AS Monaco director Thiago Scuro has spoken out about the future of midfielder Youssouf Fofana, amid the strong links with a move to AC Milan.
The Fofana saga continues to have various twists and turns, with the most recent developments suggesting that Milan have run into trouble in their pursuit of the Frenchman because Monaco have set an asking price of €35m.
Given that he has just 11 months left on his deal and has made it clear he wants to join the Rossoneri, the directors are not willing to offer close to that amount and instead have been placing bids below €20m.
As Fabrizio Romano posted on social media, Thiago Scuro – the sporting director for Monaco – responded to a question about Fofana’s future and his asking price.
“I’ve a good relationship with Fofana, we have been clear on the price needed since day one. The proposal has to be good for Fofana but also for AS Monaco. Otherwise, also staying here would be a possibility,” he said.
It seems that Fofana is seen as the player needed to complete Milan’s midfield because Paulo Fonseca wants a player who has his characteristics, but Monaco are standing firm and thus a further effort will be needed.
Wait 6 months and get him on a free transfer. Keep Bennacer in the meantime and hope he’s in form and healthy this season
Easy for you to say because free players come with high agent commissions. It will be interesting to see what Milan does but I can’t justify us signing him for 35m with a year left on his contract.
So Fofana will have to force his way out the club or wait until he’s a free agent and hopefully the agent commission is not a ridiculous amount.
Would that commission more than 35 million?
Sure, let’s play half the season with no defensive midfielders and a bunch of ball carriers.
I an with you here. What is the cost of missing CL? Cause that is what is at stake here.
Dude there is alternative, signing him next season doesnt mean we wont sign anyone this season
we shouldnt risk that. Bennacer is not that strong like he was before we dream about the scudetto form he had but since then he is average
Angry Russian Billionaire doesn’t need 35M Euro. They’d rather keep Fofana and let him walk in 11 months.
Yeah up theirs, but lets make a final offer.
15 mil + a Ukranian flag and Milan pays for Gogol Bordello to come and play on their stadium 😛
The management have penny pinched all summer, break the bank and go for Zubamendi, sell Benecer, Pobega and Adli.
If not Zuba then Rios or Ederson of Atlanta
To be fair even though I can understand irritation of the fans for the mercato up until now I can nevertheless also understand why the management tries to get the best deals as possible.
My overall comment above was a bit in jest in regard of further infuriating the russian monaco owner due to my suggestion of offering them an ukranian flag and a paid concert by an american/ukranian band to soften the deal 😀
Forget about this guy – if he wants to come he come come next year for free..
Already monaco has bought his replacement camara I think from metz for 13 plus 2 bonuses
Thank you Monaco for teaching these clowns a lesson.
Longer term this should be helpful as to how negotiations are conducted
The only way this works they way they hope it does is if a club like Man Utd (club with all the money in the world and none of the brains) enter that race, which so far they did not. West Ham asked for details, made an offer player turned them down and they moved on, meaning Monaco doesn’t have a leg to stand on.
They know they will never get 35M and they are not asking for it, they hope for 25M abut they wont get it and with every day passing, chances of them getting it are nearing zero with is what the transfer fee will be if they miss this window. They know it, and the whole world knows it. They will either accept an offer under 20M or they will get 0 next summer.
What Monaco is doing is not how you conduct business its how you lose money. They are hoping for an idiot to make a brainless offer, so far it hasn’t happened and from the looks of things it probably never will.
Yeah ok, but what does that make us ? If Fofana isn’t sold this summer which means he will leave for free but in the meantime we didn’t get anyone would you consider it a win of us ?
We didn’t sell anyone either. Our midfield is complete and we can negotiate with Fofana in January, while Monaco gets noting. Milan in this this particular case can not lose, unless they have stroke in coming weeks and decide to pay what Monaco is asking, in which case Milan is the absolute loser in that transaction.
“Our midfield is complete ”
You do realize that the reason we’re targeting Fofana is our midfield is anything BUT complete ?
