Mattia Liberali looks set to leave AC Milan on a permanent basis, following failed renewal talks, and it’s an outcome that many Rossoneri fans will be disappointed with.
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While most fans will be familiar with Liberali at this point, he’s one of the academy products of the club. Last summer, he spent the pre-season with the first team in the United States and despite some difficult opponents, he impressed and excited the Rossoneri environment.
After that, however, things didn’t go quite as planned. And so, Matteo Moretto broke the news yesterday that Milan are working on a permanent sale of their super talent. The failed renewal talks, with the current deal expiring in 2026, are said to be the cause.
The background on Liberali’s situation
As explained by Daniele Longo on his YouTube channel, the Liberali situation has many layers. If we turn back time, though, it’s clear that the youngster was heavily praised last summer and many newspapers made it sound like he would be a regular for the first team.
The attacking midfielder, just 17 years old at the time, naturally got swept away by the praise and believed that he would be able to fight for a spot in the first team. But as the season kicked off with Milan Futuro, it became clear immediately that he would struggle in Serie C.
From Daniele Bonera’s leadership to the formation used, Liberali never really got going and was sent down to the Primavera relatively quickly. That’s when the relationship between the player and Milan truly started to break, with the season becoming a disappointment almost immediately for the youngster.
Furthermore, as Longo continues, the Zlatan Ibrahimovic factor cannot be ignored. The Swede never really expressed full faith in Liberali, certainly not after his first few games with the Futuro, and he certainly had a hand in the ‘downgrade’ to the Primavera.
Ibrahimovic’s friend and colleague Jovan Kirovski is also the one who handles all mercato decisions on a youth level, playing a part in the negotiations with Liberali’s agents. Speaking of which, the youngster switched to Alessandro Lucci’s agency mid-season amid the lack of playing time.
Comparing his situation with Francesco Camarda, it’s like night and day as Ibrahimovic personally stopped the striker’s loan move to Monza in January. Full faith from the Swede, in other words, and this is something Liberali never felt during the season.
As Longo concludes, Liberali certainly bears some responsibility in all of this as well, expecting to be part of the first team when, really, he wasn’t fully ready. It’s very natural at his age, though, so the fact that the relationship broke down is mostly on the club’s management.