It has been a rollercoaster few days regarding Noah Okafor’s future, but it appears that he will finally get his move to RB Leipzig after all.
To recap the news, stories emerged last week suggesting that Okafor was on the radar of Leipzig as they aim to strengthen their attack with negotiations beginning over what was touted to be a permanent deal at first.
Then, Fabrizio Romano was among the sources to state a few days ago that Milan and the Bundesliga side had agreed a loan deal for Okafor, with an option to buy that is set at a surprisingly high €25-28m.
However, following the 1-1 draw with Cagliari on Saturday night, Gianluca Di Marzio spoke of there being a blockage because the Swiss forward is still carrying an injury and the German club are looking at other targets.
Now, a new update has come from Romano on his X profile which suggests that there will be a positive conclusion to the operation after all.
“Noah Okafor will arrive in Leipzig today to sign in at RB Leipzig for €1m loan fee and salary covered. €25/28m buy option clause not mandatory included. Plan confirmed,” he states.
Okafor has largely played the role of impact substitute since arriving at Milan from Red Bull Salzburg in the 2023 summer window, and his most recent goal was in the first game of the season, the 2-2 draw with Torino.
Good luck brother.
25 – 28 mil? He’s not even our 1st team player. He’s still injured. His MV is around 15 mil. How on earth Leipzig want to pay that kind of amount. Option to buy will be just, well, option.
Milan bosses would be stupid not to know that the buyout clause will NOT be activated on those terms. it was just announced to keep the media off their backs for now. their ego will not allow them to accept that they goofed on his signing.
Something they hounded previous management for, its come full circle and they cant take the heat. The algorithm that brought in Emerson cant be trusted.
There is no mandatory activation conditions. The high price is just a safety net for Milan in case he gets there and surprisingly takes off.
Most likely if the loan goes well the will negotiate a fair price in the summer lower than the contract figure.
More likely still. He returns to Milan.
Now that Okafor is gone, we most likely either need a deputy for Leao or straight up a striker, with the latter being a preference. It’s most likely to be Rashford although personally I’m not quite reassured with him. His best seasons are terrific, but his worst ones are quite the thing.
Rashford is alternating good seasons and bad seasons way too often for my liking and I feel like his salary, disciplinary record, behaviour and general name don’t make for a very good deputy. And if the idea is to make him our main striker, wouldn’t be better to go for an actual striker rather than a left-winger who can sometimes play as a striker. I feel like once again, we’re going for the wrong profile here. It’s seems like our management is incapable of understanding simple things as what a striker is, what a defensive midfielder is, they always go for players in positions where we have plenty and leave the team shallow is other positions.
But with that said, on paper at least, this is doesn’t look like our worst decision (which isn’t saying much). Rashford isn’t a trash player and his problems might be a Manchester United effect rather himself. Just like Ibrahimovic, Giroud and Pulisic, he might get rejuvinated with us, who knows ?
Bring me Benzema!