Devil’s Advocate: Is this what a club-record signing is supposed to feel like?

AC Milan are set to start their summer with a big bang, smashing their previous record for the highest transfer fee paid.

As we will touch on later, the surprising thing by Milan’s usual standards was how quickly negotiations developed. On Thursday afternoon there was talk of a first official offer being sent to Paris Saint-Germain for Goncalo Ramos, then by Friday evening the deal was done.

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Details continued to filter out, and they left fans and pundits stunned. Not only were Milan going to pay a fee above the previously touted amounts to sign Ramos, but they were blowing their transfer record out of the water.

It means that the likes of Rafael Leao, Leonardo Bonucci and Manuel Rui Costa have been left in the dust. The Rossoneri will pay a whopping €74m plus bonuses to land the Portuguese striker from the European champions, according to Fabrizio Romano.

As was always going to be the case for a signing as important as this one, the response has been a divided one. In truth, it is hard to distill things down to just one overriding feeling, because there is so much to consider.

The most foolish gamble yet?

Let’s start by addressing the elephant in the room: the general consensus is that Milan have overpaid. It’s not that there is a single bulletproof resource for calculating market values, though there probably isn’t a single one that has Ramos as a player worth over €70m.

That in itself leads to some obvious question marks, with the most striking thing being the contrast from previous summer. When negotiating with various clubs for various targets, it’s believed CEO Giorgio Furlani would take things down to the penny to try save or gain a bit here and there.

This often left to frustrating impasses, but the fact of the matter is that Milan usually always got their man regardless. A prime example could be the Ardon Jashari saga: a negotiation that dragged on for weeks ultimately saw Club Brugge worn down, and the player got his move.

As tiring as that might have been for supporters (and for those who cover the soap operas as they happen, like us), it is generally good business practice to try and get the best possible terms, especially on operations that will drastically increase expenditure and yearly squad costs.

Gerry Cardinale has moved to the other side of the scale. Piecing together reports from various reliable sources, it seems that when PSG told the Milan owner how much they wanted to sell Ramos, he agreed immediately which surprised the other stakeholders involved.

We’ll get onto why that might have happened in the next section, though our gut feeling is that the approach will not be a sustainable one if it becomes the theme of the summer window. Clubs will know they can take Milan to the cleaners, banking more for assets (players) than their true worth.

The threat of competition could logically cause an acceleration, especially such a decisive one. And yet, unless there was something going on behind the scenes that still remains hidden, it appears there was no rival offer to the one Milan put forward.

Atletico Madrid were mentioned by one source as having an interest in Ramos, though nobody reliable said that ever materialised into a concrete approach. There was no price war, and so the Rossoneri put their all-in bid forward, only to bid against themselves.

So, who might have been the one to orchestrate the heist? Jorge Mendes, of course, a man who has been mentioned more in connection with AC Milan in the past few days than any one figure. If you believe some sensationalist media, he is effectively the Rossoneri’s new sporting director.

While that seems a bit excessive, as Hendrik Almstadt and co. ultimately retain full control over who they do business with, there has to be a worry that Milan have been taken for a ride by Mendes, given his own vested financial interests.

Developing an over-reliance on a so-called ‘super agent’ does not feel like a productive thing to do. While waiting to see how future operations pan out, the fact that links with Francisco Trincao, Antonio Silva, Pedro Goncalves and Tiago Gabriel – all Mendes clients – are swirling is not the best way to refute the notion.

One theme that has emerged as the dust settles is that going for Ramos in such an aggressive way is proof that Ruben Amorim is very much the man at the wheel. Giving the coach a say in signings is something that should be a given, though we know it hasn’t always been that way at Milan.

Could it be too much power too soon for the manager, though? As a reminder, he is a young coach (40 years old) who arrives in totally new league after doing badly in his last job. He has his own image to rehabilitate, as well as a very expectant San Siro crowd to prove himself to.

We already revealed in a recent exclusive just how irritated Amorim was/is that Markus Krösche and Timmo Hardung didn’t arrive to assist him on his new adventure. Is giving him the keys to the castle the right medicine, especially if it results in bad transfer business and distracts from the actual coaching work?

Then, there is the profile of Ramos. Ultimately, which ever way you try to frame it, Milan are paying over seventy million euros for a player that is not a regular starter for club nor country. From 2021-22 when he became a regular in the Benfica first team, his league goal tallies are as follows: seven, 19, 11, 10 and six.

Being a striker is a numbers game, and the numbers leave quite a lot of doubt. This is not a guaranteed 20-goal centre-forward that Amorim is getting, in fact he has only hit that mark (in all competitions) once in his career.

