After Alvaro Morata became the first signing of the summer, AC Milan are working on a number of other moves to bolster the squad available to Paulo Fonseca.
According to Tuttosport (via MilanNews), the Milan management are focusing above all on three names: Youssouf Fofana, Strahinja Pavlovic and Lazar Samardzic. The hope is to have at least two through the door before the squad leave for the USA tour on July 25.
It won’t be easy, but in recent days there have been significant steps forward. Regarding Fofana, the distance between offer and demand is in fact reducing, with Milan having raised their bid to €12m plus bonuses, while Monaco have dropped their price from €25m to €18m. The feeling is a deal can be struck early next week.
Negotiations with Red Bull Salzburg for Pavlovic are also going well. The Rossoneri would like to close at around €20m, bonuses included. The Austrian side started with a €30m request, now they are asking for €25m, and today’s trip to Austria for the Rapid Wien friendly could bring a chance to meet.
The Samardzic deal is not quite as advanced, but a very important meeting is scheduled for the beginning of next week. Geoffrey Moncada and co. will in fact meet the father-agent of the Udinese midfielder. The asking price is €25m, but a counterpart could lower that.
I like Samardzic, but I hope it doesn’t end up the same as what he did to Inter.
If we can get this done by July 25th, I’d be shocked.
Getting Samardzic over Inter would give me the fuzzies, though, I have to admit.
It will be quite oversized squad without offloading. I still prefer we can offload some players first or after purchasing new players. But. It ia important to remember that having a lot of players can be useful if coach is wise and not stubborn to trust same players all over and over again. Pioli’s trust issue is a thing that i dislike most about him. He forced Theo to play as CB when he had other options. He kept playing Leao and Giroud when they were undeperforming while Okafor and Jovic were on fire. He punished Terraciano for making a mistake (and iirc he hold an opponent who had a clear chance to score, which is “normal” to be done by defenders). I hope in this regard, Fonseca isn’t like Pioli.
The problem with coach like Pioli (prefer to use his favourite 11 anytime he can) is also when injury or card accumulation happens. He is not the only coach in the world who had tbose issues, but other coaches, good ones, can handle that situation.
Kalulu-tomori-pavlo-theo
Fofy-dersy
Chuku-lazare-leao
Morata
Not 2 bad. We still have a lot on the bench as well
Pulisic? Reijnder?
I still think we’ll need a deputy DM even if we manage to get Fofana (and prefarably a DM who can play as a 6 in a 4-3-3).
In the rare times Fofana played in a 4-3-3, he was used as a 8 in front of either Kanté or Tchouaméni. And when he played in 4-2-3-1, 3-4-3 or 4-4-2, he played with midfielders (Camara and Zakaria) who have pretty good defensive stats.
I’m not against Samardzic even though I don’t think he is a priority. He can be very useful if we maintain a 4-2-3-1.
Since we lost Kjaer and now Simic and that Kalulu will most likely play as a RB, I think a player like Pavlovic became a must.
I think Bennacer will be the one to go. LFC and Musa can be back ups for Reindeers and Fofana and one of Adli or Pobega will be a back up for Samardzic. This is of course if we get our targets.
After getting fofana, Milan pls get us kessie back
Samardzic remind me like zielinski. Anyway why milan not submit yusuf yazici ? Hes free agent and fonseca know hes best…