AC Milan sporting director Igli Tare has seemingly taken Christopher Nkunku off the market, while he revealed that Niclas Füllkrug has made a good initial impression.
Milan have made a positive start to the season under Massimiliano Allegri and they ended 2025 just one point off city rivals Inter in top spot. With 10 wins out of 16 games already on the board in Serie A, the turn of the year has brought continued optimism about a possible title push.
While Allegri continues to remain coy about the idea and merely reiterate that the top four is the only major goal for the campaign, there is a potentially season-defining run of games coming. Milan will play five times in the next 18 days, with 15 very valuable points up for grabs.
Tare’s pre-match words
That run begins at the Unipol Domus tonight as the Rossoneri take on Cagliari, a team they have a very good record against but failed to beat in 2024-25. Tare spoke to Sky before kick-off, and MilanNews relayed his words.
Can you tell us about the Fullkrug idea materialised?
“We made the move in time. We were missing some characteristics. After Gimenez’s injury, we did a good job of bringing in Fullkrug, a player who brings a lot of physicality and presence, but also a lot of enthusiasm.
“We’re all surprised by the form he’s shown in this week of training with the team. He’ll help us with our goals.”
Nkunku has recovered. What’s the outlook for his future?
“It’s the transfer window, and there’s a lot of speculation. He’s never been in doubt: he’s completing his integration with the team, and improvements have been seen in recent months. We believe he’ll be an important player.”
What’s the stance on a new defender?
“We’re happy with our defenders; they’ve had a great season. We’re vigilant, and if there’s an opportunity that can help the team, we’ll be there.”
Tare also spoke to DAZN and answered similar questions about the business that could still be done in January.
Can Nkunku go to Fenerbahce?
“We’ve never questioned him. He’s completing his integration, due to various factors: his lack of preparation, and the injury he suffered in September, which slowed his progress a bit. There have been signs of this in the last month.
“He’s settled in well, and the team also likes him. His two goals have given him confidence. It’s a shame about this injury; we’re confident and have never questioned him.”
Could Füllkrug play?
“He’s a player who brings a lot of experience and physicality to the game. He has those characteristics, he’s surprised us all a bit. This week he’s shown a lot of enthusiasm, but above all, a pretty good physical presence.
“He’s got around 30-40 minutes in his legs, and his Milan debut could come today. We decided to bring him in a bit early, in agreement with West Ham, to give us the chance to integrate him into the team and make our first signing in the January transfer window today.”
Is there a need for a defender too?
“We’re very happy with the team, especially the defence. All the players had a good season. Obviously, we’re very vigilant about the transfer market, and if we see any opportunities that improve the situation, we’ll be there. We want to give them every opportunity to achieve our goals.”
A gamble or an experienced player?
“As long as he’s a good player.”
Maybe Tare learned after the Gimenez fiasco of not shopping his player’s before a game.
Why do these journalists keep asking about CBs, we’ve got six! We need mobile attackers
we have 6 center backs? from where . gabbia odogu pavlovich and tomori and de winter. if your brining bartesaghi then whos the lwb deputy? we have 4 centre backs. since odogu is futuro team. we need someone sustainable to stop leaking goals and then go for the goals
Fortini… he is also better than Athekame for RB deputy role
if we had gone for T.Silva it would have been a done cheap winter market. where we would focus on getting Vlahovic for free and maybe Bernardo Silva for free or another CM to replace the horrendeous RLC. which would leave us only leave us with T.Silva replacement and with Lucumi and Gila expiring in 2027 we could have easily signed one of them to complete, cheap and effective mercato.