Our midfield is a like a highway for the opposition team, once they get the ball, they have an open clear view towards our defense and goal.
None of our player is a defensive midfielder: Bennacer is a box-to-box midfielder whose best days were alongside Kessie, Reijnders is a mezzala made to play as a double-pivot and can’t defend to save his life, Loftus-Cheek is also a mezzala made to play as a second-striker and doesn’t have enough stamina to be a defensive midfielder, Musah never shown anything remotly close to defense and Adli is originally an attacking midfielder.
We’re not targeting a defensive midfielder because of luxury, we’re doing so because we’re in dire need of a defensive midfielder.
Well Monaco gets the benefit of a strong player that will help them qualify for UCL next season – which is worth 40-50M? so I wouldn’t necessarily say Monaco gets nothing. Similar to when we kept Kessie. Had we sold him there is no way we would have won that Scudetto.
Hope Monaco sell – BUT we need to make a solid offer of 20M and stop effing around. I get he’s in the last year of his deal – BUT so was Thurman – and Juve paid the 20M and secured him rather than just waiting for next summer on a free. Why?? Because Juve want to win NOW and they know getting such a player now is more important and will help them secure UCL and challenge for a Scudetto – than waiting and hoping he will come to you on a free in summer – where agent commissions will be sky high and so will his salary. So we are fooling ourselves if we think Redbird will wait until he’s a free agent and will scoop him up for cheap – cause we have all seen how that has worked out in the past lol
“Our midfield is complete ”
Are you serious? We are in dire need of a DM to cover and help our defense. Missing CL is more costly than 35 Million. (not arguing we should pay 35 though, 25 as an absolute max).
I think it is worth remembering who we are dealing with. This is not a small club who have a rare jewel to sell.
Monaco has been 1 of the best clubs in Europe at spotting and developing talent. They have huge experience in getting top dollar for their players, they know what they are doing.
At the end of the day if you make an insultingly low offer and p1ss off the vendor, it will often result in the door being shut in your face
How do they know they will never get 35 mil for him if one club (smaller club) have already offered it?
If a club that plays champions league football like Atletico Madrid, or Man United, who are both chasing defensive midfielders comes along and offers 35 mil for a player whos worth 40, and gives Fofana a juicy salary, he will do a “Zirkzee”.
ManU will not be playing in the Champions League this coming season. They finished 8th domestically. Fofana has made clear that he wants to play in the Champions League which is why he turned down West Ham. As for Atletico Madrid, they expressed fake interest out of spite for losing Morata, just to bother Milan but they will not be buying Fofana. So, as of now Monaco doesn’t have a leg to stand on, given that Milan is the only club concretely interested in hiring Fofana who has made clear that he won’t be renewing with Monaco, and as the transfer window approaches its end and nobody offers them what they are asking, they will fold because otherwise they will lose the player for free. It’s as simple as that.
Their director saying they don’t care if Fofana just stays is a lie and a negotiating tactic that is easy to see from a mile away. Milan should just wait and when the end of August and the end of the transfer window approach, Monaco will reconsider. Well, if they don’t, they are idiots.
Is there a small risk that some other club that is indeed in the Champions League will step in and offer Monaco 35M? Yes, there is. But no, Milan should not cede to their BS tactics as this risk is relatively small; one month has passed by already and nobody except West Ham (and Milan) made a concrete offer; the player turned down West Ham and reiterated that he wants Milan. I don’t see somebody else suddenly jumping in. If other clubs had an interested, they would have manifested it already.
Others here are saying, Monaco doesn’t need to sell him, they will just keep him. If that’s the case why did they almost agree to 18 M? Then, their owner threw a tantrum and said it’s 35M. In no point they said Fofana is not for sale. They are just saying half-heartedly that they might keep him, NOT saying he is not for sale like we said for some of our players others came knocking for: e.g. Musah; not that I think Musah should be shielded from being sold, but likely because he’s American and young and was poorly managed by Pioli, Cardinale wants to keep him and see what Fonseca makes of him, so the answer was, “sorry, Musah is not for sale” which is not what Monaco is saying about Fofana. This is why I think the “we might keep him” is just a negotiating tactic.
