Theo Hernandez has decided that he wants to leave AC Milan this summer, according to a report that has emerged from his home country France.
Today’s edition of L’Equipe (via Radio Rossonera) has a segment dedicated to French players who could be on the move this summer, which includes Theo but also Marcus Thuram (who could be sold by Inter for a capital gain), Ibrahima Konaté, Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Clauss.
Theo has made decision to leave Milan when the summer mercato opens after five years at the club. The motivation, as per the paper, is linked to the player’s desire to take the next step in his career, a career which so far has seen Atletico Madrid B, Alavés, Real Madrid, Real Sociedad and Milan.
With his contract expiring in 2026 and with renewal discussions still at a standstill, rumours about the departure of the French left-back are becoming more and more insistent.
To secure the signing of a player considered among the best in the world in his position, a bid of at least €80m must be sent to Milan in order to make them change their mind.
That is because while the player himself may be open to departing, Geoffrey Moncada and his collaborators do not want to sell him, aware of the value and importance of the 26-year-old.
Fake news
If, IF, he really wants to leave we have to find a similar profile which is going to be extremely hard as the only one I can think of as a proper replacement is Grimaldo.
I will remind people why Theo signed with Milan in the first place:
Theo started off training at Ath Madrid with his brother, Lucas. Theo was noticed early and signed by Real Madrid. After a few years Theo was not able to break into RM backline, so he was sold to Milan. The deal was made because of Maldini’s close connection to RM management.
Theo ONLY ACCEPTED Milan’s offer because of a phone call with Maldini. In an interview, he stated he came to Milan because he could not say no to the legend, Maldini. We weren’t even the highest salary, but Maldini yo.
Maldini was then unceremoniously dumped by the esteemed genius and generational talent that is Cardinale & Moncada. The fired the guy who took us from mid table back to champions league.
Both Theo, Tonali and Leao openly said they were upset by this. Theo had to be comforted as their was talk he wanted to leave then and there.
MONEYBALL Moncada was then promoted. The rest is downhill history.
Every player we sell, is replaced with a hodge podge of moneyball players who could potentially make a profit for our team. Do they fit into the team? Who cares? Are they good players? Who cares. Can we make a profit on a resale? BINGO.
Under Moncada, the team exists to make a profit not to be better, win more or improve.
You people REALLY don’t understand what Cardinale is doing here.
And thankfully for all of us you do….
Many of us do, those of us who understand how the world works, specifically capitalism in America, hence Cardinale’s only vision.
Amen. And they waited for Maldini to extend Leao before dumping him a few days later, saying “we don’t need him anymore”. Also Mike wasn’t pleased last summer.
Do you _know_ this is true about the timing of Leao and Maldini or only _hope_ it is true.
Please note the lack of my questioning your intelligence or any other insult.
Well I’m not inside Casa Milan. Leao was extended on June, 2nd and Maldini was sacked on June, 7th.
Then I don’t understand what you imply. There are people calling others « geniuses », I call them « masterminds », seems fair and quite polite. For the rest, that comment section has a strong bubble effect and I think some patriotic vibes. I live in Milan, I know many Italian fans and none of them is happy to have Redbird at the helm because they all can judge that poor decisions are made on a regular basis. Also it’s unprecedented that Casa Milan, or via Turati before, was raided by the police.
“Glad to have two masterminds like you on board guys, including one who is not able to read correctly the 2022/23 Serie A standings.”
Use of “mastermind” qualified by “not able to read correctly” is an insult to a person’s intelligence.
Not sure how that is fair or reasonable. I’m personally looking for civil.
I guess you only read what you want. “Bunch of geniuses on here” and “geniuses indeed” were not meant to be civil. I will not debate about that season, which was rated 5.5/10 by Italian media, or the fact that our very own direction proclaims that “winning is boring” or “we only compete for top 4”. Good luck with your mission of curating the comment section from all incivilities.
I’m sure that none of us here _know_ anything outside of what is publicly said (and even then, it might not be the full truth). Asking for it is a rhetorical question at best…
I ‘know’ that when Maldini got sacked, there were at least 5 players that communicated publicly (incl. angry faces on Instagram) that they were upset with it. I recall Leao, Theo, Maignan, Tonali, Tomori and Saelemakers.
