AC Milan know that Olivier Giroud cannot work overtime again in the coming season and they are thus looking for a centre-forward to support him.
La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write that Armando Broja – who made his first-team debut with Chelsea March 2020, replacing Giroud – and Hugo Ekitike are two of the players who stand out above all.
Milan have their eyes on both, while thinking about the future of Lorenzo Colombo, who is sought by Cagliari and Genoa on loan. If he were to leave, then the management are ready to sign another striker.
Broja is the profile in pole position and Milan have already begun talks with Chelsea, receiving a negative response for now. Mauricio Pochettino is waiting before letting him leave for the moment, especially after Nkunku’s injury.
The Albanian forward has just got back on his feet after his ACL injury last December. He is hungry to play consistently at a high level which is why Milan could be an excellent solution, especially on loan with option to buy.
The next few days will be telling, but if Chelsea keep the door shut then the Ekitike idea could gain momentum. The Frenchman has just started his second season with PSG and has just turned 21, but the Parisians are happy to let him leave.
Everton are admirers too, but Milan consider him an alternative option not from a technical point of view but rather from an economic point of view because his asking price is €30m. If that were to lower, the Rossoneri would move.
Personally I would prefer Broja, as Ekitike is more similar to Okafor. We need a first-choice striker who is both physically robust, mobile and can do good build up play.
Is Broja really that much better than Colombo?
who knows. I think Colombo, with regular game time, will become a baller in 2 years.. His long shoots are lethal af..
But he is diffrent from Giroud. Broja is more like Giroud.
Based on his stats he’s definitely not.
Look at the goal scoring stats for both of these guys. They’re definitely not what we’re looking for. If we want a “2 goals per season”-kind of CF we’ve already got Origi.
What about Sesko? Maybe more expensive, but starter quality.. ❤️🖤
I really don’t understand why we don’t just keep Colombo until at least January and then reassess.
Columbo is young and projects to be an average player at best. Definitely not world class and definitely not a striker to be the starter for a club like ours. Starter for lower teams perhaps – but I don’t think he will develop into anything but a Borriello/Destro type of player at best. I would love for him to prove me wrong but recent history with Italian strikers says otherwise.
Therefore, We should be signing a striker regardless of whether Columbo is loaned or not – and he should be loaned out for consistent PT.
Personally I would love if we went for Wahi. However, He is likely out of reach financially – but he would be ideal IMO. In the alternative, IF we are not willing to spend that kind of $$ (30-35M??) then at the very least a player like Duvan Zapata would help in the short term and be available for a smaller (10M) fee. I’d feel much better with a Giroud/Zapata/Origi rotation than a Giroud/Columbo rotation as it stands now.
Okafor is a false 9 and LW and not a true #9 – which I think we need given Girouds age and Origi being out of the team. So either we reintegrate Origi and have him back up Giroud and hope he bounces back or at the very least bring in a veteran player like Zapata who won’t break the bank and when healthy can still be a force up front. But relying on Columbo as the primary back up to Giroud is a recipe for disaster. I cannot imagine lining up in a UCL game with Columbo leading the line.
Mateo Retegui was available for a minimal fee and we failed to explore that option. Mind boggling that we are going for an injured Chelsea reserve player instead at twice the cost or a 30 year old in the Portuguese League.
Unfortunately seems we still lack a strong central striker who can bang in 16/20 goals in one season …. and until we do, we shall have big problems in attack.
Also Tomori seems less sharp and strong these days ….