If there is a club that was on all the mouths on this Monday evening of Mercato closure, it is AC Milan. The Rossoneri, authors of the first part of the hectic season with in particular the dismissal of Paulo Fonseca today replaced by Sérgio Conceição, wanted to surf the success in Italian Supercoupe to improve a workforce that needed new blood. The Milanese management had checked several targets and, is rare enough to be underlined, the majority of plans A found a positive outcome in the negotiations. Race result: 5 recruits, 5 departures and a workforce which seems to be reinforced on paper. The Milanese diavolo was even able to move forward on summer files, in particular the Samuele Ricci case, priority in the midfield for next summer. Pretty winter adjustments and negotiations already advanced for the summer window.
In the aftermath of the transfer window closure, a large press conference was organized in the presence of Zlatan Ibrahimović, the owner's main advisor. The Swedish giant first returned over the last 24 hectic hours. At the center of many files, AC Milan has made the rain and the good weather for this longest day: “A very intense day, but still under control. I must thank the lawyers and the secretariat because they did an excellent job, but we locked everything we wanted to lock. We are not satisfied and happy with the ranking, we have strengthened the team with 5 players out and 5 who entered, we have improved role after role and we are satisfied, it will be a team that will change the current situation. Each case has its reason. It starts with an agreement to three, the two teams and the player. For some negotiations, we have taken more time, others less. Communications with the coach have always been there».
In the oven and the mill!
With the departure of Alvaro Morata for Galatasaray, AC Milan had to find a new advanced attacker. Management set its sights on the Mexican international of Feyenoord, Santiago Gimenez (23), who scored 16 goals in 19 appearances with the Dutch club. He was formalized on Monday afternoon: “We followed Gimenez this summer. We tried and discussed a little, at the time it was not possible and we therefore turned to other objectives. What is important is that it is here today. I will let him speak because otherwise we will say that I put too much pressure on the players, so I will let him speak. Its best quality is in the penalty area, but it can help the team a lot. He is there to bring victories and trophies. We hope he will leave his brand, we want to help him step by step to put it in the best conditions. Many things will depend on him, his desire and his goals. But he must just think about playing and being good“Said Ibrahimovic. And with the departures of Noah Okafor and Luka Romero, the attacking site was not finished.
Indeed, among the files to be loaned in the last evening, AC Milan has also formalized the arrivals of Riccardo Sottil from Fiorentina. A 25 -year -old struggling winger who completes the Milanese offensive rotation. This Tuesday at a press conference, Zlatan Ibrahimović also had a word for the native of Turin who therefore arrives in the form of an expensive loan of one million with a purchase option set at around 10 million euros: “We deposited Sottil for a minute and a half before the end, there was a lot of pressure. I thanked the staff and the lawyers for this. Around me there are young people, with envy and who work as it should“Said the Swedish leader. The formalization of João Félix, who was long overdue throughout the day, ended up falling this Tuesday. In parallel with these recruits, AC Milan had to work on outings on Monday evening. Davide Calabria left for Bologna in the morning on Monday and Kevin Zeroli was loaned to Monza.
But the big file concerned Ismaël Bennacer and the long discussions with OM to find common ground. The Algerian environment has done internally to speed up negotiations. Taken from the course, the Milanese leaders had to rush on a replacement. Several names like Jacopo Fazzini and Bryan Cristante circulated, but it was finally Warren Bondo who came to replace Bennacer digitally. Interested in the young French environment since the start of the transfer window, the Rossoneri had received several refusals from Monza throughout the month of January and Monday evening, the Milanese leaders decided to revive this track in emergency, taking into account the good Relations between the two directions: “He asked to be transferred. He was important for Milan, he had injuries, he returned at the end of December. If someone comes to see me and wants to look for something else, he must not stay here. He wanted a new adventure, we looked for the best solution for him and for us“Said Zlatan. Medical visit, signatory of contracts, deposits of documents at Lega … The evening was very very eventful in Milan but it is smiles of happiness that we could read on the faces of leaders this Tuesday noon during the press conference.