It is not far-fetched to assume that if Maldini had been sacked, Leao might have been more upset at what they might perceive as a weakening of the team and whatever personal or team promises Maldini had made to him. Would Leao still renew if Maldini was sacked prior to signing the contract? Maybe or maybe not… we do not ‘know’ because so far nobody has said anything about it.
Do we know if Leao would have renewed if he knew that Tonali would be sold? Same answer.
Is it a reasonable guess to assume that Leao would be less inclined to renew if he knew about Maldini being sacked. To me it seems reasonable based on his reaction to Maldini’s departure.
Below the distinction is made b/t “hope” (based on feeling” and “witness” (based on fact). It comes with an insult to a person who posted.
To assert one has witnessed the failing of ACM b/c we moved from 4th to 2nd this year in the league, improved the right wing and the depth of the squad, etc is counterfactual.
To further assert, “friends around me in Milan express the same opinion” is to say other peoples feelings are facts.
This in the context of the insult to someone I’ve not seen post here before. Thus I am challenging this same person on what is known vs felt. My goal is to call out (repeatedly) the same behavior and ask for a more civil discourse.
So I thank you for reinforcing that none of us knows and that we can suppose, feel and infer. Those basis for conclusion are not subject to insults of intellect.
Thanks.
Responding now to “Is it a reasonable guess to assume that Leao would be less inclined to renew if he knew about Maldini being sacked. To me it seems reasonable based on his reaction to Maldini’s departure.”
When a popular leader leaves for any reason the troops are upset. This is common in all industries, and we see it in the list of names you provide.
It is not, however, the norm for them to leave their position even if they have excellent professional mobility such as Leao. That is a much larger decision involving everything from personal satisfaction with where one lives, family considerations to professional growth opportunities.
So, I agree Leao may have been temporarily less likely to sign, but I find it unlikely he would choose to change clubs b/c he posted an emoji on Insta. That is to say, I don’t think he’d have been unhappy enough. (my feelings that I am not representing as witnessing to facts)
(example of a civil disagreement I hope)
You’ve built an interesting strawman decision tree, maldini gone -> tonali sold -> leao doesn’t renew. The bifurcations of that tree get to 6 branches immediately and with each we are missing information. An example, “Did Leao like Tonali enough to base a key personal/professional decision on tonali’s being sold”
An interesting thing not mentioned: Pioli was kept. Could this be something Cardinale did specifically to ensure key players didn’t feel the need to leave? (i.e. they didn’t become unhappy _enough_ to request a transfer)?
Since none requested to leave (that we know of), I conclude that it worked out rather well. Credit to ownership?
Pioli was treated by _ownership_ (not the press or many fans on this site) with great respect. His sacking was handled in such a way he leaves with his head held high. Did Cardinale learn from the mistake with Maldini? Should we acknowledge the professional nature of the behavior (while being maddened by the uncertainty the wall-of-silence is currently causing 🙂 ).
It is a bummer that we allow all the rumor fodder and clickbait to drive us into a frenzy. When we boil down what we know vs reported rumor we won’t find much left in the pot. Certainly not enough to insult supporters of the same team I should think.
And so began our slide back to the banter era
Right. That’s how we went from 5th place last season to 2nd place this season. Totally going in the wrong direction. .. Bunch of geniuses on here.
Geniuses indeed, they will rather hope the team fails just to back up their agenda
“Hoping” is not the word you were looking for, it’s “witnessing”. Glad to have two masterminds like you on board guys, including one who is not able to read correctly the 2022/23 Serie A standings.
@barts
Was it necessary to insult Mobi Lee? He seems to infer his conclusion from observable behavior on this forum.
You seem to assert Theo behavior on a rumor from what exactly?
Please ensure that attacks on intelligence are intellectually sound going forward. Hypocrisy isn’t a great look.
Please Batholomeo, explain all the poor decisions…
The first mercato under Redbird was better than any of the previous three. Can you deny that? Were you a big fan of the Origi, Bakayoko, Dest, Ballo-Toure, Pellegri, Vranckx, CDK signings of the amazing , infallible Maldini? I guess so.
