AC Milan are putting all of their efforts into signing Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna and want to get the deal wrapped up within a specific month.
As reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below), Milan have chosen Zirkzee as the natural replacement for Olivier Giroud who is leaving the club on a free transfer.
The reason Milan want to get the deal done in a specific time frame is because there is a €40m release clause which is only valid from July 1 to August 15.
Milan essentially have the month of June to try and convince the player that Milan is the right move for him, given he will have plenty of offers from elsewhere.
There is no agreement with the Dutch forward yet on salary and contract length. The likes of Juventus, Arsenal and Manchester United are interested, and the latter two have an economic strength that Italian clubs can’t compete with.
The alternative target to Zirkzee still remains Stuttgart’s Serhou Guirassy, with the Guinean available thanks to a €17.5m release clause.
Milan have already met with the German club to discuss Guirassy, as well as other players that could be involved in the deal should it get off of the ground.
I’d like to see one young striker with potential to grow (Zirkzee/someone similar) and one experienced one to be sitting on bench. Jovic should be left at the station, he is not good enough, and Origi should be desperately handed over to some Saudi team for free and hope he will agree.
For experienced one, maybe De Jong from PSV? Guy scored 38 goals this seasons. Or Aubameyang? Had a great season as well (30 goals). And they are both old enough to not cost a fortune.
The only worry is that Zirkzee didn’t really have outstanding numbers, and already costs 40mil EUR.
I agree, the numbers don’t offer much comfort. We are buying potential, which could be a risk if all our eggs are in one basket. I would rather for that amount of money we look at bringing both Serhou and David in.
With agent fees, wages etc, I think signing those two players would probably end up being 60-80% more expensive, not quite as simple as ‘this is the fee’. Not to mention they both wouldn’t want to come in to compete with the other. And David in particularly is likely to go for a lot higher than the numbers banded around, Lille just need a bidding war to break out with some English clubs.
Also factor in Guirassy’s age – those extra 5 years make a huge difference if signing a 5 year contract with someone in terms of value in 3 years’ time.
Why always zirkzee ? Is he the number 9 that milan needed ? I dont think so…