A lot going on both with me and summer vacation and family but also with Milan, as there was some player movement (nothing especially exciting) and preseason preparation including travel to Singapore. This won’t be especially long but wanted to get something out the door with the first preseason friendly looming early Wednesday morning for me locally. So, let’s dive in…
Current News
The first item to cover is the very quick movement to sign LB Pervis Estupiñán. How fast? He didn’t even make it into my rumor mill list before the deal was sealed! Someone was eager to get the move completed.
As for his background, I don’t know much about him as he comes from Brighton Hove Albion of the EPL, a league I don’t watch a whole lot of on the regular. FBREF shows him to be a solid defender, especially in the air, tackles, and interceptions. All of this sounds good. It also shows him to be among the highest shot taking fullbacks but with mediocre results. That’s less good. But the part that gives me some pause is that FBREF has Emerson Royal as a comparable player. Let’s hope they’re wrong because gross (to be fair they also list Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot and Real Madrid’s Fran Garcia). One last thing: we still haven’t gotten the official Milan announcement of this as of this writing so there is always the chance this falls through (but things look pretty solid).
Milan also had some movement at goal keeper, with Marco Sportiello formally making the move to Atalanta as rumored for much of the last 2 weeks. Also rumored was Milan bringing in Fiorentina’s Pietro Terracciano to replace Sportiello and that did formally happen this week as well. Terracciano is a solid veteran keeper despite being a downgrade from Sportiello. As mentioned previously, I guess I’m fine with this if it means 20 year old Lorenzo Torriani gets some minutes between the sticks. He had some quality minutes last preseason and definitely seems to have the demeanor to be a solid keeper…if given the opportunity.
In other news, Tomasso Pobega has formally and finally (?) moved on from Milan, as Milan and Bologna agreed to a loan move with an obligation to buy for €7M.
Pobega was a solid soldier who came up through Milan’s youth system and had just a handful of quality moments in his Milan career, as he was mostly known as a player we all expected to get loaned out before the season actually started. This move is good for both player and club, as Milan clears some space and makes a little bit of money, and Pobega goes to a team where he is actually wanted and will hopefully be given a honest opportunity to make a name for himself and earn quality and consistent minutes. So, good luck Pobega, we wish you nothing but success.
Training News
The team has been training, including some scrimmages against the Milan Futuro. Allegri appears to be working the team hard, trying to figure out what he’s got before embarking for their Asian preseason tour, with the team flying out to Singapore yesterday. Still no word on what formation Allegri is leaning towards but a 4-3-3 is still the best bet, although there are still a lot of wingers on the team (and on the Asia trip) so who knows.
We’ll know more about the team come Wednesday when Milan take on Arsenal (I should be able to get a brief match post up for it), so I’ll refrain from making an speculative guesses as to what we’ll see. But, I did want to at least let you know who made the trip for the team:
GOALKEEPERS: Maignan, Pittarella, P. Terracciano, Torriani.
DEFENDERS: Bartesaghi, Duțu, Gabbia, Jiménez, Magni, Pavlović, F. Terracciano, Thiaw, Tomori.
MIDFIELDERS: Bondo, Comotto, Fofana, Loftus-Cheek, Musah, Pulisic, Ricci, Saelemaekers.
FORWARDS: Chukwueze, Colombo, Leão, Liberali, Okafor.
Here’s the preseason schedule again for your convenience:
– July 23: Arsenal v Milan – Singapore
– July 26: Liverpool v Milan – Hong Kong
– July 31: Perth Glory v Milan – Perth, Australia
– August 9: Leeds United v Milan – Dublin, Ireland
I’ll post times once we have them and I’ll probably post a matchday post. So, be on the lookout for that next week but I’ll have another Milan Musings next Monday as well.
Summer Signings/Transfer Activity
Signings
– DM SAMUELE RICCI (Torino, €23M + €2M add-ons) – Signed until June 30, 2029 (€2M + bonuses per year)
– CM LUKA MODRIĆ (Free, last at Real Madrid) – Signed until June 30, 2026, option for 2027 (€3.5M per year)
– GK PIETRO TERRACCIANO (Fiorentina, free) – Signed until June 30, 2026, option for 2027 (~€1M per year)
– LB PERVIS ESTUPIÑÁN (Brighton, €17M + €2M add-ons) – Length of contract and wage not disclosed as of this writing
Departures
– RB/CB PIERRE KALULU – Juventus, €14.3M
– CB MARCO PELLEGRINO – Boca Juniors, €3.5M
– MF TIJJANI REIJNDERS – Manchester City, €55M plus €10M easy add-ons, plus €5M more difficult add-ons
– CF FRANCESCO CAMARDA – Lecce, Loan with €3M buy option, €4M buy back clause
– LB THEO HERNÁNDEZ – Al Hilal, €25M
– GK MARCO SPORTIELLO – Atalanta, €1M
– CM TOMASSO POBEGA – Bologna, Loan with obligation, €7M
Total Outgoing: €40M/possible €44M
Total Incoming: €105.8M/possible €120.8M
Total Overall: +€65.8M
Rumor Mill
Some names with a sentence or two on each. Listed in order by the completely objective and scientific method of my loosely informed opinion of most likely to arrive:
MF ARDON JASHARI Nothing new here and I’ve seen reporting saying this deal is dead and Jashari has resumed training and I’ve seen literally the opposite, with Jashari still sitting out waiting for Club Brugge to accept Milan’s last offer of €32M + €5 in add-ons (€37M with all add-ons, although probably closer to €35M). So stay tuned…I guess?…
*Previously mentioned: One more thing: there’s been some confusion (including from me) about what type of player he is and what he will bring. I did read up and he appears to be a sturdy, high work rate midfielder with good ball carrying and vision. The most common comparisons I saw were to Barella and Declan Rice. Click here for a nice little summary.
RB MARC PUBILL Moving this one up a notch with the Doué move seemingly dead (see below), although it appears maybe Wolverhampton might be closing in on a deal with Almería for the 22 year old Spaniard. Milan’s offer for the player was around €10M-€15M, so unless the player is dead set on that move then Wolverhampton is offering more than that. Maybe we’ll know what happens here come Tuesday.
RB GUÉLA DOUÉ This deal is likely dead. It was reported that Strasbourg is down to €25M but that is still far removed from Milan’s highest offer of €18M. With the Pubill deal in the €10M-€15M range, that will almost certainly be where Milan goes if Wolverhampton doesn’t take him first. If that does fall through then maybe this chase reignites. Whether it’s Pubill or Doué, Milan need to fill the hole at RB since they told Royal he needs to leave or will be reporting to grounds maintenance duty at Milanello (I might be making this up). So, expect something to happen here at some point before the season kicks off.
CF DUŠAN VLAHOVIĆ Moving this up one on the list, in part because I think this is maybe moving towards a possibility, but also because the names Milan were linked to this week were slim pickings. As I and really all of us have been saying, Vlahović will need to lower his wage demands for this to work.
CF VICTOR BONIFACE Nothing new to add. Milan still need a striker. Boniface will cost around €40M. Vlahović is probably the better option at that price.
Wrap Up
Busier week even if the news was mostly underwhelming. Game in a couple of days. Maybe we’ll get that Jashari move by the end of the week if the midfield is dire enough in the preseason friendlies. We’ll be watching…
Until Wednesday.
Forza Milan
gillis