Theo Hernandez’s contract situation has been a topic of difficulty for AC Milan, and it seems that this could go on for a while longer.
Despite having one of his worst seasons for Milan, the full-back is still requesting a top salary, and so far, there has been no response or movement from the club.
Daniele Longo, for Calciomercato.com, reports that the Frenchman has today ‘asked for clarity’. His situation has been cloudy for some time now, and with no real movement, he is seeking some assurances about the future.
As has been reported previously, Theo wants a renewal with Milan, after all, the club are ‘his priority’ and he hopes that this remains the situation in the future – a message which he displayed in January, rejecting offers from Como ‘and others’.
Following the Supercoppa, where the 27-year-old was as good as we have seen him in a good while, talks took place and everything about the next contract-to-be is known, but there have not been any further steps taken.
Theo ‘did not like’ the choice to accept Como’s bid, which certainly was a setback, and now the management are required to face the situation. A decision is needed and Theo is awaiting the news.
Usually when a player wants a renewal they are in best form.
Renew at same salary. If he wants an increase we need to see more…
If the repots are to be believed, it seems that the Club wants Théo out more than the other way around. The current management doesn’t like to give big wages and Théo won’t renew unless it’s above 6M€, so for them it’s better to sell him while they can get something out of him.
Théo’s partner likes this city and he probably understood (at least since this winter) that no big club is coming for him. So when his contract expires, he’ll probably end up in some mid-table team in serie A, Ligue 1 or somewhere in the Süper Lig in Turkey.
What? If he was out of contract he would be snapped by a top club yesterday. You can’t have fantasies and then write as real life. SF 100%.
“What? If he was out of contract he would be snapped by a top club yesterday.”
Or Como.
I don’t think any top club is looking at current Théo and thinking “man I wish he was on our team”.
I kind of agree with you, but I think if it’s a free transfer someone will take a chance. If they have to pay 40M with a year left, it won’t be anyone serious.
Yep, he would be snapped in nno time, at the very least by someone like ManU, but most likely something better (or the Saudis)
Inter will be very happy to have him if Theo is free
Nonsense comment, if Theo is free teams like PSG or Chelsea even in serie a like Inter, Juve will snap him immediately, you know these clubs will not hesitant to give him 7 or more million euro per season
Simple. Threaten him with a move to the Spurs. Done.
Honestly though, he’s been on a gradual down slope for a while. The message needs to be the same for anyone: shape up or ship out.
I’d like a swap deal with Destiny Udogie … is that reasonable? A year ago no but now that Spurs will miss out on UCL (perhaps even Europe altogether)
We could see them coming to the table for PSR/FFP reasons. And Theo with a year left on his contract is probably similar value to Udogie now.
London is attractive city for theos partner, PL wages will easily satisfy Theos demands and Destiny returns to Serie A to play for what is hopefully a top 4 side by the summer.
Sell him.
Troublemaker!
Negative attitude 👎
He doesn’t deserve the money he gets!
And sell the rapper too !
“And sell the rapper too” is idiotic. PROFOUNDLY IDIOTIC. It betrays huge misunderstanding of what counts in football.
Hint: Goals are what count, to win games. Not body language. Not perceived “laziness.” Not being irregular with good games and bad games. Not disappearing for entire games or long stretches of a game. Not being a lousy defender or not tracking back. It’s goals. GOALS SCORED. You can’t win without scoring goals. If by season end you have been prolific enough in producing goals, regardless of any other shortcoming (and yes, Rafa does have some shortcomings; who doesn’t?) you have strongly helped the team regardless of the idiots who misperceive a player’s value for a team.
For your information, the “rapper” has already scored 9 times and has provided 7 assists this season, that is, 16 goal participations. He also shot two powerful shots on target saved partially by the opponent’s goalkeeper but the ball then rebounded for two additional scores by another forward’s easy tap-in, which are akin to two additional assists. That’s 18 goal participations already and there are still 3 and a half months left in the season.
For your information, the “rapper” has also earned no fewer than the HUGE number of 109 PKs throughout his career, which is another way to contribute with goals to the teams he played for.
For your information, the “rapper” is the top player in all of Serie A’s last five seasons in number of assists (36), all 600+ players considered.
For your information, the “rapper” has had an average of 29 goal participations per season in each of the last 4 seasons which is top 3 for all 600+ Serie A players, that is, he has performed better than 99.5% of all Serie A players.
For your information, the “rapper” is the ONLY active player who is simultaneously in the top 20 all-time scorers for Milan and top 10 all-time assisters. There are only three other players since Milan was founded in 1899 who have achieved this hallmark, the other three being the Milan legends Gianni Rivera, Kaká and Seedorf. Let it sink in. That’s since 1899. Look at the select company Leão keeps in this hallmark.
For your information, Rafa’s stats as a left winger for all 5 top European leagues are only second to the stats for the current best player in the world, Vini Jr. Rafa is simply the second best left winger in all of Europe. That includes his performing better than ALL starting European left wingers for all other top teams except for Vini Jr’s Real Madrid.
And that’s the player you want us to sell.
Sigh…
Pray tell, if we sell the second best left winger in Europe, and top 3 Serie A player, and top 4 all-time Milan player in scores and assists… who the hell do you think we’d buy that would be affordable but would provide similar numbers???
Because, you know, only Vini Jr did better than Rafa, and we can’t afford Vini Jr.
Is Rafa perfect? Hell, no. But if he were perfect (as in, not only being as prolific as he already is in goals and assists, but also more consistent, with better tracking back, better work rate, etc) he’d be another Vini Jr, and then we wouldn’t be able to afford him. He’d be playing for Real or ManCity or PSG or Bayern.