Added to that is the fact that there will naturally be doubts about how Ramos adapts and whether he has the skills required for Serie A. If he starts slow, it feels entirely predictable that the newspapers will sharpen their pencils and begin penning hit pieces, only adding to the pressure to succeed.

Finally, before moving on to a more positive slant, we end with the timing aspect. Milanisti are understandably fed up of hearing that the ‘management are waiting for late opportunities’, and with good reason.

This is the antithesis of that, and with that comes the possibility that Milan didn’t give the market a chance to breathe and didn’t really shop around to see what was out there.

You wouldn’t go grocery shopping blind, picking the first thing from every section. You’d look around to make sure you are getting exactly what you want. Let’s hope that Ramos is the first and most important ingredient in a very successful stew.

A sign of hope?

Enough negativity, what’s the other way of looking at things? Well, first and foremost, Milan finally gave the impression of moving early and efficiently in the summer transfer window. This is something that fans have not become used to, as mentioned above.

We have written extensively before about the idea that time is money, and that sometimes spending that bit more to have a player present as soon as possible to acclimatise during preseason can more than repay itself down the line.

There is no reason not to use that train of thought here too, especially with the FIFA World Cup naturally impacting the transfer window, and with such a huge season coming up for the Rossoneri in which they must bounce back.

Make no mistake about it, a centre-forward was Milan’s biggest signing to be made this summer, and how many years in a row have we been saying that for? The difference is that in previous seasons the eventual addition has been underwhelming for other reasons, given the impression of trying to scrimp and save rather than fix the No.9 issue long-term.

Santiago Gimenez was the exception in 2024-25, then Christopher Nkunku arrived for around €40m last summer, but he was not a striker and was the perfect example of the last-minute square-peg-for-round-hole panic-buy we alluded to earlier.

By contract, Goncalo Ramos is not only a player that is a natural fit as a lone striker, he is also a player that the coach knows and actively wanted. A lot of trust has been placed in Ruben Amorim, that much is clear, and this is a good way to prove it with actions rather than empty promises.

Then we come onto the profile that Ramos is. At 25 years of age he has already accrued plenty of experience yet his prime years are still ahead of him. Presuming that he pens a long-term deal, he will be at Milan for the best part of his career, barring surprises. That in itself is a statement.

With his breakout at Benfica leading to a big-money move to PSG, it means that the Olhão-born striker is no stranger to the biggest games and nights. In fact,Ramos has won 14 major career honours across his stints with Benfica, Paris Saint-Germain, and the Portuguese national team.

He won the league with Benfica in 2022-23, has won it three times on the spin with PSG, and is a back-to-back European champion. Yes, these are team achievements, but even to be part of a group that knows how to win is something not to be undersestimated.

For all we spoke of Ramos not having the most impressive scoring record, his numbers are not terrible either. For Benfica: 106 games, 41 goals, 12 assists. One goal every 153 minutes, a goal contribution every 118. With PSG: 131 games, 45 goals, 10 assists. A goal every 120 minutes, one contribution every 98.

An argument can be made that he is actually getting better and accelerating into those career-defining years, so it could be a case of making the right move to a leading role at the right time. Fingers cross, anyway.

The 25-year-old has a good injury record too. He missed four games in 2022-23, three in 2023-25 and 20 in 2024-25 but 18 of them due to an ankle issue. He has not missed a game through injury or illness since March 2025. Reliability costs money too.

Another factor which works in Milan’s favour is that they tend to do better when ‘buying in the dip’, i.e. taking a punt on a player whose stock perhaps isn’t as high as it once was. Christian Pulisic is a prime example, though the price tag was just over one-quarter of this.

When PSG signed Ramos on an initial loan deal with a €65m obligation to buy three years ago, Milan could not have come close to landing him. He was Portugal’s sensation, with a World Cup hat-trick and a prolific season to his name, firing Benfica to the title. Now, they have been able to strike.

Finally, moving to the macro scale, starting the summer with a €74m+ hit suggests the spending power is there to drastically change the face of this squad in Amorim’s image. It would be rather foolish otherwise to blow all of the available budget in one go.

Yes, sales will be needed in order to bring funds in and clear spots in the squad. No, you should not expect a market with a €300m net spend, even if the Settlement Agreement has been exited. Maybe, just maybe, it is a parting shot with more fireworks to follow.

Sit back and enjoy whatever comes next. After all, it’s been a while since Milan made transfer headlines in such a way, and it isn’t our money.