GdS: Why Milan’s transfer dealings continue to heavily feature Ligue 1

AC Milan have been no strangers to shopping in Ligue 1 in recent seasons and the situation is set to be exactly the same in the summer of 2024 with a host of players linked with the Rossoneri. 

As has been explained by La Gazzetta dello Sport, there is good reason for Milan to keep buying players from Ligue 1 when you look at the likes of Mike Maignan and Rafael Leao who were both signed from Lille.

Frederic Massara was known to favour players in Ligue 1 and that has only continued with Geoffrey Moncada in charge of the scouting.

Moncada is really the technical director and being French himself, that is where his best knowledge and contacts are. He is now set to be backed by a coach in Paulo Fonseca who has been coaching in France for the last year at Lille.

The likes of Jonathan David and Tiago Santos from Lille are targets,along with Youssouf Fofana at Monaco, Nice duo Khephren Thuram and Marcin Bulka, and Brest defender Lilian Brassier.

Moncada was asked by L’Equipe in 2023 about the strength of the French top flight from a talent perspective.

“It’s monstrous, in every club and for every generation there are interesting players. The young French players are not afraid, because if they make mistakes it doesn’t matter,” he said.

“It’s not like that in Spain, Germany or Italy. If an Italian player makes a mistake, they’ll say he’s not ready and he’ll end up on the bench for a while. It doesn’t happen there.”

Milan have successfully shopped in France in the recent past and they are set to continue doing so in the future.