AC Milan could make a move to sign Nicolo Zaniolo in the final week of the transfer market as speculation continues to gather steam.
Calciomercato.com report that José Mourinho is convinced he will coach Zaniolo at least until the end of the season, but on the other hand Roma director Tiago Pinto is hoping to find a solution before the end of the month.
If the Italian were to stay until the end of the season he would be one year from the expiry of his contract and presuming the parties have not found an agreement over a renewal they would have to sell, but with 12 months left on the contract it would be hard to raise the liquidity necessary to replace him.
That is why the Giallorossi are holding out hope that Tottenham will offer the right terms, as they have so far proposed a loan deal with the option to buy which can become an obligation if two objectives are met: a certain number of appearances for Zaniolo and qualification for the next Champions League for Spurs.
Milan are observing with great attention because they know Zaniolo would rather stay in Italy than move abroad. That is why Paolo Maldini could move in the last week of the market by proposing a paid loan with an option to buy set at €22m.
It would be operation similar to the one carried out for two years with Chelsea for Tomori. Massara and Maldini know that Roma want to sell Zaniolo in this window, so an opportunity could emerge.
22M€ is still too much but loan with option to buy would still be better than counting on CDK, Diaz, Saelemaekers, Origi & Messias to get us the 20th scudetto. Not saying that Zaniolo would do that either but at least it would mean the management acknowledged the issue with insufficient quality of players and something NEEDS to be done NOW.
I’m not sure he will magically stop being injured all the time when he comes to Milan. If we look at how our squad handles Pioli’s trainings, he will probably be injured in a matter of minutes.
That being said, he is not producing in Roma, he has 2 goals and one assist this season, same as Salad, so not sure how exactly he would be an upgrade, other than being another head to aim for during set paces.
He is italian and has more phisicality, well..other than injury prone.
Yeah that “he is italian” probably adds like 10M to the pricetag.
I’d say 20M€ 🙂
Mourinho will not let him go until they secure his replacement. He said as much. So waiting until the final day(s) of the market will not work if Roma cannot find his successor. We’ve seen this many times before. Seems like this is our only negotiation tactic? Let’s hope the other team is so desperate to sell they knock a few euros off the price…geez. I agree not sure how much he will help us over Messias/Sales – BUT on a loan with option – it’s worth the gamble imo. Staying as is won’t get us #20 and M&M are in love w this kid for whatever reason amd wont go after anyone but Zaniolo unfortunately