Lille's Dutch defender Sven Botman Paolo Maldini

MN: Botman gives in and chooses Newcastle – how Milan’s plan and targets change

AC Milan have missed out on signing Sven Botman as he got tired of waiting and ultimately chose to accept Newcastle United, a report claims.

MilanNews reports that Botman wanted to join Milan but Lille had already agreed a fee with Newcastle, who had made an offer much higher than that of the Rossoneri, and they were not willing to raise to match it.

Having not got Botman, it is clear that Milan will still have to look for a new target and the first choice alternative is Gleison Bremer of Torino. However, this will not be an easy track either as he is also sought by Inter and foreign clubs, with a high price tag.

Another idea could be to shift to a player with a lower cost, perhaps an experienced profile like Francesco Acerbi of Lazio or a younger profile such as William Saliba, Arthur Theate or Malick Thiaw.

The budget initially destined for Botman can now be moved to the attack in the event a cheaper centre-back arrives, so now Maldini and Massara will have to be smart about how they spend.

Tags AC Milan Arthur Theate Francesco Acerbi Malick Thiaw Sven Botman William Saliba

14 Comments

    1. And how do you know this? This guy was one of the best defensive prospects in Europe. I realise Milan can’t compete financially but he would’ve been an excellent addition and would’ve completed our back line. He is strong, good on the ball and young. I don’t understand what you mean when you say someone else ”would fit our tactics better”.

  1. I am glad as well, I was always oppose to this buy. We have Tomori and Kalulu who were statistically best defensive duo of Serie A and Milan are better off spending this kind of money elswhere – RW or AM.

  2. Tired of reading all the time : “we have Tomori and Kalulu”……
    Fine, Tomori-Kalulu will play in all Serie A , Coppa Italia and Champions League games..They will play all games because they are Aliens with magical powers!
    And no injury will occur because they are made out of Titanium……
    Maldini has a good percentage of accuracy when it comes to transfers…For God’s sake, he built an unbelievable career playing also as a CD….They should’ve trusted him.

    1. Agree about Tomori Kalulu, but i doubt even Maldini was ready to pay 40 mil for Botman. He liked Botman but maybe for 25-30 mil not for the 40 Newcastle paid. EPL teams just got more money. Westham last summer spent 35 mil on Nikola Vlasic (10-15 mil more than what Milan valued him) and he spent the whole season on the bench. Financially it’s not an even playing field.
      Maldini said in an interview that they follow Botman but also other defenders. We were all upset when Milan didn’t sign Simakan over 2,3 mil difference but we ended up with Tomori. Not bad.
      I liked Botman because i thought he is a better fit, he is left footed and tall, but i always thought that Bremer is the better player.
      Theate from Bologna is pretty good as well, left footed and very aggressive, just like Tomori Kalulu, plus he is really good initiating play from the back

    2. Slow down, I refered to Tomori and Kalulu as our starting duo, we also have Kjaer and Gabbia. There will be another defender coming in for sure, what I don’t want is them splashing the money they don’t have on a player which would, based on hefty investment, take over starting spot from, I presume, Kalulu. Would not be fair to a kid who showed his brilliance and consistency the moment he stepped in for Kjaer.

  3. Lol why so many of you is anxious we losing “the first target” ?
    We lose dollaruma for free we got mike.
    We lose fofana and simakan we got tomori.
    Now we lose botman and probably sanches doesnt mean the trio MMM dont have plan b,c or z.
    Chill my friend, believe in Maldini he know to make milan more competitive than last season.

  4. We are doomed if sign acerbi ,it will downgrade to romagnoli. Kjaer are old and suffer ACL ,no guarantee kjaer can recover his top form after recovery,in my opinion kjaer already 4th choice from CB , so we need CB that can compete with kalulu- tomori for they can improve and not stuck like romagnoli in 2015 to 2019 ( not improve since he is on comfort zone always starter without other competitor in CB ) . Bremer or arthur theatre can provide competition for starter in CB

  5. If Maldini said we needed Botman then we needed Botman. We do not know more than he does. As Maldini outlined in an interview – his plan was to move Kalulu to RB his natural position and play on a make-shift back 3 in attack (Botman-Tomori-Kalulu) with Theo bombing down the left. He wanted a left footed CB to initiate the play similar to Bonucci. Oh well. Regardless of Botman we still need a CB. Gabbia isn’t ready and will be loaned out and Kajer is 34 and coming off major reconstructive knee surgery so unfortunately he cannot be relied on to play all the time at least right away. Bremer would be amazing but we are not going to outspend an EPL team like Tottenham nor pay 40M + for him – that apparently is our entire budget. We should be realistic which is why a player like Thiaw is back in focus. Disappointing but Redbird have no intention to spend big $$$

  6. He got too expensive and at the price Newcastle was paying, it wasn’t worth it for us.
    If he was at the price we wanted, it was a good deal. Now it’s not. So Maldini will turn to other options.
    All of you calm down and let the man do his job — this is what happens. Some teams overpay — Newcastle just overpaid and that’s their problem. We wanted Botman and yes that’s a shame we didn’t get him; but maybe it’s a blessing in disguise because we should be spending more of our dollars on attacking players anyway.

  7. Perlu CB yang pengalaman di Liga Champions …Botman adalah profil yang cocok , sayang sekali RedbIrd miskin

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