All summer I’ve made sure that these Monday Milan Musings would drop on Mondays and sure as shit, this last one of the Summertime Edition, is a day late. Damn. So close.
As to what to cover, there as been A LOT of things happening since last week so let’s dive in!
Current News
With 2 games last week you’d think I’d start with those but nope, on top of those games being mostly worthless, the biggest news is Milan finally got their man. Welcome to Ardon Jashari!
This is by far and away the biggest signing of the window and is what everyone has been waiting on – waiting to see what that sweet-sweet Reijnders money would buy. He hasn’t been with the team long, and we didn’t get a terribly long look at him over the weekend as he got 61 minutes vs Leeds United. What I noticed was a very similar player to Sandro Tonali: physically strong, cool on the ball, vision and the passing acumen to make that vision a dangerous weapon. I was very critical of Milan’s double-pivot performance last season, and I blame it for most of the defense’s problems although there was enough blame to go around to be sure. If Allegri does utilize this formation – a 4-2-3-1 – then I think we’ll see a huge difference with him in there.
If you’re curious for more insight about Jashari and the type of player he is, check out this thread and this thread from Rohit over on Twitter.
The other big news story was the quick sale of Malick Thiaw to Newcastle for €40M add-ons included…WAHHH? Yeah, tiddy piece of business there by Igli Tare, who is proving to be everything Moncada and Zlatan aren’t. Most of the money is surely going to bringing in a striker but Thiaw’s replacement, Belgium national Koni De Winter, most recently with Genoa, was at Milanello today and should be signing the contract maybe within hours of this post dropping. I say a little bit more about him in the rumor section below.
One last thing on the Thiaw replacement. I know there was reporting that Milan might go after Parma’s Giovanni Leoni, a highly touted 18 year old Italian CB (and a favorite among many in our Fossa comment section), or Fiorentina’s Pietro Comuzzo, a 20 year old Italian CB. While both would’ve likely been more expensive than the rumored €20M Milan are going to spend on De Winter, I was reading that some EPL teams have been inquiring about both players, especially Leoni (Liverpool), and that likely elevated each team’s asking price and priced both players out of what Milan wanted to spend. Maybe Milan could’ve waited it out and seen if a sale with a EPL team didn’t materialize, but they wanted to get a similar type of player to Thiaw brought in with time to train considering there’s only 3 other CBs currently on the squad. So I wanted to mention some of this in case people were wondering why Milan went the direction they did.
Friendlies
Milan had friendlies on back-to-back days and to be honest, I think they were mostly worthless. Sure, fun to play Leeds United in Dublin, Ireland and Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, but playing the games on back-to-back days made little sense. They first team got split up as to not field the Futuro/Primavera squad vs either of the opponents, and the resulting squads were mediocre at best. Surely this whole endeavor was a money grab.
As for the games, the lineup vs Leeds was the stronger of the 2 days and Milan did work a nice goal from a Chukwueze cross that deflected off of Primavera player Vittorio Magni and found Giménez for the goal. Leeds would go on to equalize midway through the second half on a poor play by GK Terracciano. Again, not much to take away for me except what I spoke about at the top when discussing what I saw and liked about Jashari’s performance.
The second game, vs Chelsea, wasn’t very good. With the EPL starting this upcoming weekend, Chelsea used it as a warmup and fielded essentially their first team. To make matters worse, U19 player Andrei Coubis got beat by his man on a free kick from the goalie and being the last man, his pulling down of the Chelsea player resulted in a straight red only 18 minutes in. I doubt we’ll ever see Mr. Coubis again. Poor kid.
The last little bit of important news about the friendlies, specifically the Chelsea game, was that we got our first glimpse of Luka Modrić, which was awesome. The life-long Milan got his first action as a Rossoneri and while he wasn’t able to do much being down a man and having trained very little with the team, I know I appreciated the presence he brought to the team.
Can’t wait to see him in a meaningful role and leading the team on and off the pitch.
Training News and Other News
Milan haven’t really trained since the friendlies so not much to report on that piece in particular. But there are something things to discuss and that’s the continuing trimming of the Milan first team.
