After signing a striker, Massimiliano Allegri’s second need in January is a central defender, and the list of possible names is long.
As Tuttosport (via MilanNews) are reporting, Allegri’s favourite is a protégé from his time at Juventus, Federico Gatti. Milan have already explored the idea of signing him by offering a swap deal with Koni De Winter, but nothing has come of it.
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The feeling, however, is that the Milan management will make another attempt for the Italian towards the end of the transfer window, hoping that Luciano Spalletti continues to consider him as a back-up option.
The other names
Landing Gatti doesn’t appear to be a simple feat, though, so the club are evaluating other options to bolster Allegri’s defence. One of them is Brighton’s Diego Coppola, formerly of Verona, who is also the subject of strong interest from Torino.
Igli Tare’s list also includes Leicester’s Caleb Okoli, who was offered in the summer, and Lecce’s Tiago Gabriel. Lecce’s sporting director Pantaleo Corvino has been keen to clarify that the club have absolutely no intention of selling the player this January, so that’s another tough track.
Other potential candidates that have emerged in recent weeks include Lazio’s Mario Gila, Liverpool’s Joe Gomez, Nottingham Forest’s Morato and Nikola Milenkovic, Chelsea’s Axel Disasi, Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-jae and Fenerbahce’s Milan Skriniar. The latter two, however, will be very hard to sign.
There’s no shortage of names to strengthen the rearguard, now all that remains is to figure out the best profile and the best terms.
I think Coppola would be a useful addition, has experience in the league to provide cover but is still young enough with enough potential to grow from backup to starter. Cheap, Transfermarkt has him valued at 10M. He doesn’t break the bank which allows Milan to prioritize spending on a proper reliable striker for the summer.
Tiago Gabriel Would be the dream but that operation seems hard
You know where the problem with that is? The fiscal year ends on June 30th- that means that all the money from June 2025 – June 2026 must be either spent or if its carried over have to be used by FFP rules.
What that means is that if lets say Milan now have 30mil remaining for transfers and they dont use it now, in summer, of that 30mil they can probably spent around half of that, depending on financial situation of the club(reminder that Milan dont olay europe this year)
And last summer- after playing in CL, they spent 162Mil on player signings while getting 168mil from playet sales. So we can all agree that they dont want to spent any of their money, but only what they earn from sales.
if all the players are sold, 80-90M will come:
Colombo, Terracianno, Chukwueze, Musah, Jimenez, Morata, and Tiji bonuses
only Musah seems questionable at this point in time
we need to but CB, fullback (Fortini is enough), CM, ST in the summer
I think Fulkrug will be bought out and between Nkunku and Gimenez, one of the two will be sold and will need a replacement.
Also 10-15M from RLC sale.
162m on player signings?
Milan have more than 35m probably twice and little more that amount. I personally believe they seek New Loan and don’t want to spend not even a penny. Right Now Milan Has passed they days we call them poor you should know that. They need to add depth to the squad . Depth doesn’t mean spending big but it means to buy exp and project players to provide help to Allegri. Right Now he needs 2 CBs for 6 man CBs one CM/CDM for 6 man midfield and one more at least for the attack for January some if not all these moves have to happen and renew important players
That’s why imo Fortini is a must in January. Barte can play as Pavlovic’s sub when he’s not starting as LB.
Athekame is not ready to be Saelemakers replacement, but Fortini can also play there and is Italian…
Fortini, CB, CM/CDM and ST (latter 2 for replacing Nkunku/Gimenez and RLC)… Bondo is also coming back, there 4 should be our main targets
I like Disasi – French connection with Maignan, Rabiot, Fofana. He’s affordable (transfermkt = $15m). Milan and Chelsea have a good past relationship (Pulisic, RLC) – let’s make this happen.
Injury proned so no
absolutely not, unfavoured by 3 manages got dropped to chelsesa u21 at the age of 27
Forced?
Coppola would be great. Hes not the finished article but has the attributes. And at Milan with our 3 CB formation, even without being first choice (so not having immediate pressure) he’d get fairly regular gametime in the case of one of the back 3 having injury/suspension/ general fatigue.
Plus young and Italian, 6’4 and already some Serie A experience. Please make it happen !
Forza Milan
Coppola is a back-3 defender, young, cheap, Italian, full of potential – it was a no-brainer in the summer and it’s still a no-brainer now.
The ONLY positive about selling players to England is that most of them come back for cheaper than they left for.