Technical director Paolo Maldini has claimed that AC Milan are not working on Nikola Milenkovic or Kristoffer Ajer despite rumours suggesting otherwise.
It is no secret that Milan are in the market for a new centre-back given the current department is stretched, with Alessio Romagnoli and Mateo Musacchio both out injured plus the inexperienced due of Matteo Gabbia and Leo Duarte failing to offer the right assurances.
With the market set to close on October 5, it could be that the management wait until the last few days of the window to try get an opportunistic deal, especially given that they will know their Europa League fate then and group stage qualification will bring an extra €15m in revenue.
Paolo Maldini spoke to Sky Italia about the priorities for the market and seemed to confirm that a centre-back will arrive.
“As a manager there is always room to learn and improve. The proclamations have been talking about Champions for many years but we haven’t been there for seven years,” he said (via MilanLive).
“Last year something different was created, now we must see the fruits. We were asked to try for Champions. There are better equipped teams but we do not set ourselves limits.
“We have an idea of how to build the team. We also look at the budget and the amount of wages. We are consistent with what we did last year. We still have two qualifying rounds of the Europa League.
“The biggest need is the central defender. Are we focusing on Ajer and Milenkovic? There are others too, they are not the names we are working on. We are calm in midfield with Tonali.”
