Kerim Alajbegovic continues to be mentioned as a target for AC Milan and Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s words might just have fuelled talk further.
On Thursday, SportMediaset reported that Milan have rekindled their interest in signing Alajbegovic, someone that Igli Tare was pursuing when he was sporting director. There is a lot of competition, but the Rossoneri seem convinced by his qualities.
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Today, the same source (via MilanNews) have doubled down on the link. They say a summit took place today at Casa Milan, attended by owner Gerry Cardinale. Also present were CEO Massimo Calvelli plus directors Hendrik Almstadt and Bobby Gardiner. Chief scout Donato Lomonte was there too.
During this meeting – which lasted a good hour – Cardinale outlined his plan for AC Milan’s revitalisation and reiterated his desire to meet Ruben Amorim’s transfer demands. Alajbegovic is a ‘top target’ for the Diavolo and is making a name for himself at the World Cup.
‘Where stars are born’
Now, Ibrahimovic’s words on the winger might just have added fuel to the rumours. The Swede commented with great admiration on the performance of young Kerim Alajbegovic in Bosnia-Qatar on Fox Sports.
“The whole world is talking about the goal, but for me the goal isn’t the most important thing. The most important thing is courage. An 18-year-old boy in a World Cup, under pressure, in front of millions of spectators, plays as if he owns the stadium,” he said (via MilanNews).
“That’s rare. He’s not the typical young player who just hoped to have a good game. He thought he was the best player on the pitch. The shot was beautiful, yes. The technique was perfect, yes. But what impressed me was his confidence before the goal.
“The way he demanded the ball and attacked the goal. Great players don’t wait for opportunities, they create them. People will say this is the start of his career. Maybe.
“But if he maintains this mentality, this goal will be remembered as the moment football realised who Kerim Alajbegovic is. The World Cup is where stars are born. Today, a new star emerged.”
Can he play (well) as a 10? That’s all I wanna know.
He played great against Italy and that is more of a feat than scoring against fn Qatar. That game is legit a glorified, televised training session against semi pros at best. The kid has talent, Zlatan’s take is way off. The boy has been on everyone’s radar who seen him play. Z is late to the party. I guess they were too busy making social media posts and trying to gain promotions for his friends at Milan to actually be focused on the current football landscape. He has been a gem for months already…This moment wasn’t defining, nor a confirmation, it would need to come against real competition. Anyone can be confident attacking Qatar….
He played well vs Italy but he came off the bench. Majority of the world couldn’t give a flying flock for that game, so yeah scoring at the biggest sporting event, in front of the entire world, regardless of the competition puts him on everyones radar.
Also, if he needs to have a moment vs a real competition why are you bringing up the Italy game? That isn’t a real competition either.
Italy isn’t a real competitor?
The national team that have missed the last 3 World Cups? Yeah, not a real competition.
Also, he was playing vs Palestra, a poor defender, and Italy, as bad as they are, also played with a man down when he got in the game.
By your logic, almost 90% of the national teams in the whole world would drop off automatically, I trully hope you realize that.
@chrisp Zlatan’s take is not way off, Your take is way off. The World Cup is the biggest stage in the world. Scoring a great goal at the World Cup is going to get you a lot more attention then some game against Italy that nobody watched. You sound silly just trying to take a shot at Zlatan for no reason.
My take isn’t off at all. Qatar are a much poorer team than Italy. Maybe the casuals will recognize a goal against weak competition more than a solid performance against an experienced team of players at a much higher level of play. Italy had much stronger teams to beat than Qatar or any opposition they faced to qualify. What Qatar players are playing in top leagues and performing very well? Thank you, my case stands. The whole world watching a game against insignificant opposition doesn’t make that a bigger sporting challenge to an elite athlete.
Yeah Chrisp, Those great Italy squads that couldn’t beat powerhouse teams like Bosnia or North Macedonia in failing to qualify for 3 World Cups in a row.
ANyways, that has nothing to do with Zlatan’s comments. What did he say that was untrue? He’s 100% correct. He’s talking about an 18 year old who scored a great goal in the world cup to help put his nation through to the knockouts. A lot more people are going to be aware of the kid now. And that’s his job to talk about it. If that triggers you for some reason you have other issues.
Nobody watched?!
Here’s four words I never thought I’d say again:
I agree with Zlatan
World class player perfect
Yeah, but that is their job here on this website, just talk sh#t about Zlatan.
Sell Leao and take this young guy. Very talented , maybe a future world class player. Alajbegovic and Alphadjo Cisse are great together in the left. Alphadjo can play 20-30 minutes when he substitutes Alajbegovic.
Nkunku…I don’t like him, I would put him on transfer list for 30-35 millions.