AC Milan are not done after the renewals of Alexis Saelemaekers and Simon Kjaer as they are working on a number of other deals, a report claims.
MilanNews writes that the management have suffered some difficulty in getting Alessio Romagnoli and Franck Kessie to extend their contracts beyond June 2022 and it is now complicated to imagine them putting pen to paper mainly due to economic reasons. Paolo Maldini and Ricky Massara want to learn from this though – plus the Donnarumma and Calhanoglu exits – to act ahead of time and secure the long-term future of other stars.
That is why they are working to tie down three more pillars of the current side, namely Theo Hernandez, Ismael Bennacer and Rafael Leao, all of whom have deals expiring in 2024. They could soon extend by two seasons with pay rises to reflect their status as leaders in the team.
The French full-back and the Algerian midfielder earn €1.5m net per season at the moment while the Portuguese winger earns €2m, but Milan refused important offers from abroad to keep him and so a pay rise is expected for him too.
Then there is Stefano Pioli’s contract, which also expires at the end of the season, and the club are working to extend his contract as he has reached milestone of 100 games. As for Zlatan Ibrahimovic it will boil down a discussion next Spring when more will be known about his condition.
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I really hope Milan and Zlatan can come to an agreement for another season. Ideally it would involve a player/coach type position and a pay cut. But Zlatan’s effect on the team hasn’t worn off since he arrived and it would be a shame to risk losing that.
Also, he can still deliver decisive goals.