AC Milan thought about signing a new striker during the January transfer window but they have once again decided to postpone the investment, according to a report.
Tuttosport (via MilanNews) reports this morning that a new centre-forward will definitely be needed ahead of 2024-25 and Joshua Zirkzee is the name at the top of the list.
If you read our site regularly this should not be a surprise given our exclusive a couple of months ago, which stated that Milan are scouting him.
The paper add that he has grown a lot under Thiago Motta at Bologna, who interestingly is one of the main names being considered as the next head coach of Milan in the event of Stefano Pioli’s departure.
Zirkzee’s valuation is €40m, which is the same as the buy-back figure that Bayern Munich have, but they do not seem to be interested in bringing the Dutchman back to Bavaria and instead would rather collect the money from the resale clause they have.
Milan are watching Zirkzee and waiting before deciding whether or not to make a concrete offer for the 22-year-old given that it would be a rather sizeable investment, also because Bologna could ask for more than €40m if he were to end the season well.
Help for the Rossoneri could come from sales, for example Charles De Ketelaere moving to Atalanta on a permanent basis for €23m, Alexis Saelemaekers going to Bologna for €12m, Junior Messias to Genoa for €3m and Rase Krunic to Fenerbahce for almost €5m.
The total would therefore exceed €40m if all of those loans were to be made permanent, which at the moment seems more likely than not, and it would bring in a significant figure that could be put on the plate.
