Geoffrey Moncada has admitted the negotiation to sign Santiago Gimenez was ‘very difficult’, while he confirmed there is a chance of Joao Felix staying permanently.
Milan were not only among the most busy teams in Italy during the winter transfer window, but among the busiest in Europe with five signings and six exits being completed in total.
The players to arrive in order were Kyle Walker, Santiago Gimenez, Warren Bondo, Riccardo Sottil and Joao Felix, with all available tonight barring Bondo (who has a slight injury) and with Walker starting again.
The mission is quite simple: to try and get into the Champions League places in the league, and to go as far as possible in both the current Champions League and the Coppa Italia.
Moncada gave an interview to SportMediaset moments before kick-off in Milan’s quarter-final cup tie against Roma at San Siro, and his words were relayed by MilanNews.
How difficult was it Gimenez?
“It was difficult. We knew him from his time at Cruz Azul, we always had contact with him and in this market we knew there was a possibility of signing him.
“Then with Dutch clubs it is always difficult, we had also seen it with Reijnders. Gimenez did a great job, he pushed hard to come with his agent. He is a profile that we know and that we wanted.”
Was it your idea specifically?
“No, but it was important to sign a number 9 and Santi is such a profile.”
Is there a chance to buy Joao Felix permanently?
“It depends on us, on him. There is always a possibility. We have a really good relationship with Chelsea, we’ll see in the summer.”
How important is the Coppa Italia?
“They are all goals for us. Tonight we can go to the semi-finals: it is very important.”
Could Chukwueze leave?
“Stay with us, it’s another possibility on the right.”
I already like Joao Felix. I know it’s his first game… but I have a good feeling about his impact. Santiago will also be great too I think. I see much more from this team.
This team is resemblance of Real Madrid where they have Vini Jnr, Mbappe all on the left wing.
Rafa and Felix also positioned around the left. Felix was impressive. I see a possibility of him finding consistency at Milan. This team now has a lot of dribblers. Rafa, Felix , Chuku ,Sottil Alex Jimenez, and Santi Giminez.
Bring on Inter, Juve ,Napoli , Fiorentina etc.
The same chances as to signing Madueke from them in the summer!. Should’ve inserted a buy out clause even at 50m I don’t know. With that you’re certain of not paying more than a certain amount even after Felix finishing the season as Serie A player of the season. Paying like 8m for the 6 months loan… With that in mind, a 45m buy out clause would still amount to around what Villa were offering to buy the player for. Ok I may be talking bs with the numbers but such clauses never hurt. Yeah sure it was too late in the window to negotiate more for us but wasn’t late for others to negotiate it for our players that has left around the same time.
You are in the ballpark. Chelsea paid 52m Euros and you’d have to think that they would at least like to break even, so after this season that would be 52m minus amortized. I think around 45-47m sounds right. They could even have offered a paid 2 year loan, for let’s say for 5m, 100% salary, and then an option to buy for 38-40m, and that could have been a good deal for Chelsea.
You put it much better
They would have had to agree a contract with Felix and Mendes too, plus you can’t officially do loans for more than 12 months any more. We’re not going to pay more than 40M for a player unless we sell one for higher
Moncada admitting Gimenez wasn’t his idea is interesting. We know he prefers Ligue 1 players so it must have been Ibrahimovic that pushed for him.
I think he’s just admitting that they had to grab whoever they could, cause their asses were on the line
His job is most at risk. I think Ibrahimovic is safe.
Moncada admitting Gimenez wasn’t his idea is interesting. We know he prefers Ligue 1 players so it must have been Ibrahimovic that pushed for him.
“Was it your idea specifically?
‘No, but it was important to sign a number 9 and Santi is such a profile.'”
The entire January market wasn’t his idea. Bondo is the only player that is his “identikit”, and he was signed as a Plan B to Gourna-Douath. The Walker, Gimenez and Felix ideas came from someone else. A hunch says it was Ibrahimovic, as he has been outspoken about Gimenez and Walker.
Amazing January market. Now to make it counts we need Felix to stay permanently!!!! He is Milan’s type of player…. We need him to say !!!!