Franck Kessie is now virtually certain to leave AC Milan at the end of the season and his future will be with Barcelona, according to a report.
Il Corriere della Sera (via MilanNews) have confirmed that Kessie will leave Milan at the end of the current season and sign a contract with the Catalan club that will see him earn €6.5m net per season for five season, therefore a deal worth €32.5m net in total.
Milan instead offered him €4.5m plus bonuses which is obviously well below what the LaLiga side put forward, and Barça will pay around €10m in commission to George Atangana. Kessie therefore chose to leave for free, but it is undeniable that he handled the whole situation rather badly, especially when he said that he would return from the Olympics and would sign a new deal.
Inside Casa Milan there is some reflection and regret because losing another player of value on a free is far from ideal, but the club come first and the focus is on the Scudetto. It will not be an easy situation to manage for Stefano Pioli, but he showed a year ago with the Donnarumma and Calhanoglu sagas that he will play anyone who is fundamental in the battle.
I saw Pobega vs Inter. He is a mezzala, not a box to box midfielder like Kessie. Kessie is still better than Pobega except his body strength. I don’t see any equal replacement to Kessie from the Milan’s transfer market so far.
Milan need to start ruthlessly selling players who don’t sign extensions a year before their contracts are up.
Or they rather start being competitive financially. Money rules the game these days.
Yes we know. But if you are fiscally responsible there is a cap as to how much you will spend on transfer and salaries. MC Miker is correct in that going forward the club needs to have the renewal in hand before the second to last year of the contract or sell. Period. I think once Romagnoli and Kessie are gone, whose contracts are both legacies of the prior regime (as were Donnarumma’s and Calhanoglu’s), that this will not happen again.
good for both parties. we do not need his attitude nor his greed. let him go to barcelona. we lost Sheva still won the 2007 UCL, we lost kaka and still won 2011 scudetto. we will find a better replacement. we do not have to sign only a physical player, but someone with far better technique.
Maignan is a massive upgrade on donnaruma. the grass is not always greener on the other side.
Usually, I’m very critical of the way the club is losing players for free without getting a transfer fee, but in this case I can see the argument that he’s helped sustain a Scudetto challenge, qualify again for the Champions’ League and been a huge part in turning the club around in the last couple of years, so if he wants a pay rise more than Milan can budget for then so be it, I can imagine him shining in a Barca midfield. Should be cheered on for the rest of the season IMO.
He should continue given his best for the club and if we are fortunate to win the ultimate he will have the fans blessing to move on and that will surely help him to shine at Catalan,as long as he wears Milan’s shirt I pray for his success .
Tonali + Benacer are a much better duo than Cashie + Benacer. Next season there’s also Adli and Pobega who are ready to give Milan more dynamics in midfield.
All Milan needs:
– 1 young CF to replace Ibra (Belotti or Origi)
– 1 AM who can also play in the right wing (Malinovskyi or Sanchez)
– 1 CB to replace Romagnoli (Botman)
That’s it.
I’d argue that we’ve looked very good in recent games where the three of them have played and it’s a 4-3-3 (or close to a 4-1-4-1 in defensive phase) rather than 4-2-3-1 – having the three of them there has offered the fullbacks more defensive cover without abandoning the ‘hole’ to opposition #10s.
So I think there need to be three ‘starters’ ready for next season – it’s possible Pobega or Adli could fill that role, but I’d understand the club investing in another profile closer to what Kessie brings, though Tonali is doing a good job when called upon.
You are definitely right.
Accurate on all counts except I’m not convince Malinovsky or Sanches are the right players for RW. Get ACTUAL RWs. Adli can be the alternative to Diaz at AMC. Pobega is the depth at CM replacing Kessie. If Pioli decides to play 4-3-3 even better since Adli and Pobega are both technically mezzale.