There was literally one team better than us in Serie A this year. They have done well with the signings last summer and there is no reason to think they won’t do as good or better this summer. They are spending money and spending wisely and the team is improving. But don’t let that stop you hating on the evil Americans that fired Maldini. If only Maldini were still here Theo would stay forever, and Mbappe would come, probably Pep would be coaching the team. I’m sure they would all sacrifice the big bucks just to be around the Amazing Maldini. I love the fantasy world these sycophants live in.
Dear K, you’re here everyday as me so you know what fans who root for competition and not for the budget think of that management.
Here is the statement from the committee electing Paolo Maldini the 2021 Serie A Manager of the Year:
“After achieving history on the field with Milan and Italy, he is revealing himself to be a great director too. As a technical director of the Rossoneri, he has been able to combine excellent sporting results with a smart and long-term vision for economic development. He has been a fundamental figure to revitalise Milan and write a new chapter in an infinite story.”
@ Bart Didn’t Pioli win coach of the year in Serie A that year? Didn’t stop anyone from badmouthing him and complaining about what a terrible coach he is. And quite frankly, between the 2 I would say Pioli did the better job as he won the Scudetto with probably the 3rd or 4th best squad in Serie A that season. It was not a great squad.
I don’t think Maldini the manager was infallible like many on here. He made a number of big mistakes including signings but more importantly letting our most valuable players leave for free time and time again, which hurt our budget and didn’t allow for replacing those talents with equal value. Anyone who is being objective can acknowledge that.
What are you talking about? We literally improved massively and even scored more points than our Scudetto winning season, were you even around for the banter era? During the banter era the problem was coaching, we even spent 200m in one window and that couldn’t even get us a champions league spot, instead it got us banned from Europe. Doesn’t sound like you were around for the banter era.
The only want who want to win trophy in milan is maldini
You’ve jumped in any occasion to make your hateful statements. How many players that the management you hate so much sold besides Tonali who wanted to leave? This team is way better than the one before Maldini was fired. Last year Milan with Maldini who finished 5th made it to the Champions league because Juventus who finished 4th was penalized. Milan won the year before by luck because Inter let it slip and Kessie played a big part of that.
Milan never made profit under Maldini. Which club in the world doesn’t make profits on players. Any business will go broke if they cannot make profit. Real, Barcelona, the 2 Manchesters, PSG, Bayern and so on, they all expect profits from selling players when they can and replace them. Maldini meanwhile let them go for free, therefore losing money, instead of having the ability to sell them at the right moment. That was where he lacked leadership and vision. Sport is also a business, you have to generate sustainable profits in order to maintain the competitiveness.
“Milan never made profit under Maldini.” We made a profit in 2022/23 under Maldini, the first in 17 years and increased revenues by 36% compared to 21/22.
fact is milan was far away from winning anything but won while maldini was director. After they sacked him, milan have won nothing. you can argue about player sales, pnl, other metrics, but: 1. you know less about football than maldini, 2. everything else is subjective, maldini did what it took to win, you cant ask for anything more
I think majority understand… its the hope that plays with the mind of waiting for Milan to reign supreme in the European stage once again… but for Italian clubs it is difficult, there are dominant clubs like City/Madrid/Bayern they can fall one year but not consistently.. its a long way.. and what Cardinale and Co are doing is generating funds and eyeing on the building of a new stadium… thats it… you cannot expect anything big unless they get that stadium buildup
You can’t make a profit if the investment is not thought out and effective. Buying a random to sell later only works if he actually does get good enough to be sold later. So your whining argument holds no water at all..
You’re deluded and very negative. Also annoying.
Cardinale is destroying and killing the good reputation that Milan have with vendetta. Supporters should demonstrate against Milan’s directors in front of the club’s building
Guys we have a champion among us.. Mr Yunus Musah!! He can cover both Theo and Leao on the left side.. We trust Musah.. I have a song for him.. Musah, musah.. The champion the warrior.. Musah Musah
Cry from now till December, Maldini is gone as a director but he remains our legend… Reijnders, Chukz, Sportiello, Okafor, and Pulisic are very good players…
Romero, Pellegrino, Musah and Terracianno are purchase for the future while Jovic is a very smart buy. So what’s the fuming all about? They will prove you wrong in a bit of time.
