Mercato

Sky: Two players out, Bundesliga star in – the possible late midfield moves for Milan

The AC Milan directors do not consider the midfield department to be complete at the moment and they are hoping for some exits to fund a final move, a report claims.

Sky report that after the four new signings that have strengthened the squad available to Paulo Fonseca, at Milan the objective is now to reduce the number of players and among the main candidates to leave are Ismael Bennacer and Yacine Adli.

The former seems to have a market in Saudi Arabia and while his sale cannot be considered close, Milan would not stand in his way if they were faced with a significant offer and if the player wanted to go.

With the departure of the former Empoli man, Milan would go for Manu Koné of Borussia Monchengladbach, who has the same agent as Mike Maignan which could help accelerate the dialogues more quickly. Daniele De Rossi’s Roma are also targeting him.

Clubs from Qatar seem to be the most keen on the idea of exploring a deal for Adli, with developments expected on that front especially after he was left out of the squad for the opening game of the Serie A season against Torino on Saturday.

Tags AC Milan Ismaël Bennacer Manu Kone

57 Comments

  1. Bennacer leaving would be a very bad move, get Kone and sell RLC. We can easily get 25-30M, he’s useless in double-pivot. Vos should be the new sub-regista along with Zeroli.

    3. RLC and Bennacer are next in line…
      Bennacer is very good if he can turn to the shape of 2 years ago. The way that he’s currently playing, he doesn’t justify the 8milliion gross that he gets per year (4+million net).

      Add to this the fact that he has the Africa cup every 2 years and that he also has an increased chance of injuries, and frankly it becomes hard to justify keeping Bennacer.

      I don’t like dismantling teams but for me Bennacer, Adli and then RLC + Thiaw are the weakest links ( an U22 or italian backups for striker and for Theo need to also be considered)

  2. Andreas Christensen from Barcelona is available for 25 million Euro, he is an ball playing DC and have played DMC for both Chelsea, Barca and Denmark.

    His strengths are vision, tackling, hard work and aerial.

    An excellent choice in my book, although admitted I am biased as a Dane.

    1. How much salary will he ask? Thats my question. Some site cite 9m gross salary, thats around 6-7m net. Which will put him on most expensive in our squad. And he is already 28.

  4. We need to stop tinkering with the squad. Too many changes is not good.

    Bennacer is important, experienced and capable.

    I can understand us needing to rehome players like b. Toure, Origi, Adli, Pobega etc but we should be keeping our proven players like Kalulu and Bennacer.

    If a sacrifice is needed surely RLC is the obvious choice!
    Bennacer, Reijnders and Fofana should be the core of our midfield this season

    2. You would think that a young midfield winning a Scudetto would be more valuable to Milan executives and fans. Kessié was somehow too expensive for that tight salary cap, Tonali was selling jerseys only in Italy and not in the US, Bennacer is on the verge of retirement according to some people. We should get new midfielders at the draft.

      1. Bennacar started the same number of games as krunic that season and krunic was preferred in the final 4 matches. Why the love for Bennacar and hate for Krunic. Krunic wanted to make half of Bennacars salary.

        1. Krunic was attacker not midfielder. He was used in midfield by Pioli.
          He has done reasonably good and we cannot complain his good or bad work.

          But as a fact he is clueless covering spaces in counter attacking situations and not a bedt defender compared to others.

          Hate was not against him personally, as a player he has done best of his ability but its Pioli who is not responsible.

          The 4games you are talking are after Bannacer injury. Or if its before he could have been considered for his physicality. Its the coach who décide how he want to play with midfield.

          Bennacer will be supported obviously for what he has done at Milan. Fans are not dumb to see the things

      2. B, you sound like a broken record player. Kessie this… Tonali that…. We have all moved on. You’re still stuck in 20/21.

        I’m not sure what issue you have with the management trying to upgrade this team season after season and plug the holes…

  5. Just a point worth raising, the midfield was overhauled last year…is this admission from the ownership they they got it wrong?

    1. Funny isn’t it

      RLC, Musah, Reijnders = 60m
      Fofana= 20m

      Thats 80m spent and the only functional midfielders are Bennacer, Reijnders and Fofana

      64m for Tonali is not looking like such a great deal now

      1. I just find the whole situation very stinky. It’s alleged that Maldini was fired on the back of the Origi and CDK Mercato, (conveniently forgetting Leao, Mike, Theo etc) neither of whom were going to be starters that season, yet we overhaul the midfield last summer, and are now overhauling it again….anyone gonna be fired? Surely the precedent for cocking up has been set? Although I believe there’s more to it than that.

