It seems that AC Milan will make the signing of Andrej Kostic in January, and the youngster will immediately head for the Futuro project.
Many will request that Milan sign a first-team striker in January, and they are doing so in Niclas Fullkrug. However, he may not be the one that many want, especially with him only arriving on loan. He will not be the only forward to arrive, though.
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As reported in recent days, the Rossoneri will also make the signing of Kostic from Partizan, who will turn 19 in January. So far this season, he has scored eight goals in the Serbian SuperLiga, a fantastic record for someone that young.
Ibra’s push
MozzartSport, a Serbian outlet, report that no official offers have been given to Darko Ristic, but one is expected, as Milan Press relays. The Diavolo will pay €2.5 million upfront, but bonuses could increase the fee to €5m. It is worth noting that there are some suggestions that the final fee could even be as much as €8m, though.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as the report states, has pushed for this move massively, alongside Jovan Kirovski, with the striker planned to play for Milan Futuro. To aid his development, he will train with the senior team, should he arrive.
If it’s for Futuro then I don’t care.
How many players from Futuro did manage to break through to our first team or ANY serie A first team for that matters ?
Hahaha are you serious right now? It’s only the second year of the Milan Futuro project and already more players have broken through / given the chance to develop than in the last ten year I’ve been a Milan fan:
– Camarda (Lecce, Serie A)
– Bartesaghi (Milan, Serie A)
– Jimenez (Bournemouth, Prem)
– Balentien + Sala (Regular call-ups for Milan, Serie A)
The fact that they’re sixth in Serie D doesn’t mean the project is not any good. It takes time to set it up well and in the meantime, it’s a good thing that the Futuro players get used to the physicality. Lastly, playing in Serie D improves their market value over playing for the Primavera. So also from that perspective it’s a good initiative. Just needs finetuning.
I don’t care about their rankings. Futuro, to my understanding, is supposed to bridge the cap between Primavera and First team. Players in Futuro are in the age where they can actually play for first teams, so in theory it shouldn’t take that long for them to be first team ready. Them failing in serie C already make people question how good these players actually are.
-Álex Jiménez already had few serie A and coppa Italia starts before Futuro was even a thing. He’s not in the same category as the players who never even played for Futuro before starting in serie A.
-Camarda hasn’t even played a total of 500 minutes with Lecce, so I don’t know how much of a success is that. And this was a very promising talent with Primavera.
– Sala, Balentien are you kidding me ? Sala didn’t play a single minute and Balentin had 4 minutes in serie A and 22 minutes in coppa Italia in a game we were already winning 3-0.
– So actually only Bartesaghi so far is something to write home about.
But there are also many players who were deemed promising, and that seemed to have completely disappeared from the map.
So when I hear of a player coming to Futuro, I mostly think that we will never hear of a player again.
I hope 1994 isn’t the year you were born, because you should be old enough to know that projects take time. Building a team that wins a league takes time, go and look at Arsenal. Bringing players through from youth teams is something most clubs FAIL to do. Barcelona have been doing it for over 40 years. That’s why they’re rewarded for it.
“Bringing players through from youth teams is something most clubs FAIL to do.”
Even more reason to not be optimistic when I hear a player is coming to Futuro.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Futuro should be dissolved or abandoned or that it will never succeed. But when I hear that we’re getting a new player for Futuro, I know that this player is very unlikely to help the first team this season and the chances of him getting to the first in the next 2 or 3 years aren’t high either.
As for FC Barcelona they have a strong incentive to focus on youth and get them to the first team as soon as possible. Many of their former coaches believed in La Masia and try to get players from there. Players are often trusted even if they don’t look good at first and are generally disregarded when it’s clear that they’re a bust. And even then many of their young players who were tested in the first team did fail.
This is so unserious. Sala is 18 years old, Camarda is 17 getting Serie A minutes. This is all extremely great. These are children we are talking about, give them time. We will never hear of players from the futuro again? the team has existed for not even 2 years calm down
Pulisic played 518 minutes in Total, and you expect a 17 yrs old will become a Starter In Serie A with a Relegation Battler…WoW
Bro, like people said, it’s been two seasons. Yes, this first group of players might not have been good enough to stay in Serie C…because there was no Futuro to play in when they were a couple of seasons younger, and thus their growth stalled. So now we have Futuro and I expect that as younger players graduate from Primavera to Futuro, they will improve at a faster rate and we’ll see more of them in the first team.
