Some more background has emerged on what led AC Milan to the signing of Christopher Nkunku from Chelsea in the summer.
According to Calciomercato.com’s Daniele Longo, a direct meeting between super agent Pini Zahavi and Igli Tare is scheduled before the end of the year. This long-planned meeting will open up several avenues for discussion, both present and future.
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On the table are the futures of Robert Lewandowski (a difficult target), several young talents and Nkunku. The French forward’s situation in particular will be hotly debated and could change many things.
Having joined Milan in the final stages of last summer’s transfer window from Chelsea for €38m plus €4m in bonuses, Nkunku is significantly underperforming. Beyond his lack of goals scored, the decline of a player who seems very far away from the one seen at RB Leipzig.
The player ‘isn’t happy’ as per the report, and the same can be said for the club and Massimiliano Allegri. An early departure isn’t out of the question at this point: Nkunku is available for sale, and offers will be considered.
Further background emerges
Longo also spoke to MilanVibes and revealed that Giorgio Furlani was not convinced about signing Nkunku for €38m, because he said “it’s too high as an investment, we’ve already done Jashari”. For Milan, the risk of making two €40m purchases was too high.
However, Tare explained it to him as a market opportunity. His agent Zahavi has historically had an excellent relationship with Tare. He also operates very frequently in the Balkans area, and over the years has developed a strong bond with the former Lazio director.
There will be a meeting in which Tare will ‘tell Zahavi to find a buyer for Nkunku’. Now, it remains to be seen whether any buyers come forward.
last time i saw report say the opposite, that furlani wanted nkunku and proceeded with the purchase himself and tare didnt want him.
This. I don’t know what to believe anymore.
couldve just given camarda all these minutes…
I don’t trust Tare anymore
Like i said when he signed hes only here so furlani can blame someone tare said many times were looking for a number 9 so this is just furlani passing the blame
Tare Nkunku Jashari all garbage together
Jashari is not garbage. He is coming back from a horrific injury, a broken leg no less. Give him some time to stabilize and recover his form. I’m quite sure he will be helpful for us. Nkunku on the other hand is indeed garbage.
Jashari has looked good so far. We need to see more from him before we know whether he’s good enough, but he’s not a bust.
At this point, we HAVE seen enough of Nkunku, and he IS a bust.
For young players, it can take a season or two, but when you get a good veteran, you know right away.
Pulisic looked great and scored in his first match
Rabiot looked great in his first match
Modric was world class from his first touch
Giroud was great from his first match
Beckham, Ibra, etc.
Garbage as you
Nkunku is a bust. The earlier we get rid of him, the better. The problem is that we are replacing him with Fullkrug, who is just as bad. It’s hard to understand why we are replacing a washed has-been who can’t score, with another washed has-been who can’t score (and is said by the West Ham fan base to be lazy and unmotivated). Fullkrug has zero goals and zero assists this season and last scored in April. He had a grand total of 3 goals in two seasons. He’s Origi 2.0 and I struggle to see how he will be useful. Sure, he’s low risk on a free loan with no obligation to buy, but he’s low benefit too. Why bother?
He’s bigger???
No doubt Nkunku is bad, the guy still hasn’t found his way onto the ball. At this point Füllkrug is what he is, I doubt he’ll be redeemed and only have a slim hope he’ll be a meaningful presence. But at this stage name a 40M striker who offers guarantees? Milan can’t afford another nkunku or Gimenez situation so roll the dice on a low risk signing. 2nd in the table at this stage while averaging 2.1 points per game isn’t a position to justify panic buys in January. Hopefully Milan save now and are willing to buy/sign a proper striker in the summer who guarantees double digit goal contributions.
The thing is, it’s difficult to find quality no. 9s these days. It’s a dying breed, thanks to the high-press school of managers like Klopp or the tiki-taka of Guardiola. And when some kid does show something, they’re immediately overhyped and over valued. Look at Hojlund and Zirkzee. Two strikers that transferred to the EPL for over 60M after scoring maybe 10 goals per season each for one season. Now one is back in Serie A and the other looks to be on his way back. If they score 15-20 goals, it’s 80M-100M plus. See Haaland, Ekitike, Isak, Gyokeres, Osimhen. Good wingers are nearly the same. Defenders less, but still inflated. Look at Leoni, 18 years old, one season in Serie A with Parma and boom 35M to Liverpool. Speaking of, Liverpool signed Darwin Nunez for 85M and three seasons later sold him for half the price. This happens all the time at rich clubs. They just don’t bat an eye because they have SO MUCH money.
What is Milan to do? Serie A earns 25% of what the PL does in revenue. Milan has the spending power of Championship team. Sunderland outspent every Serie A club as a newly promoted side! We can’t afford a 70M striker. People pointing out that we could have gotten Osimhen for 75M instead of spending 30M here, 35M there. Sure, but those other strikers didn’t all come in the same window. So Osimhen for 75M and nobody else. Then what happens to the holes in midfield or defense?
Milan and the rest of Serie A can only do three things in the market: 1. Rely on the youth sector, 2. sign raw talent from smaller leagues at age 18 or 19 and hope they pan out, or 3. try to snag a “deal” with a player at a richer club who is not doing well there. All of these options carry risk, with maybe option 1 being the least risky, since there is virtually no money spent promoting a young player through the ranks. Option 2 sometimes work, like in the case of Leao, Theo (until his immaturity got the best of him), or Tonali, and sometimes it fails like in the case of Okafor, Musah, and CDK. Likewise, option 3 sometimes works, like in Pulisic’s case, and sometimes it doesn’t like in Nkunku’s case.
TLDR: Getting it right on the market is not as easy as it seems. HITC Sevens constantly puts out these great video about terrible transfers and the state of football finance. I highly recommend these to people.
Thank you for that balanced and serious Comment. Very good. I Agree.
Good comment.
yea of course “the Rat” never wrong, he’s the genius w/ football knowledge better than ai + google + Maldini combine. all the tropies Milan got is nothing more than preparation to be a big club, to be deserved the Rat aka king of masterpiece aka sh!tman foolani.
all the bad thing happen till this very day is Maldini’s mistake, the Rat always right & will never do wrong.. even if they cheing the name of the club to be ac foolani & fans club foolanisti is still not enough to thanks him.
He will be Gimenez 2.0
would prefer to get Chiesa back to Italy, promote Camarda back
We are always in a hurry with new player. Same thing we did with Leao in his first season until he proved his quality. We did it to CDK and he went on to win the only cup eluding Milan.
Give him chance he’s coming out of long injury and it’s a new league
nkunku is new origi more than new CDK.
position, the way they play, ages, PL overated garbage, just too many similarities
Just crying in here as usual 😅
sounds like pockets being lined