This afternoon, Strahinja Pavlovic is expected at Casa Milan to sign the contract that will officially make him a new AC Milan player, and he has chosen his shirt number.
According to MilanNews, the Serbian defender – who will arrive on a permanent basis from Salzburg and pen a long-term deal – has decided to wear the number 31 shirt. After the previous comparisons with Jaap Stam this might well be a nod to the Dutchman, given he wore the same number at Milan.
The list of players who have worn 31 is as follows: Marco Pellegrino, Mattia Caldara, Luca Antonelli, Zan Benedicic, Flavio Roma, Digao, Jaap Stam, Ibrahim Ba, Claiton, Lorenzo Rossetti, Giorgio Frezzolini, Mirco Gasparetto, Vincenzo Maiolo, Patrick Vieira.
The 23-year-old will not join the team in the USA but will remain at Milanello awaiting their return from the tour, scheduled for either Thursday 8 or Friday 9 August. There, he will begin working under the orders of Paulo Fonseca ahead of the new season.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport reported this morning, Pavlovic will sign a contract that will tie him to Milan for the next five years at around €1.5m net per season, while Milan will pay €18m as a fixed fee to Red Bull Salzburg and €2m in potential bonuses.
Well that’s ironic.
IKWYDLS and I were discussing the other day how Stam’s signing undid Milan’s last long term CB pairing of Maldini and Nesta and probably cost us the Scudetto that season.
Ah well hopefully this is the beginning of his 10 year reign over our defence…
We don’t have any defensive pairing that could be undone with this purchase tho. Literally, no established cb pairing for about 4 years now. Maybe 5.
That’s a somewhat fair point. Though I’d have like to see Tomori and Gabbia pairing for quite a bit longer (they seem to cover each other’s flaws) before seeing Pav there. But he’s with us now. Hoping for the best here but also hoping we stick to the same backline for a long time.
Best way forward for me, gabbia pavlo. Been waiting for Tomori to take the step forward in his game for a while now, and he never does. Gabbia did.
Let’s hope Pavlo is all that and a bag of chips so they can start building around him possibly offloading Tomori down the road.
You’re right. Outside of the Scudetto season, Tomori hasn’t been the same.
Exactly.
We haven’t had a long term CB pairing in 20 years.
Because we keen signing new CBs.
Its also his shirt number in Salzburg
Hey Ibrahim Ba out very own 😁
Gald to see u on the list.
Also, hope Pav is more Stam and less Digao lol 😂
Hey who’s calling. I bet not many Milan fans nowadays know Ibrahim Ba, that’s why I used it as a user name lol
Yuuuup 👍
Maybe I should change my name to Dhorasso, see who knows that one 🤔lol
There’s a storyline with him that many are not too fond of and probably mods here wont take the comment. But yea…
Holy sh1t that Indian guy 😂
What’s with Milan and Italian teams and oddly jersey numbers
Same grinta. Fair enough👍
Tomori’s growth has stalled. His form will only be declining as he ages. He turns 27 in December. If he was to explode into a top-tier CB it should have happened 4-5 years ago, not now or the near future. Professional footballers need to understand that they do not have all the time in the world to prove themselves in the game.
Seeing this photo of Pav ,i can only hope he is at least “bright”as Tomori…