In addition to Thiaw getting sold to Newcastle, Álvaro Morata did finally end his loan spell at Galatasaray and is officially over to Como on loan with an obligation to buy if certain conditions are met. Milan also moved 2 players to Cremonese, as RB Filippo Terracciano and DM Warren Bondo were sent on loan for the season, with Terracciano’s move permanent if Cremonese remains in the top flight next season.
Finally, with Bennacer, Adli, and even Origi perhaps moving on before the window closes, Igli Tare has reportedly said he is still hoping to wrap up the summer mercato with a big last minute signing. With only a striker left on the shopping list, expect a lot of rumors around anyone pushed out of their current squad, including Vlahović who we’ve had in our rumor mill pretty much all summer, and now Manchester United’s Rasmus Højlund, who is no longer in ManU’s plans after signing Benjamin Šeško.
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) – Signed until June 30, 2029 and option for 2030 (€2M per year)
– DM ARDON JASHARI (Club Brugge, €36M + €3M add-ons) – Signed until June 30, 2029 (~€2.4M per year)
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
– RB EMERSON ROYAL – Flamengo, €9M
– GK DEVIS VÁSQUEZ – Roma, Free
– CF LORENZO COLOMBO – Genoa, Loan with option (obligation to buy for €10M if Genoa stay in Serie A)
– RB FILIPPO TERRACCIANO – Cremonese, Loan with €3M option (obligation to buy if Cremonese stay in Serie A)
– DM WARREN BONDO – Cremonese, Dry loan
– CB MALICK THIAW – Newcastle, €36M plus €4M add-ons
– CF ÁLVARO MORATA – Como, Loan with rumored €10M obligation if certain conditions met
Total Outgoing: €76M/possible €83M
Total Incoming: €150.8M/possible €182.8M
Total Overall: +€78.8M
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:
CB KONI DE WINTER Apparently he’s at Milanello and/or Casa Milan going through his physical and then off to sign the paperwork. But…BUT! He’s not signed and therefore he will stay in the rumor mill section for now.
As for the player, he’s good in a back 3 or 4 so I’m assuming that’s why he was targeted, as Allegri is likely going run with one of those formations (or both, depending on matchup) all season. He’s an athletic CB, which I like and is a good replacement for Thiaw, who is similar. I’ll have more once he actually signs but overall a solid signing (assuming it gets over the finish line).
RB ZACHARY ATHEKAME So this deal DID NOT get completed by the end of last week but everything I’m reading is saying it’s still on and should get closed as they are just trying to land on a resale percentage. With RB Filippo Terracciano being loaned out to Cremonese, they need to bring in someone as there’s only Jimenez and Saelemaekers on the first team who can play it (Musah too but I guess but he might get sold as well). So expect this deal to get done.
CF DUŠAN VLAHOVIĆ A little less chatter about this over the last week. With all the focus on CBs with Thiaw moving and De Winter on the way, CF was put on the back burner. As for Vlahović, I read something that he doesn’t want to lower his wages but I don’t know anything about the source of that report, so take that with a grain of salt. In a World Cup season, these guys want to play so expect him to move before the end of the summer mercato. Will that be to Milan?…
CF RASMUS HØJLUND A rumor that peaked and then fell all within the last week. Why? Manchester United brought in Benjamin Šeško for a shit ton of money and now have to offload Højlund. Naturally he was linked to Milan, which would’ve likely happened anyway because of course, but also because Milan have one CF on the first team roster.
As for the player and fit – I don’t know. He’s very similar to Giménez and I’d prefer a more true #9 style coming in to offer some diversity of play. Plus, there’s the whole fear that he was a Atalanta/Gasperini byproduct and was overvalued and not worth the reported asking price of around €50M. So while this move – a loan with option to buy – could happen, I’m not holding my breath.
Wrap Up
Before we go, Milan’s first meaningful game – the Coppa Italia match vs Bari – is this Sunday at 3:15pm EST (7:15pm GMT)! It looks like it’ll be on Paramount+ here in the states but be sure to check your local listings.
I’ll very likely drop a matchday post for it but if for some reason I don’t, we’ll be here in this post down in the comment section.
The season is literally around the corner. Can’t wait.
Forza Milan
gillis