L’Equipe: Milan pursuing four names in Ligue 1 – the details

By Euan Burns -

AC Milan have developed a reputation for shopping in Ligue 1 in recent years and there are four names attracting their interest ahead of the summer. 

As has been reported by French newspaper L’Equipe (via Milan Press), Milan are in for a busy summer and multiple Ligue 1 clubs can expect a phone call.

In particular, Monaco, Nice and Brest have got players that Milan want to sign. The name most heavily linked right now is midfielder Youssouf Fofana, as he would suit a role that Milan are desperate to fill.

Paris Saint-Germain and Milan are very keen on Fofana and will both be watching him closely this summer as he is in the France squad for the European Championship.

Another midfielder of interest is Khephren Thuram from Nice who has only got one year left on his contract now, having been linked with a move last summer.

He may be available for just €20-30m and that has alerted Manchester United as well, with Juventus also in the frame. Nice also have a goalkeeper that Milan may move for if Mike Maignan leaves. Marcin Bulka is likely to leave if a new contract i not agreed upon.

Finally, Brest defender Lilian Brassier is still in the frame and will cost around €10m. Multiple clubs in Europe think there is a bargain to be had there.

Tags AC Milan Khephren Thuram Ligue 1 Lilian Brassier Marcin Bulka Youssouf Fofana

33 Comments

  1. A mid of Fofana-Reindeers in the double pivot and Thuram in front looks very promising and maybe even Scudetto worthy. From what i have seen from Thuram he kind of reminds of Kaka, very promising player. Anyway if PSG is really in the picture we all know that we will lose on this players.

          1. Fofana plays for France in 4-3-3 and the other midfielders are Tchouaméni/Camavinga and Griezmann, he knows how to defend.

          2. @Bartholomeo: so the other midfielders happen to be play as defenders sometimes.
            I’m pretty sure Tchouaméni/Camavinga take a lot of the defensive duties.

          3. Tchouaméni, Camavinga and Fofana all have the same role. They defend and they attack and they do it well. Bennacer and Fofana could play like this with Reijnders up front. Anyway even if we buy Fofana, and we should at this price tag as he’s better than Loftus-Cheek or Musah, we’ll need a defensive midfielder to rotate.

      1. Why 0 balance ? Fofana is like Kessie, he is strong can tackle and bring the ball forward. He can be the DM. Reindeers can spread the game. Thuram is a CM in his current team but look at his games and you will see that he is going forward most of the time. He is nothing like Ruben, he relies on dribling and speed mostly. Just watch some of his dribles you will see how much he resembles Kaka.

        1. Yes I checked all that a while ago. Thuram is the one who stays back more often at Nice, he definitely isn’t AM quality. When I say AM I mean players like kdb, Bruno Fernandes, Palmer, Odegaard. That’s AM. Makeshift mezzala on AM, that’s not gonna work. Never.

          Moving on, Fofana at monaco, idk if anyone took 5 minutes to check, played with Camara or Zakaria in pivot.. Those are the dm and he was going forward. He’s strong? Can tackle? Carry the ball? You just described a mezzala… not a defensive midfielder. Don’t get me wrong..He is a good midfielder. Just isn’t a fûcking DM.

          It is what it is.

          And thuram has about as much Kaka in him than I do. And I’ve got 0 kaka in me.

          Don’t go swallowing my long as$ comment you shît website

          1. I guess will just have to disagree lol. Kessie had the same qualities and he did great as a more defensive mid for us. I think Fofana will too. Players can change and adapt to different positions.

          2. disagree on what? That Foana has always been paried with a more def minded player.. thats a fact.

            disagree that Thuram was used as a more defensive mid? thats also a fact.

            disagree what makes a mezzala? There is a diffrence what makes a mezzala and what makes a b2b, you know. Those things are facts..

            I think he will go to premier and thank Cthulhu for that

    1. No need to buy many midfield players -_- we don’t need another revolution. Just 3-4 targeted mercato is enough with ST and CDM priority.

      Atm we have many midfielder, sell some of them before buying extra midfielder (after one CDM ofc)

    1. Fonseca could be able to unlock Adli as the attacking midfielder that he is or could mould him more into the Pirlo AC Milan so much missed. And as for Pobega he has the attribute of a destroyer but Mr Pioli had just been blind all this while before he got injured he showed some glimpses of it too bad injury cut it short and he could be an understudy to Fofana this season. And as for Maignan I believe AC Milan can easily get a replacement for him and just cash in on him and rather renew Theo already.

  2. Both Fofana and Thuram seem like good options. I’d be inclined more towards Fofana but that’s just my preference.

    Many questions to be answered in midfield… Does Bennacer stay or go? How does Fonseca line up this midfield? Who’s the AM? What’s the Chuk/Puli balance? Does RLC drop deeper?

    He’ll have his work cut out for him.

    1. Given that we DON’T have an AM (RLC doesn’t count and Pulisic is more comfortable as a right winger) and that we purchased players for a 4-3-3 (RLC, Reijnders and Musah are essentially mezzalas), it makes more sense to go for a 4-3-3 (just don’t use inverted fullbacks please).
      The problem is for a 4-3-3 we need a true DM, and neither Fofana or Thuram are pure DMs. Fofana is paired with Camara and Zakaria in Monaco and Camavinga and Tchouaméni in l’Equipe de France, I’ll let you guess the more defensive players here.
      The best options for a DM should be Hojbjerg, Hjulmand, Ederson or even Amrabat.
      If we want Fofana in addition to the above mentionned (and he is a pretty good midfielder IMO) we should sell players. I’d put Pobega and Musah on the market for him+a DM.

      1. Kessie wasn’t a DM originally either but became a baller there. I don’t see why we can’t baptize Fofana as a DM. Praise the Lord!

        1. He was improving towards the end of the season. It would be wise to give him the opportunity to have a pre-season and hopefully a good year. He is world class at his best and that’s not easy to find.
          Besides we would get little for him now off the back of that season

  3. Everyone here keep shouting DM and say midfielder linked with ACM not DM . Kessie not pure DMF , he is box to box midfielder just like fofana. Inter midfield dont have pure DMF : hakan , barella, miki but this trio helping defense. You dont need very defensive midfield just balance midfield ( balance in atack and defense) . Fofana or kephren can helping defense better than ACM currently midfield now

    1. A) Kessie and fofana are nothing alike.
      B) if you haven’t noticed by now, inter plays a 352. With 3 cbs they can afford to not have a dm in there. And
      C) if we took our midfield and swap with inter I’m sure Inzaghi can still make the 352 work. But vice versa? Inter players would be lost in a 4231 at Milan. It’s not the players it’s tactics. And just like last summer, we’re going about the mercato all wrong again.. discount players that don’t add diversity into the squad

  4. If Fonseca is going to play 4-3-3 and money is a problem if we don’t sell someone important, then just get friggin Walace for 10-12M and put him in between Reijnders and Bennacer/RLC. Walace is underrated, knows the league well and won’t cost a fortune in fees and wages. More funds can be allocated to striker, which we REALLY need, CB, a proper backup for Theo and then if anything is left an offensive RB to compete with Calabria.

  5. I mean how don’t they see we need at least two DMs? Who’s going to cover when our one and only DM collects cards, get suspended or, god forbid injured? Adli and Musah? Lmao

    Just get Amrabat and Prati, together they’d cost around 30 millions. One for the present and one for the future.

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