Journalist claims Maldini has already secured Ibrahimovic’s replacement from Bologna

By Oliver Fisher -

AC Milan director Paolo Maldini has already identified a replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic in view of the summer, it is claimed.

During an editorial for Calciomercato.com, journalist Cristiano Ruiu writes that the Milan management seem to have decided not to offer the Swede a new contract as a player for next season given his continuing injury issues.

He adds that they have also already decided on his replacement, who will alternate with Olivier Giroud next season after the Frenchman signed a contract renewal last week until June 2024, and that player is Marko Arnautovic.

The 34-year-old centre-forward will leave Bologna at the end of the season and Maldini has already secured him for next season. The Austrian still has two years left on his contract, but the Rossoblu would accept less than €5m.

The Austrian has played 52 games for Bologna, scoring an impressive 23 goals in adding two assists. He has eight goals in 16 league appearances this season.

Tags AC Milan Marko Arnautovic

31 Comments

  1. Well if this is true, it means no starting caliber striker, born in this century, will be signed this summer.
    With Giroud already signed, Arnautovic isn’t coming to Milan to be the 3rd choice. Knowing his character, if he doesn’t play he will cause problems in the locker room, which is a reason why he is available now after just few months ago Bologna refused to sell him to ManUtd for 10 mil. He lost his spot in the starting line up and now has a bad relationship with Thiago Motta.

      1. Milan was connected to Arnautovic in the summer too.
        Whoever this Cristiano Ruiu guy is, certainly has more credibility than @Boulden.

  2. why? if we want to replace ibra the biggest miss will be the mentality and experience of a champion that isn’t Arnautovic.

    1. Mentality and champion hhhh i hope you mean Messi or Ronaldo or another ibrahimovic not the one we know to tell you the truth ibrahimovic is one of the worst players in football history

  3. Its can only be a very short term fix. Best case scenario he comes in to cover the year or two before a striker comes through the primavera. There’s one kid who’s meant to be quite good, but i think he is 15. Cant remember his name.

  4. I wouldn’t be surprised if this rumor turns out to be true.

    Maldini seems to be obsessed with old strikers like Mandzukic, Ibra and Giroud.

    Also by Maldini choosing Origi over Randal Kolo Muani shows the stupidity of Milan’s management team.

    Randal Kolo Muani was a free agent before Eintracht Frankfurt got him for free even after our chief scout Jeffrey Moncada recommended Muani to Maldini and Massara.

    The only thing I wish would change at Milan this summer is the removal of Maldini and Massara. I would rather see Maldini in role similar to Zanetti’s role at Inter but he needs to stay away from making transfer decisions.

    1. If our scouts really offered Kolo Muani (who is worth 65mil now) to our menagment, and they decide that it’s better to get older, higher sallary, Liverpool 3rd choice striker Origi, then our menagment deserves to be fired just for that decision alone.

    2. Maldini Elliott Redbird all of them are same they are not serious for this team they only want to generate some profits

      1. And yet over the last two seasons we have won the championship and are in the semis of the Champions League. But you’re right. If only we’d had other owners and directors we DEFINITELY would have won the past three scudettos and champions leagues in a row, and Mbappe, Haaland and Rodrygo would be our attacking trident. No doubt.

    3. Well, in all fairness to Maldini and Massara.
      I read that they actually tried to get him for free, but it was the players wish to go to Eintracht Frankfurt.

      Can’t really blame them on that, because it doesn’t make sense that we wouldn’t have made a move on him.

  5. The fact Is Giroud still has plenty to offer ,and despite being 36 years of age still has so much class and technical experience to be brushed aside ,,this man helped us win the scuddeto last season which I said I believed we would do .We are in the semi finals of the champions league much of this is down to him also .
    So just as I believe in his ability so should you ..
    He was absolute bargain buy ..inside the 18 yard area he is a real handful for any defender ,ask them they will often tell you that the man most difficult to play against , yes Olivier Giroud…pioli is a class manager , he knows what he is doing he has confidence in Giroud and so have I ,yes of course we should look for a stand in for Olivier ,as from time to time he needs a rest ,but that applies to younger players also .
    We are in the champions leauge semi final ,and i believe we will beat inter and reach the final ,what an achievement that alone is ,but also we will finish in the top four of the league…We must keep the services of rafeol leao ..if we do that than great times lay ahead .
    we are AC MILAN .

    1. While you’re so proud of what you’ve done, it’s always important to assess your present in correlation with your expected future, otherwise, you wake up one day and discover that while you were savouring on your achievements, others had already planned for their future today.

      Not renewing Zlatan was 100% the way to go. If we are a ambitious club, a young and talented CF is definitely the way to go.

  6. either buy a proper CF or use lazetić. waste of money to do anything else when we already have strikers. And if they dont want to use Colombo and lazetić, sell them to get capital. those 2 + rebić should net 15-20M

    1. Honestly what does this old mediocore strikers offer more than Lazetic or Colombo? At least we dont waste money on Lazetic and Colombo.

  7. Bad idea . If they truly sign this mediocre player then they will repeat origi case. We missed many good striker because maldini choose origi. Giroud already 37 and cannot full starter anymore . We need striker that can make giroud benched , prolific striker that can score more than 20 goals every season

  8. Maldini should bring Inzaghi and Shevchenko from retirement.
    He should bring Samuel Eto’o and Didier Drogba too since he wants only old, spent attackers.
    Pioli isn’t helping matters by not integrating Colombo and Lazetic into the team.
    They should be understudies for the old guards and take over from them gradually without Milan spending money on old men.

  9. Lazetic, D. Maldini & Colombo should be integrated into this team as it is done in Real Madrid. They will grow as the old ones are graduating.
    Our coach is too obsessed with old guards. This is exactly why the likes of Vrankx, Kalulu, CDK, Alexis can’t discover their full potentials.
    We have a strong starting 11. The next set should be majorly U-23 not Origi, Balo Toure & co

  10. No one can REPLACE Ibra! So it’s stupid to say that. If Ibra cannot continue to play due to injury and decides to retire than ACM will have to find a new player for that position, but that new player will never ever REPLACE Ibra. It’s impossible.

  11. When is the Milan management going to learn we need a mix of experience and sometimes speed in the attack, Milan has a very slow striker.

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