AC Milan have moved very quickly to secure Malick Thiaw’s replacement, agreeing a deal for Koni De Winter within 24 hours.
This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) confirms that Milan have wrapped up the signing of De Winter. Negotiations with the Belgian defender from Genoa were virtually sealed last night, and the clubs have begun exchanging documents.
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In other words, the details are still missing, such as the length of the payment period, but it can be considered a closed operation. The Grifone will receive €20m, including bonuses, with Juventus receiving a percentage of the sale.
Inter had explored the idea of signing the defender, who came through the club’s youth system, but failed to make a move because Bisseck and Pavard are still in the squad. Galatasaray and Bournemouth had also made inquiries, but were never close to signing him.
Milan, faced with the need to quickly replace Thiaw, stepped up their pressure. First he reached an agreement with De Winter (a five-year contract worth €1.8m per season), then they began negotiations with Genoa, helped by excellent relations as the Lorenzo Colombo deal shows.
Serie A dactor
De Winter’s name didn’t appear on Tare’s notebook yesterday morning or Saturday afternoon. Milan had long been exploring options like Giovanni Leoni of Parma and Pietro Comuzzo of Fiorentina, but the high costs of both deals kept the club from pursuing them.
This was also because, until a few days ago, Rossoneri executives believed their central defenders would remain unchanged. Newcastle’s offer for Thiaw and the German’s desire to try a different adventure changed the situation, so the directors went for a replacement who knows the league.
De Winter is perfect in this respect: between Empoli and Genoa, he has 68 Serie A appearances and an advantage: he knows Massimiliano Allegri and his football, given that he was the coach who gave him his professional debut in the Champions League match against Malmo in December 2021.
From a character and technical standpoint, Max and his staff immediately approved the deal. Now the goal is to have him available as soon as possible because the Coppa Italia round of 32 match against Bari is looming.
The timing
Milan’s plan is to close the deal in the next few hours. Preferably today. The initial offer of €16m plus bonuses failed to secure Genoa’s approval, as they were asking €25m to let the 23-year-old from Antwerp leave.
The gap was narrowed last night, after hours of phone calls, because the Belgian had already chosen Milan and expected the Rossoblu to accommodate him. Since the Rossoneri also didn’t want to waste time, they adjusted the fixed salary portion of the offer and worked on the bonuses.
If there are no hitches in drafting the contracts, Koni could be in Milan as early as today and undergo his medical tomorrow. This would allow him to train with his team-mates on Wednesday or even tomorrow afternoon.
Because Fiorentina and Parma would’ve raised their prices to 50m if we waited around, this was smart
Koni was never in Inter’s youth ranks.
he was at Juventus –
“he knows Massimiliano Allegri and his football, given that he was the coach who gave him his professional debut”
I don’t know where in the article it said he was in the inter youth systm
Does anyone know whether he qualifies as homegrown ? He is 23, been playing in Serie A for quite some time.
He has been in serie A since 2018, so he should qualify
Yes he classified as homegrown he came through the juventus youth academy
He played for Juve youth teams for like 4 years. He definitely qualify
The thing is no one is againts this signing at all hes good enough for serie a scored some amazing headers still can develop but its just the whole backline doesnt inspire confidence. We went from tomori,kalulu,thiaw,kjaer,romagnoli to gabbia,pavlovich,tomori and de winter. We need a to get either a top defender or a defender with top potential (preferably italian).
How? They agreed on a fee with the selling club. They could have offered 15M and then give the story how the player wants only Milan but that doesn’t work so well in the end.
Someone is surely stupid.
We know you are.
Sure, why are you always in attack mode…Cmon bruh…we all are Milan supporters…when Jashari will give killer passes we all will shout together…me from my Kolkata home, you from your home. When Modric will dictate play we all would smile together….Love…Love…LoveMilan
Or maybe because Genoa don’t ask for 40 millions…
Allegri knows him coz the coach give him debut and now it’s the right time to prove it. Leoni / comuzzo?? Over hyped by Italian media…
Not sure why Inter stalled on this kid but I’m glad they wrapped up this deal quickly. Now get us another CB please. Someone with experience and leadership.
Kinda feels like Inter have f’d this summer up coach bails, transfers get bogged down and struggle to finalize , locker room infighting. Yet the media only paint Milan as a club without a plan 😂😂
I do not know if the signings of Tare will be good or bad….but there has been a plan in place, and he is executing within that plan. To me it is such an improvement over the last two mercatos.
Transfermarkt valued Thiaw at €18m while De Winter at €22m. Thiaw is going to be sold at €40m and replaced with De Winter at just €20m. Moreover, De Winter has association trained status that Thiaw does not, this is good for squad registration. How does Tare manage to orchestrate this?
Cuz unlike the clowns of last year, tare actually formulated a plan with allegri and stuck to it. Time will tell if its successful, but its very obvious difference that there’s a plan in place being worked thru. Unlike the 4 clowns last year who just went with their own opinion on every separate decision whilst having no experience whatsoever