        1. I’d argue it was more strange when he was not fired previously when he didn’t sell players who were unwilling to re-sign leading to a break of the fair play rules. In this probationary period until 2026, If they are unable to sell players and break their terms leading to sanctions, they will definitely be fired.

          The midfield has become the most important position in football. Investing 80M is hardly an overhaul. Rice and Caicedo were purchased for 120m+ and no one called it a rebuild…the need for specific characteristics in the midfield and depth should be invested in. And after the first game of the season it was pretty clear that bennacar is not functional in the midfield…at least not for the pressure they want to apply. He and RLC both did not move quickly enough to apply pressure leaving the back line exposed…injuries suck and talented players can become not functional.

          musah, reijnders, and hopefully fofana and one whoever they can bring in hopefully can stay healthy but more are needed.Maldinis last signing (RLC) and Bennacar (resigning), have created contracts that have a lot of risk of hurting the ability to sign and pay new players in the future.

          1. Lol… you should be smoking something bro.

            RLC was hired by the current management not by Maldini. You didn’t leave him yet after he was fired so bad. What more needed to forget his bad signings(as you say and potentially it turn out to be wrong after what has Dekaetalare became today)

          2. You’re right, mate. I had the same feeling after the game. Bennacer wasn’t poor, but, he wasn’t that good at that position. I concluded the management would want to get someone else. I like him, but, that’s football.

          3. Scouted by Maldini…indeed, signed after Maldini had left. Unfortunately, the scouting report mentions he is not good in a pressing system, and he disappears often…To be clear, I’m not saying he was bad at signing players, he was bad at creating a sustainable system of selling players (allowing them to play out their contracts) to buy players.

  6. I’d also agree that RLC does seem to be the one that doesn’t fit at the moment. Fonseca seems to want a more radiation so no10 (Pulisic, Liberali) and I don’t see RLC working in the pivot. He is more suited to a 3 man midfield

  7. RLC has an elite skill. Is he the most rounded player…no. But he is a bull with the ball at his feet and he can finish in the box. Maybe we don’t need that every game, but many games we will. You don’t sell a player with an elite skill unless they want to go. Neither Aldi or Benny has an elite skill anymore, and it is probably time to part ways.

    The problem is the mercato this year has been underwhelming. Every major team has 3-5 guys they would like to jettison and no one seems to be a buyer.

    1. I just find the whole situation very stinky. It’s alleged that Maldini was fired on the back of the Origi and CDK Mercato, (conveniently forgetting Leao, Mike, Theo etc) neither of whom were going to be starters that season, yet we overhaul the midfield last summer, and are now overhauling it again….anyone gonna be fired? Surely the precedent for cocking up has been set? Although I believe there’s more to it than that.

    2. Elite skills? Brah, what are you on and can I have some?
      Ruben is lucky af he’s playing for a club like Milan atm..his career was practically over. He should be at Fulham or palace lvl club atm

      1. Elite or not, still contributes plenty with 10g’s last season. If our “non-elites” score 10 goals a season we’re in good place.

  8. Benacer is a proven currency. We know what we will get from him.
    Kone is just a random dude from a random German club. He might make it at Milan he might flop. Flop is more likely.

    If they really want to bring more players in, scout Italians ffs. We need Italian players.
    Buy prati, develop prati and in 2 years he’s gonna be 2 times the player kone is.

    2. Not sure why Prati’s not been scouted – saw him a few times last season and he looks a player that would fit in well at Milan.

    3. Kone is just a random dude from a random German club? Have you watched him play for the French National Team? I think you’re basing your opinion on some report from someone clueless because it doesn’t seem like you’ve watched him play because if you had, you’d know that the “dude” is excellent.

      Extremely dangerous, offensively competent, passes the ball very well, very vertical, athletic, mobile, dictates the pace of the offense; and disorganizes defenses that have to pay attention to what he is doing, opening space for the forwards. He is an excellent Central Attacking Midfielder, much better than RLC at that. I would certainly welcome Koné if we can get him. I would sell RLC immediately if we could sell him and get Koné to replace him; big upgrade.

      Yes, we have Liberali and he is equally as good as Koné at least potentially; better said, he likely will be as good as (or better than?) Koné in a couple of years once he beefs up more, muscle-wise, and acquires a bit more experience. Once Liberali matures we’re set at CAM, but as of now, Koné would be very helpful (and even with Liberali, it wouldn’t hurt to have two CAMs to alternate given the number of games a season has).

      Signing Koné would be a very smart move. Anyway, unfortunately it probably won’t happen because we’re too close to the end of the mercato and we have to unload the dead wood before we sign more people because the squad is extremely bloated. If we don’t sell people like right now and engage in emergency talks with Koné, his agent and his club, it won’t happen and that’s a pity.

