The discussion surrounding the future of AC Milan’s centre-forward department continues and Lorenzo Colombo’s name should arguably be getting more of a mention.
La Gazzetta dello Sport report how Olivier Giroud is approaching 37 and Divock Origi is trying to get going while Zlatan Ibrahimovic could retire and Ante Rebic might be sold, leaving a lot of question marks heading towards the summer.
Then we come to Colombo, the great protagonist of Italy U21’s victory over Ukraine in Reggio Calabria. It was a friendly, but the brace scored by the 21-year-old Milan loanee was a match-winning one that bodes well for the future.
Colombo is seen as a modern striker who is learning his trade this season at Lecce, having scored four goals in the league (plus one in the Coppa Italia) including two against illustrious opponents in Napoli and Atalanta. Only one of his goals has not directly resulted in points.
In June there will be many things to consider because he is on a loan with a €2.5m option to buy while Milan have a €3.5m buy-back. Lecce have made it clear they would like to have him next season as well while the Rossoneri are reflecting, knowing they need to sign at least one striker this summer but probably more.
Previously there was an article that said the buyback option only exceeded lecces intial price with 500k.
Anyways it would make sense keeping him next season and at least see how it pans out in the first half of the season because we propably will need to buy both a strong cdm, right wing, cam and one proven player for the attack. Potentially adding 1 or two new left wings as well depending if leao or rebic stays beyond this season.
I disagree. We owe it to Colombo to decide in the first instance whether he will be part of the squad for next season, or be out on loan (or bought by Lecce and not be bought back immediately, or bought back but remain on loan). I don’t think it would be fair to bring him back not knowing firmly that he will be a part of the squad and potentially being loaned in January. I do agree that his situation may depend upon available budget (i.e., will we have enough to get another ST if we have other holes to fill), but we should avoid half measures with him for his sake developmentally.
Well i get the notion that an uninterupted season would be the best but if our finances isnt great then the team comes first and it would be his own responsibility to carve out a place .I would imagine a new attack with a new player ? + giroud+colombo+ maybe an extra youth player should suffice and still give ample room for some matches in between august and january if we at least qualify for cl next season.
Colombo should certainly not be sold permanently as he has the talent to succeed.
In the end though i think there is a great chance that he will get loaned out for anther season as i doubt we will be able to sell origi.
I think it’s a no brainer to bring him back and have him second striker to Giroud. He is exactly what we need, a strong CF, Italian, and young.
This!
For his development as a player, he needs another season on loan. He isn’t ready to start for Milan and sitting on the bench is going to stunt his growth.
He is ready to start for Milan. Bring him and Maldini back. They are both ready for our team. The ones currently playing aren’t any better.
Imo he will be able to compete for us next season if Pioli give him chance.
He played in weaker team overall and still managed to score 4 goals – half what Giroud achieve, but if Pioli gave him the confidence and played him 30 minutes minimum each match (which with 5 subs I believe is much more probable) I believe he can reach minimum 5 goals for us – and certainly cant be worse than our current options.
He’d definitely score far more goals than Origi with the same amount of minutes on the pitch. For sure.