These days players don’t stay at a club throughout their playing career. I don’t expect Theo to retire at Milan. Eventually I think we all expect him to move on.
Given he has 2 years left on his contract, its not unreasonable to think Theo would want to move onto a bigger club and really compete for silverware.
I don’t think having or not having Paolo here would change that, no matter what MEEZ blabbers on about on repeat.
There is a huge difference between losing our players when they’re on the verge of retirement and losing them at their prime. No offense but what you think is irrelevant here, Théo said it multiple times, he came because Maldini convinced him. So what are the odds that he could convince him to stay, in a project based on trophies? Now what are the odds that this management can convince him to stay considering that the project is sustainability, having a stadium in 5 years and considering our hard salary cap? Are they even trying to convince him?
Guess we’ll have our answers when either he leaves (change of scenery, better numbers) or renews (better numbers and a project he is convinced of).
I am going to take on the mission of responding to you more cordially than you seem to be able to respond to others. I’ll get bored eventually, but let’s see if I can hold up a mirror for ya:
So you _think_ if Maldini were here, then he
could b convinced to say. Since this can never be a probable assertion it can only be your opinion.
Why is what you think any more or less relevant than @ACM1899?
Well I’m not sure why I’m your mission tonight, maybe you discover Internet, its polarisation effects and the fact that people can feel safe to be more vindictive. I confess I can get nervous on trivial matters here, as most of us, I’m not a bad guy out of Internet as I’m sure most of us here are not. You seem to do well with your own passive-aggressive approach. Have a good night, sincerely.
My approach is agressive. There is no passive. I have called out a behavior directly and and I am dealing directly.
You have just acknowledged a problem and being part of it. You go right up to agreeing to adapt a bit.
Each of us choose a civil discourse. I like much of your views b/c they are often counter to my own and force me to consider carefully. I hope you’ll dial back the vitrol so that I pull out the wisdom.
For the record I’ve build internet communities of 1000s on civil discourse. So I get that it’s a bit pie-in-the-sky to try and move the needle on an anonymous forum, but if nobody tries, then Animal Farm prevails. (i.e. Total truth in what you are saying about forums like this, but I’ve seen it done better and want better for AC Milan and all of us)
I also appreciate the sincerity. I hope you have a good night as well. I admire your place in Milan and hope to visit your city one day!
Very interesting and great purpose. I work myself in the field of digital communication and never heard before about efforts like the one you’re mentioning so all my respect here, as the Internet is a huge battlefield.
I guess you’re from the US, and despite what some people can think sometimes, I have a passion for that country where I lived for more than a year. Beautiful nature and amazing national parks! I hope you could come in Milan one day, we have three airports haha
Are they? DO you even know? Or are you just jumping on every speculative B.S. article to vent your hatred for the American owners who got rid of your hero Maldini…
Here’s an idea, you could just actually wait and see what they actually do before spewing the vitriol all over based on nothing other than some narrative you have created in your head.
So far the ownership has done none of the things you accuse them of and have actually improved the team and spent money. If they do start selling off all their stars (that don’t want to leave) and don’t re-invest that money in to the team then I will be the loudest one on here killing them, but there is absolutely no indication of that happening.
What I like most about meet is he never replies or try to validate his rants. He just moves on to the next post and rants the same old again and again and again.. tiresome fella
The rumour are fake . But of course you cannot forcing him retire at ACM . He will leave someday . But i hope ACM can renew him and keep him atleast until his age 31
Who cares if he leaves he was nobody when he came to Milan so then others are waiting for same opportunity as given to him then, if he really want to go good then and we will get good money from that business ♥️
The new management sucks donkey ball hence why a lot of players wants to leave.
