Youssouf Fofana will be AC Milan’s fourth signing of the summer window. All that is missing is the official confirmation that will come after the medical checks and the signing of the contract.
According to MilanNews, Fofana has had an agreement with Milan for some time over a deal which will run until 2028. It is a four-year contract with the option for a fifth, which is the same as Alvaro Morata, Strahinja Pavlovic and Emerson Royal also signed.
As for the salary, Fofana will earn €3m net per season as a fixed amount, which is therefore a minimum €12m commitment that could become €15m. The transfer fee will be €25m including bonuses, which was a figure agreed upon after weeks of negotiations with Monaco.
Adding the numbers together and factoring in the gross salary that Milan will pay (in absence of the Growth Decree), we come to €47.2m, which is broken down into the €25m fee and the €22.2m guaranteed gross salary (€5.55m per year x four years).
The soap opera finds its happy ending: Milan wanted the midfielder for a long time – even making him their number one target for the summer – and the Frenchman has achieved his dream of wearing the Rossoneri shirt.
Monaco on the other hand had to adapt. The Principality club pushed for him to move to the Premier League where there were buyers willing to meet their economic demands. Having taken note of Fofana’s desire to play for Milan, they softened their stance.
Welcome home
Job well done. Given they paid exactly what the initial request was, we could have simply put that forward from the start to prevent other clubs from getting in the mix and losing his pre season preparation time. At least it got done for this window though.
Worth the trouble in my opinion. Theo and Mike started trainings without the rest of the team last week (and so would he as french national), so in reality he lost around 10 days of quality pre-season.
Fofana is new to the team, club and country. The others have been here for a few seasons.
My thoughts exactly, at least we got Fofana in the end.
Overall the team has been strengthened without losing any of the top players, so it’s a good job from the management.
Looking forward to the season but I think Fonseca is going to need to be given time to get such an offensive team into a solid unit.
Forza Milan.
Hopefully Fofana can be Kessie’s replacement, we haven’t had his proper replacement since his departure.
Yeah exactly lmao
To be fair, if bidding had opened at 20m and Monaco had said “35M” then it may have ended in the middle of that. Maybe opening bids of lower were just to make 20-25M the middle ground of the two sides.
From what we read here (as no one, yes no one here knows any better), the 35 mil figure came right after the Monaco’s president was ‘irritated’ by our 12 mil offer. If we begin the negotiation with a much closer figure than how much they valued Fofana at the first place (25 mil), we can skip all the drama. And that’s the point many of us here see.
They, Monaco asked for 25 from the start. You bid 25, the player is yours, nothing more, nothing less, it is complicated rocket science. There are no negotiations to be had, no other teams getting involved, potentially creating auctions. We maintain our dignity, respect and relationship with the selling club intact. We lost 2 weeks. That is substantial for a club needing a midfielder in a role we weren’t using before.
Well now we got him for 20 and saved 5 millions. It is still millions you know its not peanuts no matter how rich you are.
Cheap Bastar*s! How dare they!
This article is also a reminder that any paid transfer isn’t just the transfer fee as an expense, but the expense of the contract over time. Not only that, but that the expense for the club is the player’s gross salary, which is usually a multiple of the net salary which we see in these articles. People say “oh, it’s just another 5M in transfer fees, they’re being cheap”, but that’s on top of the net salary multiple in gross they’re paying the player.
Yeah thats really what football fans should be thinking about
It seems to be, since people spend an inordinate amount of time discussing who we should buy and why we can or can’t afford them. If people better understood things, we wouldn’t spend as much time arguing.
Are football fans not allowed to trouble themselves with the business of football if they wish?
LOL it started at 25 and ended months later at 25
I’m just relieved its finally done!
A good DM will make the whole team better
Just like CDK. Started at 35M; ended at 35M
We got him for 20 plus bonuses. They wanted 25 plus bonuses. So they saved some millions.
Finally! Great news
Thanks for using the gross figure instead of the net for the total cost! So often gets overlooked.
12M per season is no small amount but glad we got there.
I think it’s revisionism to claim he was No1 target though, I’m pretty sure that was Zirkzee at the start of the window!