You’re wasting your time. People here see only what fits into their narrative. Milan in stingy, they don’t want to pay, they deserve to lose a target.
This is the polar opposite of it. Milan is being smart, they have an upper hand and they just need to sit and wait. Monaco is at risk at losing close to 20M, while Milan can keep their midfield as it is, invest in another target or just come for him in January. Almost all the risk is on Monaco.
If anyone learned the hard way how to deal with players on expiring contracts its Milan.
Musah and Fofana are two different scenarios. They need Fofana more than we need Musah.
“Others here are saying, Monaco doesn’t need to sell him, they will just keep him. If that’s the case why did they almost agree to 18 M? ” Did they? We don’t know that’s for certain. Neither the whole 35m request either. Monaco whether we like it or not still has the upper hand and yes, they don’t HAVE to sell him.
@Shiva you’re as.suming they have to sell. They don’t. You’re thinking of money they forego by not selling but they’re thinking of keeping the level of quality in the team as well as the money they recoup by keeping him and bringing them into UCL spots. Even if they don’t sell and he’s a free agent next year, he’ll look even more attractive to others who can pay higher wages and commission than us (especially if he continues to have a good season at Monaco).
In many ways it’s why I didn’t mind us not selling Kessie. We won the Scudetto because in large part to him and subsequently perhaps 30-40m because we got a good pot seeding and deep run in the UCL the following year. And we’d sell him for what? 30m, 40m and no title?
Sjf I’m with you well done Monaco
I would go all out for Fofana and leave all other signings for now. We have Morata and Jovic as well as Camarda should we need him. We can also deploy Okafor in the striker department as it seems we will be keeping Saelemaekers. We can work with Kalulu, Calabria and Terraciano @ right-back and bring in Bartesaghi as Theo’s back-up. Our team is complete. We are overthinking things I think.
Have the management tried to sign Redondo? He is a DM, might be cheaper, and he has lots of potential.
Federico Redondo joined Inter Miami in February so I doubt its a very feasible option unless the player actually forced a move.
He rejected us to join Messi FC. So no…
They can f*ck off then. Guerra, Rios & Trindarde are all great options for DM
Sign him ASAP he is true kessie replacement fr just put 20-21 m plus bonuses so it would be fixed 24-25 maybe 26m if they still say no then wait for 11months or 6months. Rios Cardoso and Kone they can be good but they are basically another bennacer build maybe better than or the same or worse idk but fofana IS kessie replacement
They put 35 price tag out of spite because Milan offered 12 Million which is a joke.
Nope , from the beginning monaco asking price 35m euro . Never reduced or raised. Look at the article fabrizio romano . You pay that amount or he stay , monaco play on CL and will need fofana for new season to secure CL spot again . Most likely they will letting fofana free transfer if no club want to pay 35m euro this summer
No it wasn’t. Club themselves said so. All outlets confirmed they would accept 25M, but no one will pay that because player’s market value is below 20M now.
Just make final offer 20m euro cash + add on 5m euro . If rejected move to other target. Low balling monaco are just wasting time , they are not poor club and already get hundred million euro from selling player. Go for plan B and C like manu kone or amrabat if your final offer rejected
I want to sign this player in winter for free and have him for next season and let greedy Monaco with empty hands like they deserve
Waiting game to be played here, no worries – they will sell before transfer window shuts. Either Milan or another club, but 35m wont be paid
Exactly. Not even 25M.
Way too much analysis…. It’s simple. Either they play hard @$$ and hold out for the 35mil that doesn’t seem to be coming. Or Milan, pivot, find an alternative and MAYBE pick him up free next season.
Doubt Milan will keep the most important area of need vacant waiting for Fofana. (Kone for 20-30 and Fofana free next year is TWO DM’s for 20-30mil)
I prefer the Colombian DM over fofana