I don’t know why people in here who say they love Milan are waiting for any occasion to try to blast Milan because they hate the management who are slowly taking Milan to where it belongs. I respect Maldini as our legend but Milan is greater than him, then the current management also. They all will pass, but Milan will remain and history will notice. This management hates Milan so much that they’ll built Milan its own stadium that even Berlusconi despite his love for Milan could not. They spent money to provide with acceptable players for the future. This year alone, with the new players, Milan reached the more points than even when they won the Serie A despite Pioli’s stubbornness
What? We had 86 pts when we won Serie A and this year we have 75… But feel free to think that Jerry is a philanthrope building stadiums because he loves mankind.
And which precious owner was a philanthrope?
Implicit here is an understanding of every owners motivation.
We do know that ownership of a stadium provides an operation advantage to Milan. Is a stadium a bad thing?
How do we compete financially if we don’t have a stadium? What are viable alternatives?
I get your frustrations. Milan fans want more palpable steps towards ambitious results and success.
Whether we like it or not, Milan is a business and will always be run at a profit, otherwise its back to banter era. RedBird’s vision is built for a longer sustainable and wining game. Just feels like it will take longer to get doing but once it does I hope it hums like a sports car.
Profitability and winning aren’t mutually exclusive, no matter how much we disagree with the decisions taken by the management. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
We can argue that RedBird’s steps so far have been less ambitious than we would like. But at the same time I don’t see them taking any steps back or be stingy with money.
The transfer campaign this summer will likely be in line with what we saw last summer. That’s just how we’re gonna roll under RedBird. But I’ll continue giving them the benefit of the doubt so long as we keep climbing up in terms of quality and achievement.
Man I have to say that I usually value what you write because I understand we can disagree but you’re open to debate.
I have a romantic vision and Milan is a romantic club by tradition, also because Berlusconi was a master at branding and creating a strong mythology. I don’t recognize the club I love under this ownership, I think they lack ambition and they express it openly. We found back our identity under the previous management and now it’s like we’re losing it again. I’m not optimistic but I don’t consider you as having blind faith since recently you’ve been more critical toward the club policy. Let’s see this summer but it doesn’t start with great ambitions.
Exactly my feelings. I’ve been following Milan since 1998 when I was old enough to experienced my first real football tournament – world cup in France. I live 400 km from Milan but near Italian border and I always had soft spot for Italy, Italian football and Milan of course. It was a club that reflected as a family first with strong sense of belonging and character. Maybe it’s just my feeling but there’s nothing romantic about this club anymore or at least I don’t sense it. It’s all becoming mainstream, corporate, hyper consumption oriented and just plain generic.
I understand and feel your frustrations, and resonate with it.
With Maldini his vision was felt and understood and it actually looked like there was a clear path been followed.
Now there is just this Milan that feels like a limbo. A machine without its cogs, no ambition, no clear directives, no bite. Willing to count points and sustainability at the behest of sporting achievements.
And Cardinale claims he wants to win the UCL, but with 20 something million signings. I don’t even recognize Milan anymore with their feet dragging.
Even when they say they want to lift the club back to elite status, their targets and actions don’t resonate with their words. We’ve soon become like arsenal champions of the ALMOST there, always believing the next season would be better than the previous one. Blind hope not tempered with realism and practicality that this management is not reassuring.
in short: no wonder
I am not suprised
long story:
Maldini was the key to keep players like Maignan, Leao, Theo at Milan. With him gone, I am not really suprised.
With Moncada, Scaroni and ofc the mastermind Cardinale , I am expecting the sale of Maignan or Leao this summer aswell.
Simply because this is the american way – make money. Doesn’t matter how. Profit is key.
Ofc I am not against making profit. I am happy if football clubs are not getting more and more in dept. Especially italian teams. But it has to be the right way and investments + staying competetive is key.
This is clearly missing at this Milan.
Let’s assume we can get 60m for Theo (transfermarkt) A Davies is 50m and same profile. That is a 10m capital gain. End of the world? Evil owners?
Okay but wait opex, we have smart discrepancy!
Theo is 4m net annual. Davies (capology) is 6m net. Theo wants 8m.
That’s $2m savings annual.
We need to upgrade RB. We now have similar player in profile and quality and an extra 10m capex and 2m opex to get said player.
