Just when it looked as though Pierre Kalulu’s move to Juventus would be pushed through very quickly, there has been a slowdown in the negotiations.
As our colleagues at SempreMilan.it report, the existence of a negotiation between Juventus and Milan for Kalulu has been spoken about by various sources and it is indeed true. Cristiano Giuntoli has offered a €4m loan plus €14m option to buy and bonuses on top too, we can confirm.
It is an operation worth a total of €20m but it does not give Milan any certainty at present, because the Bianconeri have refused up until now to include an obligation to buy or to set conditions that allow for guaranteed income aside from the loan fee, causing a stalemate.
Milan’s stance
First of all, we must clarify that it was Milan who put Kalulu on the market and not the other way around. In a conversation with the agent, the Rossoneri communicated that the Frenchman – if they were to receive a suitable offer – would be sold to make room for the new arrival Strahinja Pavlovic.
After some attempts for Malick Thiaw – who was linked to Newcastle United but remained at Milanello in the absence of suitable offers – it was up to Kalulu’s agent to explore the market in search of new destinations.
David Manasseh, the Frenchman’s representative, proposed his client to several clubs, both in Italy and abroad. The Bianconeri showed themselves to be the most interested, especially after the Jean-Clair Todibo operation collapsed.
Deadlock develops
According to what our team has learned, the offer made by Juventus will remain the same until the end of the mercato. In fact, the Old Lady do not seem to be willing to include an obligation to buy for the defender, who remains a target but only under the current conditions.
For his part, Kalulu has not yet given his full approval to the idea of moving to Turin, because he has so far unresolved doubts regarding his actual possibilities of playing. The former Lyon man is also waiting for other offers from abroad, having not yet received the necessary reassurances from Juve.
In the meantime, Milan are waiting, continuing to evaluate Pierre Kalulu at no less than €20m. Juve’s offer is there and will remain there until the end of the window, but the directors are confident that the right offer can also come from the Premier League and/or Ligue 1.
Royal better convince me this season, as of now, he hasn’t been superior to Kalulu
He has not even played for Milan yet!?
You don’t have a clue about football. Royal is superior to Kalulu and Calabria combined. Smh
Please, come with some constructive comments.
I’ve seen some Tottenham games last season. You know who is playing on Emerson’s position? That is Porro (started 35 of 35 games). Emerson is a bench player and never impressed me with his positioning, long pass into box (as bad as Calabria) or defensively attributes when he came in or played some cup games. But i really hope Fonseca can do something about it
Yup
Agreed – let’s pray he rediscovers himself
Coming of a season where he was injured for almost the entirety of it, Milan will have hard time finding a team that will agree to obligation or outright sale. No different than any other player that had injury riddled season.
I don’t see Kalulu starting at Juventus anyway. They have Danilo and Bremer for the CB positions, and Cambiaso will most likely start at right back with that new guy Cabal starting at left back.
I’d rather we sell Thiaw instead of Kalulu to be honest.
#metoo
Yea, but Juve are desperate enough to do it 🙂 All they have right now is midfield. There are question marks all over defense and offense in their team. And manager of course …
I’d love an obligation, but even at an option this is a good deal …
But without an obligation to buy, the deal may come back to bite us. It’s too low risk for a direct competitor for the 4 UCL spots. If he does very well, they exercise the option to buy without any buy-back clause for us. If he gets injured again or sucks they ship him back to us at the end of the loan, more devalued, and we are stuck with him. So, I think we are right about insisting for more guarantees and/or waiting to see if other offers materialize from other clubs.
Maybe the current deal would be fine if he was going to another Serie A team that is not called Inter, Juve, Atalanta, Roma, Lazio, Bologna, or Napoli, that is, a team that does not represent a threat for the top 4 spots (a mid-table or lower team would also be more likely to keep him after the loan); or to a team abroad. But making Juve’s life too easy does have a bitter taste so I hope we stand firm and extract some additional concessions from Juve; hopefully they change their tune if they get more desperate with the end of the window approaching. I mean, we don’t have a lot to lose by waiting. The worst that can happen is that we fold and accept the deal Juve is proposing, before August 30th, but let’s see if something better comes our way, or if Juve is the one that folds.
And the thing is, I do like Kalulu more than error-prone, gaffe-prone Thiaw. I do hope that the more time goes on since Kalulu’s last injury (and hoping that he doesn’t get injured again), his form will improve and re-approach that of the Scudetto season. Kalulu is also more flexible than Thiaw. The latter can only play CB while Kalulu can play CB and RB so there is more depth in keeping Kalulu than in keeping Thiaw. I do understand that we don’t have a current offer for Thiaw. But again, there is an advantage in waiting. What if suddenly there is an offer for Thiaw? In this case, we should sell Thiaw and keep Kalulu.
No it’s not – not with Option.
If they don’t exercise he loses even more value and we get a Balo-Toure situation again….
Plus are we now thin on CB’s if we sell Kalulu? We have 4 but one injury like last year and we are in a bit of trouble. Unless the plan is to just put Theo there.
We lost Kajer and replaced him with Pavlovic. So usually we carry 5….now we have 4 – AND one of them is Gabbia – who is a bit unproven and a bit slow for a HIGH PRESS system
We should allow this guy to breath. I believe he will find a place in that Milan defence line soon. He has the ability to do so because of his experience before injury stuff
Now Juve be smart or cheap? Or Interested FC? Cheap Italian Owner some says
I think Juve spent a lot with contract redemptions in the past year. I’m not sure this deal will actually happen at all.
Maybe some would disagree, but for me, I don’t mind if Kalulu goes without obligation to buy. He doesn’t cost Milan fortune when Milan bought him, or his salary, so Milan won’t be that headache having him in the team, unlike Origi. And maybe, just maybe, after a good loan spell, and if that Juve don’t exercise the option to buy, Kalulu might be able to find himself important once again in Milan next season, like how he was during scudetto season. Maybe the case of Saelemakers and Gabbia can happen to him, that they were like reborn after loan spell. And also, I wanna see how Thiaw in this season, if he can be better than last year. Until now, I am not convinced with Thiaw, especially his consistency. So, Kalulu can be replace him in case Milan will cash out Thiaw next year.
Those are good points. You did influence positively my view of this deal, by making these points.
Selling Kalulu is a big risk. This milan team has never been able to survive without 5 CBs. Keeping only 4 cb is suicide given that we are playing champions league. Squad depth has always been an issue for us.
He can’t be sold without an obligation. Any player that plays from Milan to Juve and comes back would be weird from a fans perspective
Whenever a team makes it openly clear it wants or needs to offload a player for any reason, it immediately puts itself at the mercy of other teams who can dictate their own terms and conditions. Pretty obvious, no?