Manu Kone is an idea that is beginning to gain momentum among the AC Milan management, who have reportedly been left surprised by his asking price.
According to what is being reported by Tuttosport (via PianetaMilan), Youssouf Fofana was and remains the number one name to reinforce the midfield but he seems to be an increasingly complicated target given the way things are going.
The initial ‘plan B’ was Manu Koné but now the idea of going for him instead is gaining ground with each passing day, also because Borussia Monchengladbach’s economic request for the player is said to be close to €15m.
That is a figure ‘closer to the guidelines’ of what Milan are wanting to spend, all while Manchester United have entered the race for Fofana and Monaco are continuing to ask for €35m for a player who has less than 11 months left on his contract.
Kone was a target for Milan three years ago when he was at Toulouse but he chose to move to the Bundesliga. He is currently at the Olympic Games in Paris with the France team coached by Thierry Henry, and they have a chance to win a gold medal today in the final against Spain.
We’ve been over this. The randomly plucked figure of 15M has no basis in reality.
Hard to tell what the real price is anymore these days. So many rumors in general.
I just hope they realize we’re running out of time so we either Fofanit-up ot pivot elsewhere. It’s funny though because neither Fo nor Kone are pure DM’s…
And we have to sell one or two in order to make a registration spot if it’s a non-Italian trained player being brought in
The rules have changed. You don’t have to free a spot anymore. I think now you’re allowed to register only 2 NonEU’s every season.
If we can get a decent DM now, then either for free next summer or cut price in Jan go for Fofana. Gives us a little bit of time to offload Adli and/or Pobega
Thing is I’m not sure Kone or Fofana are true DMs and Kone may cost far more than €15mn
They arent. I caught a glimpse here and there more on Kone than Fofana ironically (i watch more Bundesliga than Ligue 1) . Cant really remember him but in the set up he plays, he is more of a CM than a DM. Similar to what RLC or Musah, they can defend but isnt their calling card. at Monchengladbach , Julian Weigl is their DM in a 3-5-2. Basically he is like Nicolo Barella at inter. Is that a DM or the midfield we need? idk
I’ve seen him play a few times, he’s garbage. Like a faster Pobega. They either buy the guys who played alongside Reijnders at the Euros or just wait a year for Zeroli. There’s no need to spend money for the sake of it.
Did u just say wait for Zeroli? To do what? May or may be good???? How long will thAt take?
Let’s make him our next season target. Let’s talk to his agent just the way Madrid did with Mbape.
Monchengladbach ask for 15M, Milan offer 5+ bonuses
I think they (hopefully) realize we’re short on time for slow starts and dragged out negotiations.
Get Casedei. Best player in the U21 World cup, cheap, can play all over midfield from DM to AM.
Another ball carrier on the wish list while the issue is the lack of a true DM. Great.
15M??? LOL. Ya right keep dreaming.
He’s more like 25-30M. He has 2 years left on his deal and BM doesn’t need to sell. They are not going to just hand him to us because we are desperate and are now scrambling to find an alternative to Fofana.
Embarrassing we won’t spend more than 20M on ANY player. Unfortunately in today’s market it’s almost impossible to win titles this way. Terrible. But hey, at least we are profitable!
It’s pretty sad – we are determining who we get solely on a transfer fee – and not necessarily on quality, fit or need.
Let me guess, if Kone is 15M we of course are interested because he’s under our transfer cap of 20M and we wanna buy him – even tho he’s not really a DM lol – BUT – if he’s over 20M he sucks and well he’s not a DM anyways – then we are not interested any longer Lol.
Question: What clubs that aspire to win TITLES operate in this manner???
Answer: None
I get having a transfer limit – we are not an EPL team and by no means am I saying let’s buy three 80M players. However – when you have a NET transfer budget of 35M and a transfer cap per player of less than 20M – you have no ambition to win titles and are just here to make $$$. Real serious clubs do not operate in this fashion. Like I said if Morata was 30M and not 13M we would have passed.
We should have a reasonable transfer budget – double of our current 35M if we are serious about winning titles and not just qualifying for UCL or Europa League – but that would mean less profits for Redbird and we certainly cannot have that!!!
Good times Gerry!