This afternoon, Carlo Pellegatti revealed what happened when AC Milan tried to sign Rasmus Hojlund in the summer, even stating that it was a done deal.
How Milan operate in the mercato is of great interest for many. Indeed, the spending is often scrutinised and the sales even more so. Today, there have been renewed questions about RedBird’s plans and perhaps this story may feed them more.
A little under 10 months ago, the Rossoneri were looking to sign out-of-favour Manchester United striker Hojlund. The Dane was on his way out and with Massimiliano Allegri wanting a true striker, the youngster was a priority target.
Yet, he headed to Napoli instead, with the Diavolo fumbling over fees.
Pellegatti tells all
Today, Pellegatti has looked at what happened for the deal to break down and why the former Atalanta man is now scoring goals in Naples, rather than at San Siro. His words to Pressing have been relayed by MilanNews.
“We need to apologise to Max Allegri, who, even making me angry, always said that Milan had to finish in the top four, but he did so because he knew the limits of his team. Some say this team is strong, but if we make a comparison with last year’s squad, Thiaw, Theo and Reijnders are no longer there.
“I also mention the names of Abraham and Jovic because today Milan doesn’t have two players like Abraham and Jovic. Allegri knew the limits of the team. And then in January the disaster happened: in December he asked for a striker and a defender because he was fighting for the Scudetto, but the club told him that there wasn’t a single euro.
“They signed Fullkrug, Disasi they wouldn’t let him sign, but then at a certain point, the 30 million for Mateta appeared.
“AC Milan [in the summer] had already bought Hojlund, on loan with an obligation to buy for €35 million. It was all done, but the club said they didn’t want the obligation. So he went to Napoli. What can Allegri do if they sign Nkunku on the last day after making the mistake of signing Boniface?
“AC Milan have needed a strong striker for years and they still haven’t signed him. Even in January, the club showed they don’t have the right ambition.
Exactly what I have been saying. People calling for a new manager, who cares who is the manager? Nobody will win titles with re**ds in the transfers department? Guardiola would leave Milan after 1 season when he’d see what kind of id**ts surround him. That is the reality. Allegri asked for 3 players and got 1. That is it, and it wasn’t specific names but experienced defender, real no.9,and an experienced midfielder. If Rabiot didn’t have that situation at Marseille they would sign 0 of those and clowns would blame Allegri. The guy that said this team is not good enough and said exactly what he needs. Instead he got 4 DMs and no real box to box players but Rabiot. 0 real strikers (Fullkrug came later but he is embarrassing. And a central defender that took 4 months to acclimatize to Milan. Ridiculous, fire all the clowns and get what the manager wants.
And people are blaming him for being behind Inter and Napoli. Inter had 4 good strikers and bought Bony. Napoli spent money to buy strikers in the summer and again in January, just because they had injuries. Milan loaned Fullkrug. That is the difference, s**t bring s**t, not gold.
Until Furlani, Moncada and Ints leaves then nothing will change these bozos are sabotaging Milan.
Why spend 30m on Ricci instead of spending 40m on Ederson from Atalanta? Because Ricci is Italian? Is he better than Ederson? NO.
Was Ricci the player we needed to improve the midfield? NO. Ricci is not a top player.
Why waste 35m on Jashari who never played in Serie A? With money we spent on Ricci and Jashari we could have easily bring Tonali back to Milan.
Why sign Nkunku for 49m instead of Hoijlund for 35m? How stupid are these people?
We sell Theo and sign Estupinan? LOL. Milan should be studied by all clubs and how to destroy a winning team.
Redbird and Cardinale are clueless about running a football club.
Nkunku over Hojlund is one of the biggest fails I’ve ever seen. Let’s get a 27 year old injury instead of a super fit 22 year old, that did great in Serie A at 19. And of course, pay more.
Hojlund has 10 goals in serie A in 2251 minutes.
Nkunku has 5 goals in serie A in 1104 minutes.
Both have 3 assists.
Neither one of them should have been signed.
He is a striker that Allegri asked for. He asked for a no.9. While I agree there were better options, it was too late, there weren’t anymore.
Allegri asked Juventus to spend 80 mil on Vlahovic and Vlahovic has never been the same while playing under Allegri and after Allegri.
It was reported that Allegri also asked for Kean. He had Kean at Juventus. Kean worst seasons in his career were all at Juventus under Allegri. In his last season he scored zero goals. Goes away from Allegri and scores 20+ with Fiorentina.
This narrative that if Milan only gave Allegri the striker he wanted is nothing more than an excuse. Strikers suffer under Allegri and his teams have trouble scoring goals.
Juventus signed Vlahovic because he scored 20 goals and added 2 assists, in 24 games (and in half a season). Not because Allegri asked them.
The “narrative” that the club should have got the players manager asked (and not specific players, but players with specific characteristics) is an excuse? You’re a fool. No point in even discussing with you. This is basic common sense you don’t have.
Im a fool because I bring up facts that striker have down seasons under Allegri.
Got it.
Allegri sucks.
People bring up what he did 10 years ago in a league where Juventus could have won even without a coach.
Mourinho used to be a great coach but now he is just a dinosaur, just like Allegri
No, it is because you made it up. He scored about the same as he did in Fiorentina the season before. This half a season spike was a spike. He is 20-25 goal contributions per season striker. Consistently. Last year he had 20, this year he has 10 because he is injured and the season before last he had 22. 5 years ago at Fiorentina he had 24. You made it up!! Like I’ve said, you’re a fool. Fools like to do that.
And I forgot to address Moise Kean. Last year was an obvious spike. He won’t ever repeat a season like that. He won’t score 10 goals this whole Serie A season. What happened man? 😀
Ibrahimovic had his best or 2nd best season in Italy under Allegri, numbers wise, and highest of his career at that point. What happened there? Should we go through all the strikers and compare them before and after Allegri or your realized your opinion is not the truth? It’s ridiculous.
