Fabrizio Romano has claimed that AC Milan have the ‘match point’ when it comes to Joshua Zirkzee with just one final issue to be agreed upon.
We reported earlier this week that the discussions have reached a make-or-break point between Milan and Zirkzee’s entourage and it is solely because of Kia Joorabchian and his Sport Invest UK agency.
After suggestions that the gap on commissions was being reduced, Zirkzee’s entourage – led by the British-Iranian businessman – have made it clear that they will not budget on their €15m demands.
That has left Milan with a choice to make: they must either pay up and sign the player they have been working on for over two months, or continue to take a principled stance against agent extortion and potentially miss out.
Romano spoke on Playback about the Zirkzee negotiation involving Milan and his agent, with his comments relayed by MilanNews.
“I can confirm that Manchester United are simply asking what Joshua Zirkzee’s situation is in terms of salary, release clause, how to activate the release clause, and how it works with Bologna. So, United, after the renewal of Šeško with Leipzig, began to ask about the situation of Joshua Zirkzee,” he said.
“On Zirkzee, we must reiterate today too that Milan are the absolute favourites, because Milan has a salary agreement with the player for less than 4 million euros, bonuses included. So the salary is there, the contract is ready, the player is enthusiastic about staying in Italy and going to Milan.
“Milan started working on this agreement months ago, not today, not yesterday, not last week. That was always the main goal. We saw Benjamin Šeško in the rumours, never close, never concrete. We have seen many attackers linked to Milan. The main focus has always been Joshua Zirkzee.
“But now it’s about closing the deal. Milan must be quick if they want to close because other clubs, with Šeško no longer on the market, can activate the option for Zirkzee. But Milan are the absolute favourites, let me repeat it once again.
“And they have the opportunity to close the deal with the player’s entourage because they are discussing the commissions, they are discussing the details of the deal with the agent. So now everything is in Milan’s hands. Milan has a match point, so to speak, on Zirkzee.”