        1. So, he was being targeted by Liverpool, PSG, and Bayern until he unfortunately had a knee injury. So I guess these very top teams didn’t really see any special quality in Koné, huh?

          Let’s look at stats. Nothing special? In the Bundesliga (not the worst of leagues) his offensive stats of dribbling forward place him at the top 3% in the league. Tackles and defensive interceptions, top 1% in the league. Not bad, huh? Nothing special?

          I don’t believe you. You have not seen him play (or else unless you don’t even know what the sport of football is, you’d realize that he is good). Maybe you saw him play in FIFA videogames.

          We need Italian players? Only if they are good enough. This is club football, not national team football. We should go for the best players, regardless of nationality. By the way, I’m Italian, and I certainly do root for the Azzurri, but when I’m rooting for my club Milan, I want the best players; they could come from Mars or Jupiter for all I care.

          1. I’ve seen him play. Nothing special.. Go butter someone else up, Kone is a waste of money and time.

            I couldnt give a fuk less is a player is italian or not. But WE NEED ITA players. It’s the fuking rules.

    4. I disagree on Koné being a random dude, the guy is a legit good player. The problem though is that he doesn’t solve any problem we currently have. Unless Adli and Bennacer both leave, I don’t see the need for Koné who might become a liability.
      And if Bennacer leaves, we will need a regista type of player, someone who can build well from behind while also having decent defensive skills.
      I agree on Prati (or Ricci for that matters)

      2. “someone who can build well from behind while also having decent defensive skills”

        That’s exactly what Koné is. He places top 3% in Bundesliga stats for offensive work by a midfielder, and in the top 1% for defensive work by a midfielder.

        Koné is a much better CAM than RLC who keeps being listed to play as a CAM. He is also much better at defending than all of our midfielders (maybe except Fofana).

        I’m quite sure that Koné would be very helpful. We could let him be the CAM and free Puli to return to the right wing which is his best position. And then, Koné attacks well but also tracks back and does good defensive work, so, yes, he’d solve some of our problems.

        But anyway, I don’t have high hopes that he will be hired, because we are too bloated, we need to offload the deadwood before buying still another midfielder, and the Mercato is dwindling. So we probably will run out of time to get him, which is a shame.

      1. It doesn’t matter too much, we need more Italians and the older ones are either too expensive or not good enough or both.
        Might as well invest in younger Italian players

  9. Thank God Milan is gradually taken shape, especially in the spine of the team –midfield. Yet, there is more to be done. That one additional deep lying midfielder will suffice. But first the clean -up be done and done well!. And so who’s to go or is going? There is a fair consensus here: Adli, Pobega, and one other – (Beneccer/RLC). My take is on RLC to move out for I see in Ben a more of a utility player than the former, Should Ben regain his form he is a spectacle to behold given his skillset and technical abilities.

    1. As many as possible would be my answer. Kessie and tonali are b2b in the 433 as kessie has always played and as Tonali was purchased to play. Even in the double pivot their heat maps are identical to fofonas. There are no longer a positions for midfielders that can only attack or only defend. They must do everything well. Same thing that has happened to fullbacks…if you want to pressure, the defending of the 10 becomes just as important as the pivot as the CB. One weak link and it breaks. (Same with possession)

    2. Ibra said “the mercato is closed once I say it is.” I thought he wasn’t very diplomatic while rebuking what Fonseca said, but we know that one of Ibra’s qualities is not diplomacy, LOL.

    1. I wouldn’t sell RLC right now unless we have a ready replacement who is better than he is. Koné would be that replacement and and in my opinion he is actually better than RLC (who sometimes is very good, but is also very irregular with some very bad games, and for his big body, he is bumped into the ground far too often), so, yes, if we were to sell RLC but immediately also buy Koné, guaranteed, I’d be fine with it, and in my humble opinion I’m far from being an idiot.

      Selling players is a good move regardless of their skills, when an available, better, and feasible replacement is bought.

      Say, should we sell Leão? No, we shouldn’t. But if by some miracle Mbappé wanted to come and play for Milan on a free transfer and due to his love for Milan (that part is true) he would accept a modest salary for his skills, but he only wanted to come if we sold Leão (maybe because he wanted all the playing time and no competition) then, yes, selling Leão and getting Mbappé would be a good idea.

      Before you berate me for even suggesting that Mbappé would come, it’s just a hypothetical for the sake of the argument.

      So, you can’t just say that suggesting we sell RLC is idiotic. It all depends on whom we’d be getting to replace him. Context matters.

  13. It doesn’t look good for Milan. They may just have flattered to deceive during preseason. As for Ibra – it’s all about the Benjamins and his ego.

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