Only 7 of the 24 goals where at Juventus, the other were at Fiorentina. He moved to Juventus in January.
He never reached or come close to scoring 20 goals in all competitions under Allegri.
When did Vlahovic have 20 goals? Last season you said?
He scored a total of 17 and that’s all competitions. Only 10 in serie A.
Instead of calling people fools, make sure you know what the hell you talking about.
Kean even this season still scored more goals than he ever did under Allegri.
He also went away on loan while at Juventus and surprise surprise he had a better season than any season under Allegri.
What happened man?
This is so easy
He is bringing Ibrahimovic.
First of all Ibrahimovic is one of the greatest players ever. He would score goals even if you are the coach.
2nd, are you actually bringing something up from 2011/12 in 2026?
Ha ha ha. Stop embarrassing yourself
I was talking about the season before? He contributed to 23 goals in total in season 20/21 at Fiorentina. His numbers are consistent. Even that year when he was half a season at Juventus he had 11 in half a season, so full season would be around 22 or a few more?
Which part is the proof you have? Show me. Because numbers prove you are absolutely wrong. He had half a season spike and that is your statistical evidence that he is underperfomring and scoring less under Allegri? Seriously? Allegri left, he didn’t score 50 goals?
Moise Kean never played full minutes at Juventus. He was mostly a backup. You don’t even know the facts. You are comparing a part time player that was behind C. Ronaldo to that same player playing at Fiorentina years later as a first striker. Of course he scored more goals, he didn’t play over 1000 minutes in a whole season at Juventus. He still had 7 goal contributions. I understand you’re a real fool, but try checking the minutes that player played those seasons. 😀 It is amusing to read this, but also sad at the same time.
Ibrahimovic – well you said that strikers underperform under Allegri and I’ve just shown you the numbers of 3 of them and that you are 100% wrong. Which other do you have? 😀 I am not cherry picking like you are, and trying to fake data to show how you are right.
Moise Kean this season
Total : 33 9 4 5 / – / 1 2.344′
Goal contribution every 180 minutes.
At Juventus 20/21
44 6 3 5 / – / 1 1.436′
Goal contribution every 159 minutes.
What is better? If you need help let me know.
Stop being a joke.
“You’re a fool. No point in even discussing with you. ”
LOL. Priceless. Absolutely priceless coming from YOU. The 8-year-old kid who bashes everyone all the time. 😂😂😂😂😂
Bb don’t waste your time on this boy he talks too much with no sense
I agree management are useless and gave Allegri a load of deadwood instead of who he asked for but he’s partly to blame for this sh!t show too – no speed no creativity no passion – it’s like we’re playing in treacle.. (unless, bizarrely, we’re playing inter) I can’t take it anymore 🤢
Of course he is. But most comments are “Allegri has to go” and somehow Tare is a mastermind sport director that couldn’t sign 2 proper players in the whole transfer window. Furlani is not even mentioned…
These problems have been around long before Tare. Let’s not make him the scapegoat. You could bring the best DS in the world, and he’d still have to contend with Cardinale and Furlani.
No, he wouldn’t. The best don’t accept being second fiddle and someone else dictating what they do. Tare is for Torino, Lazio, Brighton etc..
Let’s not complain, let’s be satisfied with everything the club is doing.
When we put up real players that the club should be signing, they said we aren’t coaches and that we wouldn’t know what player would fit in. So, let’s continue enjoying more signing of the Riccis of Serie A, of course they are in abundance, let’s continue piling up mediocre players and expect to put up a show in the UCL.
Gyokeres at Arsenal today is a product of massive Arsenal fans pressure on the management to sign him.
We are not coaches indeed, but we are all commentators here lamenting on here everyday.
I dare say, every true fan is a coach, an advisor, a commentator, a pundit, an ambassador, a potential scout and everything you can think of for the club he loves.
It’d be great if the fans could stand up for existing players rather than constantly demanding those players be sold or replaced.
Ok buddy, lead the way.
Apart from Rabiot in midfield, and maybe we can make a case for Puli, Gimenez, Maignan and a few defenders, who else can we defend?
I’m sorry, I support Milan and I don’t defend mediocrity.
“I’m sorry, I support Milan and I don’t defend mediocrity.”
Well said! Mediocre players won’t get us winning trophies again.
What a bunch of clowns run this club…
I said on here in January – if our front two were Abraham and Jovic they would have circa 10 goals each and we’d be 30m richer (no Nkunku but 10m for Tammy). At that point we were signing Mateta then didn’t because his career was over – 3 goals this week 🫣🫣🫣.
Pray the new stadium gets built soon because this is every summer until Gerry has made money on land.
Well isn’t the solution mentioned in the article.
Had the club simply not engaged in any transfer activity this summer except for signing Rabiot and Modric then they’d be in a better position.
They’d still have Thaiw, Theo, Reijnders, and Jovic (not sure if they’d need to spend money tying up loose ends with any of those).
Ok they missed out on tjr champions league so needed to sell someone – Reijnders to be replaced by Modric and Rabiot.
The club could even have kept their captain….
This happens nearly every transfer window. The club doesn’t improve – it goes backwards.
It buys and sells the wrong players – usually selling a player that is central to the club’s identity thus ripping out its soul, signing multiple players for positions that are already filled, and not addressing key weaknesses.
This has been happening for over 20 years.
And it comes from panicking – trying to pander to fans who want shiny new things. Like a partner demanding endless renovations to a house it’ll eventually undermine its structural integrity.
Golf, maybe? Romantasy novels?
Point taken?