be happy to sit on the bench
Honestly, the Dortmund deal of paying 17m to a club and 20m in commissions is, first of all, unsustainable, and second, pure stupidity.
If clubs do not make something about this, agents will end ruling the game before clubs and that is complete non-sense. What Milan did is correct and I enjoyed the weekend seeing Zirkzee in the bench
Well they also sold Füllkrug for 27 mil, so all good.
It’s crazy. Particularly where free transfers or release clauses are involved. What did the agent do to facilitate the move? IMHO these payments have simply become bribes to the agent so that the agent goes back to the player to say “go the this club, it’s the best place for you”.
It’s a shame ALL clubs don’t take this stance – the problem would be over in an instant…
Do you guys publish stuff like this so we all know how stupid these sports “journalists” are?
This is BS. Marzio full of it again, just trying to generate attention.
It was never about the commissions in the end.
Paying such a large amount in commissions seems a bit off—it could even raise some red flags. Just a reminder, we need to stay compliant with US guidelines.
Pretty comical that the same ppl that are saying not to pay commissions for Zirkzee are the same ppl who are saying to wait for Fofana till next summer to get him on a free transfer LOL
Ya I’m sure this is a winning strategy. I’m positive Fofana won’t ask for a penny more and his agent will ask for ZERO commissions. 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