This summer, Malick Thiaw has been in several different positions in the mercato. Now, he seems to be facing another situation which could see him leave AC Milan.
There has been a lot of interest in the German international this summer and for good reason. He has been potentially available, whilst being a European-proven defender at a young age. There is little downside to attempting a move.
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Como have tried and failed, and since then he has seemingly become a favoured option under Massimiliano Allegri in pre-season. Despite this, though, it seems his situation has not changed, he could still leave.
Back again
Today, the latest rumours have been regarding a possible move to Newcastle United – who have been heavily interested previously. Now, that has been confirmed by Fabrizio Romano this afternoon on his X account.
According to the mercato expert, Newcastle are preparing to make an approach to Milan over Thiaw’s situation. The Geordies are hoping to open discussions to find out the price that is sought this summer.
What needs to be considered is Allegri’s will, though. Romano states that the defender has been important in pre-season and this could, perhaps, change the course of the deal.
Matteo Moretto has also stated the same, though he has offered a little more in way of the approach. It seems that it could be made in the way of an ‘initial official offer’, which would allow discussions to continue from there.
Now that we are playing with 3 cbs we cant afford only 4 in the squad. Even thougth therer are better options in the market we will not be able to sign this oportunities. Its better to keep him
35M plus bonuses, they about to get Isak money…
use it for Leoni
depending on games:
4-3-3 (what Max said would do)
Leao – Vlahovic/Gimenez – Pulisic
Jashari – Ricci – Modric/Fofana
Estupinan – Pavlovic – Leoni – Tomiyasu
Maignan
3-5-2 (what we saw vs Liverpool)
Leao – Vlahovic/Gimenez
Estupinan – Jashari – Ricci – Pulisic – Alexis/Jimenez
Pavlovic – Gabbai – Leoni
Maignan
Thiaw is Milan’s best CB and he is only 24. I wouldn’t want to sell him 10 days before the season starts to replace him with an 18 year old who has barely played 15 games in serie A and reportedly costs 40 million.
“best” is over-exaggeration…
1. he is worst in 2 men defense
2. is error prone in the penalty area
3. can’t properly intercept or tackle, only blocks high balls with header
his actual value comes from his ability on the ball… that’s it…
I agree but I think he can still improve because of his age and being coached by Allegri and having a team. We have to take into consideration he played most of the minutes while Milan as a team was unstable, without style of play etc…
My biggest reason why I think it’s not time to sell him is because I think the defence is good enough to get us back into CL. Maybe redo the defence next year
I’m not against of keeping the kid, but getting 35M where 28M gonna be pure profit and then reinvesting him in a player both Juve and Inter want is a smart move…
Thiaw is like a hot air balloon, he suddenly has to wake up and step up; or his price will go down and we won’t be able to sell him again
yeah, if we get a high offer in that case it will be doable to get Leoni… might be worth the risk
I said Thiaw is Milan’s best CB.
I didn’t say Thiaw is the best CB in Milano, Serie A, Europe or the World.
Now compare Thiaw with the rest of the Milan’s CBs and tell me who is better than him.
Is it Tomori, Pavlovic or Gabbia?
Which one of them isn’t error prone, and isn’t guilty of everything else you accuse Thiaw for?
no one mentioned the world or outside of the league… I meant what I wrote. he ain’t best defender in our team
Tomori had 1 bad season, before that he was a beast… under Max I’m sure we will get Scudetto Tomori back
Pavlovic is getting $hit on for no apparent reason and last season was his 1st one… he had 1-2 clumsy challenges but Thiaw gives out penalties for no reason
And Gabbia has been by far the most stable player… shaky ending to the last season, but the entire team was a mess
take away ball-playing skill and I would put in as worst defender
Tomori has been dog sh!t since the end of the scudetto season.
Pavlovic is overzealous on every tackle that causes the rest of the defense problems.
Gabbia gets the Italian and Primavera boost, but Allegri, a great defensive coach, has been using according to you, the most stable Milan player, the least this pre season.
As I said, Thiaw, with all his flaws is still Milan best CB.
aggressive with his tackles isn’t a negative thing at all…
and last year he carried the ball up to the enemy penalty box too many times… most of the time resulting in a corner or a goal by our attackers… let’s not blame Theo being dead-weight on Pavlovic
Tomori’s actual bad season was the last one… Scudetto definitely his prime, but the year Inter won he was still our best defender, including Thiaw…
idk what games you have been watching…
Aggressive with tackles isn’t negative if you actually make the tackle but a lot of times he doesn’t and then he ends up being behind the play that gives the opponent numerical advantage.
