AC Milan must resolve the situations of two of their Belgian forwards in the coming days, and a report has outlined how there is over €30m at stake.
As MilanNews writes, the most media-covered case is undoubtedly that relating to Charles De Ketelaere, who was bought in the summer of 2022 for over €30m from Club Brugge and then loaned to Atalanta last season after a disappointing debut campaign at Milan.
He did much better under Gian Piero Gasperini, amassing 14 goals and 11 assists, and they have the option to buy him outright for €23m plus bonuses and a 10% resale clause. La Dea have repeatedly reiterated that they want to keep the player, but they want a discount.
From the Rossoneri’s side, this possibility is not conceivable: the directors do not intend to review the agreements. If Atalanta were not to pay the requested amount, De Ketelaere would return to Milan who would put him up for sale, perhaps with the possibility of making a few million more.
The second case concerns another Belgian, Alexis Saelemaekers. The winger was among the protagonists of Bologna’s amazing season, which saw them secure a spot in the 2024-25 edition of the Champions League.
Their option to buy is set at €12m but with the coaching change that has taken place – Thiago Motta out, Vincenzo Italiano in – Saelemaekers’ permanent move to the Rossoblù is not so certain. On the contrary, it seems they decided not to buy him.
Everything will be decided in the next five days because the respective buy-out clauses expire on Friday 14 June. There is around €35m at stake, a figure Milan still hope to collect given their own needs to spend on the squad.
Wow! Getting CdK for that price should be considered a steal in today’s market. How are they still asking for a discount? It’s like us telling them to sell us Scalvini for €19m.
which we do all the time. lol A lot of our loans we then try to re-negotiate new terms. cough cough Chelsea suckers cough cough. It wont happen, but they can ask.
Either way Atalanta control the option to buy, so Milan can say “no discount” and Atalanta can still just exercise it.
Saelmaekers started as RB at Anderlecht. If Bolognia doesn’t redeem him I would like to see him play there in preseason. He has attacking attributes would be interesting to see if he can defend. That way we dont spend silly money. We also have Jimenez on loan from Madrid who is talented. He impressed in the friendly vs Roma. We have 5m buy option.
Couldn’t ever fault him for effort put in and distance covered on the pitch – he did some pretty heroic workloads when playing as a right-winger to allow Leao to do basically no defending. Obviously has composure/attacking/positioning limitations but some of that can be taught.
CdK is worth about 40-50 mln with market prices. Atalanta would do Milan a favour by not buying him for 22 mln.
OK, but Atalanta have nothing to lose by pretending not to be interested until the last 5 minutes of the window.
They are loosing Koopmeiners. If they lose CDK too they stand to lose a lot up front.
Great, can you get Inter to pay that daft sum of money. I’m sure CDK will thrive back at San Siro, LOL
Can we swap CDK for Bastoni? or why not Barella
If you want Arnautovic for CdK, why not. haha
Arna will hold on to that Golden Fleece of a contract at inter for dear life.
If it was Atalanta selling CDK right now they would have asked 60mil for him. If they don’t want to pay just move on. We can sell him to other clubs after such great season and we can also use him if he stays. Loftus Cheek is far from the best AM any way. Who knows maybe under Fonseca CDK can perform cause we all saw that the problem for him was clues Pioli.
Atalanta would ask 35 million for any of their players. Tell them to either take the agreed upon fee or sell elsewhere.
Huge lost for them if not activate buy option. While if back to ACM and zirkzee deal to ACM , both can swap position, zirkzee create chance and CDK close to penalty box as poacher. That can be good for nonseca 4231
He’s called Fonseca. He’s going to be our coach. Show the man some respect instead of being childish.
I have no problem in CDK coming back. He was excellent for Atalanta, either up front by himself or behind Scamacca, but he can’t play on the left for Milan because Leao’s there so he’d have to play alongside Zirkzee, which means changing the midfield around, which means even less protection for the crap defence, unless a DM arrives.
I’m not sure why there aren’t any Ederson/CDK swap possibilities being discussed.
I think Ederson has a very big price tag, but it’s certainly worth trying. He is a super player and was outstanding in the EL final. Big match performer