All that being said, the expectation that Futuro will produce 4-5 top players ready to play for the first team and fight for title every summer is silly. That doesn’t happen anywhere, as much as we can fantasize about that. If it did, no club would ever have to make another signing from outside again. If Futuro produces just one real first team ready player per summer, it will be a success.
Also, there is an aspect which is beyond these young players’ control: the willingness of the first team coach to trust a 19 year old that isn’t the next Messi or Maldini with significant first team minutes when he’s under pressure to deliver a top 4 finish or the title. Even proven professionals aren’t being used much in our first team right now, like Ricci and Jashari. Why does Allegri insist on playing Modric every game for 90 minutes? I know some people aren’t impressed by Ricci or Jashari yet, but how can they show anything when they get 10-15 minutes every three games? Have the balls to play your subs and rotate, FFS. And we are in an era clubs look to the market to find solutions before giving talented youth a chance.
Yildiz, Soule, Fagioli, Miretti, Huijsen.
This is something new in Italian football. Atalanta 2nd team was founded in ’23, Milan’s in ’24, Inter’s this season. Juventus since 2018.
Also, the constant comparing this guy with Marko Lazetic is unfair. Lazetic, when Milan bought him, scored one goal in 17 appearances in the Serbian League, and four goals in 14 appearances in the Serbian second tier. Kostic – at 18 years old – has scored a goal every 88 minuten in the Serbian top flight. I’m not saying this guy is the next big thing, but he is no Lazetic. And I’m inclined to trust Zlatan’s knowledge when it comes to talented strikers
I am intrigued by seeing Kostic in AC Milan and I absolutely agrees with your assessments in regard of him and Lazetic. When that is said Ibrahimovic definitely should be able to know if a striker is a great talent but at the same time he also recommended AC Milan to acquirre Emil Roback who now plays in the Thai league of all places in the world at the age of 22 😀 In the end some players works out well and some doesn’t, it can happen with young talents and even well established world stars.
I know nothing about him but a goal every game is solid for an 18 yo no matter the league. I’m ok with Milan signing a few of these types of profiles every window. Worth the 5M
This kid has enormous potential. Let’s go!
I thought the narrative being peddled was that we were not spending on a young striker so we could clear the path for Camarda
I guess with certain fans and management the narrative (aka lies) changes like the wind, bit like a Trump administration
SJF can you tell me why both Kostic and Camarda can’t coexist in Milan’s squad in a couple of years ? In regard of the Trump comment I hope it wasn’t a dig including me as I freaking detest the fella and has been writing so many negative and offensive comments now on the white house’s fb page that I probably couldn’t enter the country even if I had a wish to do so 😀
Of course they can coexist.
Just found it a silly narrative in summer as an excuse not to spend on a striker.
No dig at you
In terms of getting in that country, well thats their loss.
Seems like most people wont get in, at least those with morals
Wouldn’t surprise me if Santa Claus is caught up in some red tape!
Yeah I think so too and in the short to mid term we could actually have a pretty damn impressive attack if they can keep developing.
Well I do also believe that people are a bit eager to see Camarda in the first team when he probably isn’t ready. A good example often used has been Yamal but very few players will be fully ready at that age.
No problem then 🙂
Yeah financially USA is losing a lot of cash as a lot of people simply wont support the country at present.
😀 Yeah I’m sure he would get roughed up by ICE and then thrown out of the country.
Happy Christmas. Hit me up if you’re in Ireland and fancy a few pints and watch a game.
Think we are the same vintage
Thanks and Merry Christmas to you to as well. I’ve never been in Ireland but thanks for the offer and if I ever visits your country I’ll keep that in mind 🙂
I can see that was not the kind of signings from Furlani or top milan executives. Now I understand why.
Wasting time and money on boys who will be offloaded and shipped out to some Serie C team after a few months.
And also – let’s be honest. Ibra has not impressed us at all in whatever role he fills at milan after he stopped playing.