The new coach of AC Milan, even without an official announcement yet, has now been revealed: it will be Paulo Fonseca. The club are planning to welcome him with an ambitious summer transfer window too, a report claims.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport report this morning, Milan will have a ‘rich’ summer due to the budget that the club can afford to invest in the transfer campaign. It will be a surprising one too: in addition to the new striker, a central defender, a right back and a defensive midfielder will arrive as well.
If the welcome from the fans risks being cold, the mercato will certainly be able to warm Fonseca’s new era up. He will have €100m worth of players as a gift, a sum that the club plans to spend over the summer.
Qualification for the Champions League and loan redemptions (Charles De Ketelaere at €22m plus bonuses above all) make up the main share of the treasure sat at Casa Milan, which could be even more precious yet.
First, however, the club would have to let go of one of the main jewels in the crown, with Theo Hernandez the leading suspect, and then add the proceeds of the sale to the millions to be invested in revenue. The same strategy as a year ago with Sandro Tonali.
Work on the attack
The first news comes from the attacking department where Milan will extend Luka Jovic’s contract by 12 months, a possibility foreseen in the agreement signed last summer. The club can move the contractual deadline by one season, therefore until June 2025, even without the player’s approval:.
In this case Milan and Jovic are more than happy to continue together because the Serbian has proven to be a valid alternative given that he came off the bench and scored important goals, proving to be a useful back-up to Giroud.
The feeling of the management is that he will be useful as a deputy to Joshua Zirkzee, younger but still far from the numbers of the elite scorers in Europe. The Dutchman would be entrusted with the No.9 shirt and a starting role. A role that other teams, from Juventus to the Premier League sides, could not guarantee.
The numbers in the release clause, however, are the same for everyone: Zirzkee can be signed for €40m from July 1st to August 15th which is when it is active. However, this is an amount to which salary and high commissions must be added.
Midfield reinforcements
If Milan are willing to spend €40m of their €100m on Zirkzee, they will use another €25m to rely on the quality and physique of Youssouf Fofana of Monaco.
Milan are looking for a midfielder who can protect the defence which too exposed to opposing attacks in transition during the season that has just finished, and the profile matches.
Fofana helped Monaco defend second place in Ligue 1 with 32 games under his belt, even managing to get four goals and four assists in the league too.
His season didn’t end there because he is on France coach Didier Deschamps’s list of players called up for the European Championship, which will be a showcase of his talents.
Defensive wall to be rebuilt
A central defender and a right-back should arrive to aid a rearguard that struggled a lot in 2023-24. Solidity is needed and Igor has ended up on the list of the Rossoneri management, formerly at Fiorentina and now at Brighton.
Last summer he was sold to the Premier League side for €17m plus another €3m in bonuses. It is the same amount that the Seagulls would ask for to sell him after one season and 33 appearances. For now, he remains an idea more than a concrete name.
There are two possible solutions for the right-back role. The first: Emerson Royal, 25 years old, currently at Tottenham and formerly of Barcelona and Real Betis. Emerson would occupy a non-EU position, but Milan are focusing on other details.
Fonseca likes a right-back who has an inclination to push forward, however the price tag of €30m for Emerson is an amount that Geoffrey Moncada and his team do not want to pay, even if the summer will be long and the price may vary.
The alternative is Tiago Santos of Lille, a player who we broke the news on regarding Milan’s interest. He has a valuation between €10-12m and the advantage of having already been coached by Fonseca.
The Portuguese coach will soon begin to dedicate himself to building the new Milan: he will receive €100m in players ready to help his cause.
