Marco Palestra is about to make a big-money move according to reports, but question marks have been raised about his valuation.
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While Milan are in chaos trying to entirely reconstruct their management before they can even begin to think about transfer business, other clubs are in negotiations to put the pieces in place for 2026-27.
Regarding the summer transfer window, however, an interesting comparison arises between two players who had nearly the same numbers in the season that has just finished.
Zachary Athekame has so far made 27 Serie A appearances, with a total of 823 minutes played. In that time he has two goals and two assists for Milan. His value is around €10-15m, having signed for €10m from Young Boys last summer.
Surprisingly, Marco Palestra also has almost the same numbers as the young Swiss in the Italian top flight: 37 matches played for Cagliari, more than 3,000 minutes played, with but only one goal and four assists.
His value is estimated at around €50m and it believes to be the Rossoneri’s city rivals Inter that are leading the race to sign him. Why is the fee potentially over four times as much? Age is not a factor (both are 21), so it can only be an added tax of sorts for a ‘homegrown’ player.