Why, exactly, is the world ending? Why is ownership the BringerOfUsCapitalismDoom?
Given this is at best a rumor, why exactly is the world ending? Why is ownership the BringerOfUsCapitalismDoom?
Because when you have a hard time comprehending what the management is doing or why its not doing the things you want them to, then its automatically their fault.
The fact that they are American exacerbates things and turns this into the same old myopic narrative of capitalism is bad. God forbid clubs run at a positive. How dare they not incur half a billion in debt to win a Scudetto?
Fans want Scudetti and CL trophies NOW! Not down the road. I get that too. But as fans we have the luxury of not giving a damn about what it takes to run a club. It’s not our money. Incur all the debt you want, just bring us a trophy… aka Inter.
well the difference between Milan and Inter is, that Inter (while selling players) is still trying to keep their best players – some untouchable players like Lautaro and especially Barella.
And even while selling a big name, Inter always provides a good replacement + they invested into a very good coach + they have italian players and have something like the indentity of an italian team
Then there is Milan.
With the current board that kicked out Maldini, sold Tonali (yes he was out for this season due to gambling but he will be back during the summer).
All of this while having a good run in the UCL (earning a lot of money) and finishing 4th in Serie A –> earning also a significant amount of money + another UCL year.
As I already mentioned. I am happy if a team has a capable management that is good enough to produce capital, keeps their main players and key people in charge at the board.
Milan is sadly doing only the capital part.
There are reports that Lautaro is leaving. His contract negotiation have stalled over a 10m salary demand. This would seem to indicate Barella will become a similar problem at the end of his deal.
Inter will have to cut deep to afford a 10m demand from any player.
So Inter had an incredible season. And then got repo-ed. Dunno about y’all but I’d be sort of embarrassed if my car got repo-ed. I’d not be talking about winning a race in my car that just got taken back by the bank. I’d ask my friends not to bring it up too 🙂
I work to read around the prejudice to get at the things I don’t know.
What has begun to set me off is I wonder how many other folks just leave and don’t get the love/passion for ACM b/c of the jingoism. It’s counter to supporting the club in the end.
“Fan” is an abbreviation of “fanatic” so the NOW thing makes sense. I guess I simply try to take a longer view of building towards sustained success NOW so that we don’t have these “banter years” again. I’m still trying to learn what the term “banter year” actually means in this context, so I still have much to take in!!
1st of all
Davies has a huge salary..and with huge I mean really HUGE compared to Theo.
I don’t know where you are looking it up but he has around 11mil € annual salary
2nd – Real Madrid is interested in him and they can offer him more than Milan (salary-wise but let’s be honest..Real is a more attractive club than Milan).
3rd – the current board is not spending more than 30mil per player –> that’s the whole strategy of the current owner and Milan board – let’s buy cheap and sell expensive
4th – 50mil? Even if Milan were about to pay that amount of money, then other teams from the EPL would simply outbid Milan as they simply can and Davies is a top player. Bayern would choose to sell him to the highest bid ofc.
Ill only respond you with your first point.
Davies’ salary of 11m was gross salary, while Theo’s 4m is net. With German Pro player tax at up to 45%, Davies net salary is around 7.5m.
If we talk about Theo, since he is with us for more than 5 season, he no longer benefit from growth decree. His gross salary is about 6m. If he get his demand of 8m per season net, Milan will need to pay about 11.5m/season. So it’s an increase of 5.5-6m per year if Milan were to raise his salary to 8m. Not that easy eh?
fair point with the gross /net salary
but in the end it’s still more beneficial to keep Theo than buying someone new
let’s be honest – A.Davies is just a dream and may happen only in FIFA(EAFC) but not in reality
Isn’t 8M€ net 16M€ gross in Italy?
1st – Capology is where i got this. 11m is gross, 6m is net. (https://www.capology.com/player/alphonso-davies-36832/
There is no Milan (with these owners) without Maldini
So happy to see everyone on the same page 🤗 #wholesome
I wish we had everything like real madrid do, if theo leaves, Milan aren’t getting top 4, our only good defender.