AC Milan were hoping to bank a large chunk of cash from the permanent exits of three players, but will be left disappointed.
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While waiting to find out who will be entrusted with the new project led by Gerry Cardinale and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Milan must try make some evaluations regarding all those players who will return from their respective loans agreed in the last summer transfer window.
In particular, there are three situations that will need to be carefully analysed: Samuel Chukwueze, Ismael Bennacer and Yunus Musah. All three players will return to Milan as per Calciomercato.com, and in the summer the club will have to find a solution and study the right strategies to adopt.
A fleeting return?
The first situation concerns Musah. After having received €4.5m for the paid loan in the summer, Milan are now aware that Atalanta will not buy him and will not use their €20m option to buy, after a season with 29 appearances overall (939 minutes played), two goals and one assist.
In any case, Musah isn’t part of Milan’s plans and the management will seek a solution to part ways. This seems to be the case regardless of who arrives as the director and head coach, with an offer of €15m likely to be enough.
Bennacer’s season was marked and conditioned by numerous physical problems that prevented him from performing at 100% of his form during his year on loan in Croatia at Dinamo Zagreb. Despite having won the title, he will return to base as Dinamo won’t use their €12m buy-out.
In light of what has been seen, the former Empoli player will return to Milan, but it will only be a temporary move: Milan expect to sell Bennacer on a permanent deal this summer.
Finally, we come to the situation of Chukwueze. The Nigerian winger enjoyed a successful year on loan at Fulham in the Premier League, where he amassed three goals and four assists in 1,194 minutes across all competitions.
Fulham will most likely try to understand if there is a possibility of getting a discount on the €30m option to buy. The Rossoneri hope that an agreement can be reached, otherwise his future will be the same as the other two: he will return only in passing, with a sale sought.