We are VERY lucky to have him. We can afford him, and he is only slightly less good than Vini Jr, and better than all other left wingers in Europe.
Daddy, chill
I agree with you on selling Leao… he’s way too lazy…but Hernandez can be saved..he can recover…I want him to stay at any cost..We saved Hernandez once when he came from Madrid we can do it again.. hea top player
Renew and sell him anyway. If he doesn’t agree on salary we will fetch very little for him this summer and that will give him more reason to run down his contract. His problem is more attitude than ability so he might find his mojo in the last season to attract interest if he decides to run it down. Catch 22…either way the team must protect themselves…
He’s got a good argument, after a summer of rest and motivated I think he’ll be back to top form. But it’s probably going to be elsewhere next season. Either way, the club better be doing everything to secure a good new left back for summer; there are a lot of decent ones around so choose and invest wisely.
We need to renew and get a decent backup. Then if his form continues to decline we can sell without our backs against the wall
Honestly it seems like Theo has been cooked since just after the winter World Cup in ’22. The constant playing for Milan and France has caught up. Add in another deep run in the Euros last summer and he’s toast.
He’s never really gotten back to consistently being at the level of the scudetto season and, for me, it’s because he’s just shot physically and mentally. Sure he’s had great moments or a great month, but he can’t maintain it.
This is the fault of the management for not finding an adequate deputy to give him some rest. You can’t expect guys to play 75 games a year and stay sharp for years on end.
Well said John. People are quick to jump on the bandwagon when form dips, but let’s be honest, the guy is elite when on his game.
Naive expectation, thinking all players are robots and the higher the salary the more they can’t fail is rife amongst our fans.
Can we honestly replace this guy for less than 50m?
It’s pretty clear. We aren’t gonna renew him on the wages he’s demanding when he’s been consistently one of the worst players in the team this season. He needs to show he’s worth the money if he thinks he’s gonna get it. We’re not gonna sign a new deal for a guy who hasn’t been consistent for 2 years. Prove your worth the money
I admire his audacity…. Play “very average” then request bumper pay rise…..
SELL HIM PLEASE
Acmilan should give out Theo Hernandez to Como in swap deal for Nico Paz because we need more attacking midfielders to improve our performance with more goals.
He can accept the same contract as Maignan, or he can hit the road.
For more than that, he actually needs to show up in big games, be consistent, a leader and example for the other players as one of the senators on the team. He is none of those things. Matter fact he has been the worst this season and at the same time sabotaged Milan season with his behavior and attitude.
No coincidence that out of whole Europe, Como is was the most interested in his services.
Man Utd signed Dorgu this winter, while Bayern and PSG resigned their own left backs.
Saudi or teams like Newcastle or West Ham are teams that will come for Theo. I would have said Tottenham but they got Udogie.
If Theo wants a pay raise, it should come in the form of bonuses linked to his performance on the pitch.
Say, at season end, get him a large bonus that would meet his desire for better pay, but only if he gets from the average of the 3 scores received after each game from the 3 main football newspapers in Italy, GdS, CdS, and Tuttosport, at least 6 for at least 30% of the games, 6.5% for 25% of the games, and 7 for 5% of the games. This does allow him to have poor performances in 40% of the games and still make the bonus, which is fair; actually generous). Also, give him another bonus if he earns an official Lega Serie A Panini Player of the Match award at least twice over the 38 Serie A games, and is called up by the French National Team for at least 3 international games.
Another bonus could be linked to 4 goals scored and 4 assists served (not hard for him; even in this very bad season he has had 4 goals and 3 assists already). Increase that bonus if he gets 6 or more goals and 6 or more assists.
Then also implement a “negative” bonus: decrease the bonuses amount if he misses more than 3 games for suspensions linked to disciplinary issues with accumulation of yellow cards, or red cards. I’m thinking disciplinary issues as in arguing with and yelling at referees, which he does from time to time and is very detrimental to the team. This shouldn’t include yellow cards or red cards from tactical or violent fouls because this clause should not make him shy away from vigorous defensive actions, but he has no business yelling at refs and collecting cards that way.
Decrease the bonuses too if he engages in disrespectful behavior towards the head coach (like the cooling break saga).
So, Theo would have an incentive to be more focused and to try harder to perform well, and to refrain from aggravating the refs or antagonizing the head coach.
Because, frankly, what he’s done so far in the 2024/2025 season does not justify a pay raise.
I think Theo cannot have unlearned to play football; it’s not a lack of skills. I think his issue is more mental than athletic. He seems uninterested at times, and tends to only perform well when it’s something that stimulates him like a derby against his nemesis Dumfries. So he is CAPABLE of good games when he is motivated and focused but this season he has rarely had a positive mindset.
Maybe a bonus structure would help him with maintaining focus and keeping him interested in playing well.
You usually write some good stuff on the site but negative bonuses? Who in their right mind would sign something like that??
I think it’s obvious that with Milan accepting €40 million from Como, that Milan wants to sell Theo, and is simply not going to give him the big contract he wants.
Only one of two things can happen – he’s either going to accept a transfer this summer, or he’s going to continue to refuse all transfers until his contract runs out at the end of the season next year, in which case he’s going to do a Dollaruma and sign in a free transfer for the team that offers him the most money.
Negotiation skills with this managment really seems under par. just put him in the market if you dont need him and sign anther good left back who is in a good condition. Nuno Tavares from lazio is a good option or just play theo card with real madrid to keep Jemenes.
Theo for Nuno is a brain dead suggestion mate