AC Milan should soon be able to announce the signing of Samuele Ricci from Torino, and it is the kind of ‘gamble’ that has paid off in the past.
Fabrizio Romano tweeted the ‘Here we go’ on Saturday afternoon for the Ricci deal, and Milan are now poised to sign him for a total package of €25m. To be precise, it is a €23m fee as the fixed part and €2m in bonuses.
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Ricci like Pirlo and Tonali?
This morning’s edition of Tuttosport (via MilanPress) highlights the similarities between Ricci and his illustrious predecessors, Andrea Pirlo and Sandro Tonali. It is ultimately an investment driven by future potential, and it certainly served Milan well in the latter two circumstances.
In all of this there is a connection with Inter, too. The Nerazzurri underestimated Pirlo and allowed him to cross the divide, while they were interested in Tonali but didn’t get things over the line before Milan entered the running, and the same applies for Ricci.
The Diavolo hope to gain from it, knowing that Ricci has been courted for a long time not only by their domestic rivals but also by several big European clubs. The 24-year-old has been waiting since January for the Rossoneri’s move.
Pirlo headed to Milanello at 22, Tonali at 20. He can further mature and will improve next to a team-mate like Luka Modric, who knows a thing or two about winning at the highest leave. Could Samuele represent the beginning of a great return of Milan to the top of the Italian league?
Hope he is better than Tonali.
Not a Pirlo
Not a Tonali
But a good signing
Not a pirlo, but he looks like Brendan Fraser.
Are we still pretending Tonali was some great player when he was here?
All aboard the hype train. I’m sure he will get the extra point added to his rating every match for being Italian.
You’re kidding right?
Hes a starter for a top 4 Premier league team.
He was a very strong consistent performer after his 1st year here.
He was growing by leaps and bounds.
I wish he were still here.
He has been far from consistent. Stop overrating. AND top 4? That’s a stretch.
Hope he doesn’t disappoint cause the hype is too much
Is there a reason why Torino wanted to close deal quickly.
Omg cra ppy media starting putting pressure on this dude before we even sign him officially.
Let him do medicals first ffs
Well definitely not in the same atmosphere, stratosphere, or even planet as Pirlo. Pirlo is one of the best midfielders of all time in the history of the game. Let’s not be making comparisons with such a level of player. Sure we can compare him against Tonali or similar level players but even that comparison I’m skeptical of. Even just looking at a stat comparison on Fbref he lags Tonali is almost all stat categories offensively and defensively. His own scouting report is poor so I don’t get what ppl are seeing.
Stylistically he’s not similar to either player either
Yeah, for real. Pirlo was one of the best ever, these comparisons get worse every year. Like when they compared CDK with Kaka
He can also be a Poli or Montolivo
or even Bertolacci.