Theo Hernandez has decided to leave AC Milan in favour of a new adventure in the Middle East, with Saudi side Al-Hilal.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) write, turbo Theo left everyone behind, including his opponents. He went from a promising Real Madrid player, the club he had joined in the summer of 2019, to being the Champion of Italy in 2022.
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With his running on the left he had been the driving force of the team in the Scudetto season. Then there was a sensational slowdown in recent months and now the reset: Theo is headed to Al-Hilal, in the Saudi Pro League.
The numbers
It is a U-turn in a career that seemed destined to reach the top of Europe: with Milan he conquered the French national team, scoring a decisive goal in the semi-final of the 2022 World Cup and then playing as a starter in the final lost to Messi’s Argentina.
It was one of the highest peaks in his sporting history, which then slowed down to the slow, very slow pace of last season. The market gives an idea: in January Theo was sought by Como, who offered him €8m net per year. Milan (for €52m) would have sold him.
A few weeks ago, Saudi Arabia arrived but were met by opposition from the player: an €18m salary was not worth enough if the competition is lacking. Hernandez would have gladly accepted a return to Atletico Madrid, with whom an agreement over a fee was never reached.
Here then is the most recent Arab relaunch: €20m per year into the Frenchman’s account. And to Milan? Still to be defined: the certainty is that to get the club’s green light at least €30m are needed.
The separation
The long Rossoneri story ends here, six years and 262 games later. In the trophy cabinet he boasts a league title win as a star, the Supercoppa Italiana (in the final one of his best performances of the last season) and 31 goals in Serie A for the title of most prolific defender in the history of the club.
He also wore captain’s armband on his arm, and broke Paolo Maldini’s goal record. Despite all of this, Theo would not have been part of the new era. Massimiliano Allegri could have given him back speed, but the player himself had asked to be sold to Madrid.
Theo then opened to the idea of joining Al-Hilal once he was aware that other offers would hardly arrive, certainly not as rich. He certainly would not have received anything more from Milan than the last year of the contract at €25m given the expiry in the summer of 2026 was not up for discussion.
The renewal, proposed at a lower salary, never really considered. Without an extension and with a free release in 12 months, the club obviously have no intention of hindering the deal. However, they do want €30m from the Saudi side, as agreed just before the Club World Cup.
Replacements
The last season was one of being benched, rebellious cooling-breaks, stolen and missed penalties, the simulation and red card that cost the Champions League, all of which led to today’s consequences.
The €30m fee is income that will be reinvested in the market in search of a replacement worthy of the first version of Theo, the surprising one and protagonist of many successes. The experience of the Ukrainian Oleksandr Zinchenko (28, Arsenal) is one option.
Destiny Udogie (22, Spurs) is another target, a full-back for the national team and at Tottenham for two years, after his debut at Verona and seasons as a starter in Serie A with Udinese.
The prices are also different: Zinchenko’s contract expires in 2026, so the Gunners cannot demand more than €15-20m. Udogie is more expensive, at least double.
Doggie all day!
No idea why you keep saying Udogie is a target; he’s a valuable starter for a UCL side and Tottenham don’t need the money. That is a window that was missed.
Sad loss.
Regardless of what people think of him now, he has been a truly elite player for Milan. A force of nature, rampaging coast to coast, we won’t see the likes of him again soon.
One of the few players of recent times who will be talked about as one of our best.
It is one of the casualties having such ownership. Théo should have been a bandiera. Tonali too. Calabria too. All the traditions, identity and the very emotional aspect of the game is drowning in cold business, budget and speculation. The players who love the club go and we are left with the bankers and their nauseous concept of football. But I guess we’re used to banter eras now.
Well said!
We were so close to a true resurrection.
I knew in the 1st month after our scudetto win that we were missing the opportunity to seize our place at the top.
The new owners didn’t even speak to M&M until their contracts ran out. Then we were told that the deal would take the summer to complete and therefore there would be very limted investment (convenient how it was concluded just after the transfer window closed, no other example of this in takeovers).
Unfortunately for me it meant I couldn’t really enjoy the victory as I could see we were jeopardising the project.
At that point had we kept everyone, we only really needed a RW, AM and Striker. With the likes of Dybala available for free and the possibility of loaning some good striker/winger.
I honestly thought at that point that Leao, Theo etc would surely leave the following summer.
Completely false. Our midfield was shambles since Maldini let Kessie leave for free. And they never replaced Calhanoglu after letting him leave for free as well. That’s when the downfall of this team started. Not to mention 4 seasons of not having a proper RW. But I forgot, nothing was ever Maldini’s fault.
We won the league after Hakan left, so lets not make up stories.
Kessie left the summer we won the title and as mentioned above that was when our mercato was frozen due to the takeover.
Gerry never contacted M&M until after their contracts expired end of June. I remember Maldini saying, ok if they don’t want us, maybe we don’t want to work for them, but its strange not to hear anything.
M&M were not given the budget to renew Kessie and as stated they were frozen out for a month, so he left.
We also missed out on Enzo Fernandez that summer due to M&M not being contacted by the new owners for a month after our title win and the takeover
It still amazes me that there are Gerry bots like you around. The fact that Maldini put together a team that won the league and built solid foundations for the future. Redturds came in and trashed it all and look at us now, 9th place finish and our best players lining up to leave for better clubs
Sayōnara Théo.
It’s sad that he didn’t have the attitude to become better and that the management was too incompetent to provide a deputy or to handle his case properly, but not every story is a happy one.
But, despite everything, I’ll never forget the hopes and dream he brought since 2020 with those crazy runs which culminated with that insane goal vs Atalanta and the scudetto. And even if it was brief, I’ll never forget that at some point, fans, even from other clubs looked at Théo with envy and hoped their clubs had him.