Did you just bring up Pavlovic carrying the ball to the penalty area? Now which is better, a CB who can stay at the back and distribute the ball from there a la Thiaw or a CB that leaves his position and carries the ball forward losing the ball or making a bad pass, that results in a counter attack while that said CB is up the pitch and not in his defensive position? 🤔
If you stop posting fantasy football lineups and actually watch the games you would understand football better. There is a reason the Milan CB, with most interest around Europe is Thiaw and not Tomori, Pavlovic and especially not Gabbia.
There is a reason Allegri, the coach, wants to keep Thiaw.
I’m with Z on this. Thiaw is our best CB. Tomori and Pavlo are the same player. Keep Thiaw sell one of those two …
Allegri seems to favor Thiaw, Tomori and Pavlovic as his back 3 starters. Gabbia has been the odd man out all pre-season and was clearly a liability last season. Allegri didn’t take long to identify that either. selling any of our defenders at this point would not make sense unless a better replacement is available immediately. If selling Tomori or Pavlovic would be the worst move Milan could make.
I’m a minority in that I think Gabbia is our best defender. Thiaw gets points for other duties as assigned. Together they are a formidable pair.
Add in the Max factor (as was done with Tomorri) and I believe we have a solid CB rotation (esp for a 3 man line)
I am placing a great deal of weight on Allegri getting the very best out of each of these guys and Thiaw and Pav have high ceilings they not yet come close to. Gabbia shoes us he can make a big leap forward (Spanish loan) etc.
I do hope this “Max factor” will be especially true for or young Davide.
@Savio
I couldn’t agree more. Any churn now is counter productive unless it is to add quality without losing any of the existing players.
I’m very wary of this. Opportunity for a decent payday but very wary of how difficult he’ll be to replace, both quality and affordability. Anyone shouting ‘but Leoni’, he’d cost more and be less game-ready for Milan for the season.
I agree, midfield is completed, defence under Allegri with the current crop of players could be decent. I would focus on getting rid of all the players that we don’t need and complete the team with a rb and striker and try to do our best this season. Leoni is a risk imo and unless we can sell Thiaw for 50mil I don’t see how we can get him
It doesn’t make any sense to sell him in August. I think Jashari deal will come back to haunt us cause they lost so much time and only managed do sign Estupinan(given Ricci and Modric were agreed before mercato even started).
Im really concered cause we are lacking a starting ST,RB and CB and at least one midfielder and winger for rotation. And the season starts in 2 weeks(one if u count Bari in Coppa Italia). Lets hope for the best. They still have about a month to bring 4 players so lets see
Mr. Pessimist shut up already
Cmon move fast. Sell Thiaw and take Leoni asap. Leoni will be the best italian CB for the next 20 years. Generational talent like Cannavaro, Nesta etc. Don’t let Inter or Juve to take him. We are alone with money now , we must take advantage . Inter and Juve are not in position financially for this type of deal in this moment.
According to football Italia then Liverpool is also sniffing around so even if we sell Thiaw its not really a guarantee that we will be able to attain him. Personally I like Thiaw despite his flaws but if we can get 35+ mil for him I can also understand that they might be willing to sell him. Leoni might be a generational talent but I’ve only seen a bit of him in action but the fella has yet only played around 1300 minutes so from my standpoint its also a bit of a gamble signing him for 40 mil but if he were to join us I’d hope he is ready for us.
I look at it this way. Would you swap Thiaw straight up for Leoni?
Thiaw is a known quantity, and we may have seen his ceiling already. He is athletic and tracks back well, though not as well as Tomori and Gabbia. He easily pressed into turnovers and is not physical enough to put himself between the opponent and the ball.
Leoni may be less experienced, but is he already what Thiaw is, and likely more physical.
Left up to me, if I could get 35-45 million, and also secure Leoni, I would do it. Absent being able to get Leoni, I would keep Thiaw.
this, 100%
If the offer is fair, accept it and submit an offer for Leoni at the same time.
Thiaw maximum price it’s 25m. If athekame come to Milan, tomori will back to his habitat: CB. Use the money for Leoni / another CB like lucumi etc. another Milan target like ghilardi, Coppola already with their new team. Milan must act fast or the price will getting high.
I think the last Milan mercato will be new CB + new striker.
Thiaw is still very young, but only for Italian project, I’d also like to see Leoni this year
Leoni and loaning one striker
We’re finally showing improvement defensively and these s*ckers want to disturb it in the name of capital gains. Can someone somehow draw them with coloured crayons we need stability and A TEAM if we want to compete for the top?! F*cking profit leeches
Love me some profit.
But bigger profits will come with sporting success.
It’s odd to suggest it but it appears the financial goals are aligning to the sporting goals with the amounts spent in this window and the arrival of Allegri/Tare. Time will tell.
Forza
Regardless of all technical considerations, furlani and friends will only look at one thing – money. If milan can gain some millions out of thiaw sale, it will surely go ahead …. never mind if he is good or bad.