If the cuts their head for some people here, they won’t still be okay with it.
Typical ungrateful set of people
We’ve done great business this year in adding to our weak points. As far as I’m concerned I think there mercato should be closed unless an opportunity comes knocking. It’s time to turn the attention to selling some players and get this team to gel quickly.
I’m way too excited for this season and on paper and the way we’ve been playing I think we are scudetto contenders. I don’t want to get my hopes up too much because preseason games doesn’t really show out true potential and in a competitive game I want to see how we react when we go down in a game or when the opponent is strong and like to be aggressive or play possession.
Either way, I hope for this season a trophy, no injuries and to take that next step. FORZA MILAN
I’m pleased and I like what I see from Fonseca. I think he will be better taking advantage of the strengths of our team. Fofana is a no brainer of a signing.
As much I dont like redbird- credit where credit is due. Good job. Forza Youss and Forza Milan!
Finally got midfielder although not sure he’s a DM.
Need to do a clear out in midfield as we now have [losing count].
He’s not a DM in the traditional sense, but he is someone who’ll sit back and protect the defence when needed, and from what I’ve seen he has the strength and composure to carry or hold the ball after a turnaround so everyone else can reshape.
I honestly think we just became title contenders.
From what I’ve seen he carries the ball forward!
Let’s see.
We need to get the squad right down as we have too many players and they’ll be tripping over each other.
Now get prati or boloca and sell some
It’s cute that people wanna push a narrative that Monaco was asking for 25 the whole time and that after 2 months of negotiations Milan still paid 25 m. I guess no one notified west ham about the 25 m asking price when they offered 35 or, Nottingham Forrest when they offered 30 m for Fofana.
We actually have people that can negotiate now. We don’t have M&M anymore, who negotiate 2 months just to pay 35 m that Brugge was asking the whole time about CDK.
Also, Moncada and Furlani seems to have bigger pull than M&M. M&M couldn’t convince Botman to wait on Milan instead of accepting Newcastle offer for 37 m, just to pay 35 m for CDK. Fofana rejected more money from EPL to come to Milan.
When Moncada, Furlani and Zlatan call you.
“When Moncada, Furlani and Zlatan call you.” Definitely in that order right?
“We actually have people that can negotiate now. We don’t have M&M anymore, who negotiate 2 months just to pay 35 m that Brugge was asking the whole time about CDK.”
Look kids, an actual walking contradiction!
Forgot about the part where other teams offered 30-35M€ for the player who Monaco wanted to sell for 25M€, right? 😀 😀 😀
Good old cherry-picking. 🙂
And it’s not like in the end they paid what Monaco asked for since April. They “negotiated” for 4 months to pay what was demanded from the start🤣
It won’t be the first time an english team overpays for a player.
Milan’s last puzzle. It’s completed now. Let’s go. owh btw, please get rid of the not needed players.
I wish Milan can find a buyer for Thiaw,
Kudos to Milan.
Some of us told you the budget was around €80.00 million.
Emerson €15.00
Fofana €25.00
Jimenez €5.00
Morata €13.00
Pavlovic €18.00
€76.00
To all those who complain about the owners, GFY. You are not fans of the club, you are pea brained children who have no understanding of how things operate in the real world. No understanding of the process, the need for patience, the need for prudence.
So which player needs to leave as a sacrifice for this guy? Is it the “fan” favorite Adli or Benna or maybe both?
Bennacer is the only other midfielder we have who can defend a bit.
If we let go of Bennacer, we will have no deputy as a DM shall Fofana be unavailable for a game.
I am not convinced at all, at all!!
So we invest on a player that we can have almost for free in January?!!!
We invest almost 50M for a 50/50% possibility player and let go one like Tonali??!!
What a stupid math are we talking about?? To me he looks like another Bakayoko!!!
We invest 13m for Morata?? His time is gone, I would be happy if we got him in the same deal like Oliver from Chelsea.
We let go Simic, a great CB and and went and got another for 18??? We got a right back when we have Kalulu, and now we will give him to Juventus?!!!
Which one of those deals seams ok??? Not even one, we still missing a strike!!!
I just hope I am wrong.