Riccardo Napolitano, Alex’s Italian agent, is quoted on the Italian press saying Witsel has given his availability to Milan but the transfer is not done.
After signing Andrea Bertolacci for €20 million and Jose Mauri on a free transfer, the Rossoneri are looking to add more quality to their midfield.
It appears that they have made progress on the Axel Witsel front with the Italian representative of the player (at least according to the press), Riccardo Napolitano, saying the player has accepted a move to the red and blacks.
“The reports on the Belgian newspapers that have taken for granted the deal with Milan are a bit premature,” Napolitano told Antenna Tre, according to Milannews.it. “At the start Axel was not convinced by Milan’s proposal, because he was looking for a club that played in the Champions League.
“However, the Rossoneri were very insistent and at the end the player gave his broad agreement to Milan, without first fully defining the economic agreement. The first hurdle has therefore been overcome.
“However, the largest obstacle is left to overcome as Zenit is a club that doesn’t need money. Milan are prepared to spend €20m, but the Russians are asking for €30m to €35m. The interest of Milan has been there for several weeks and there was also interest from Juventus but it slowed down. What kind of player is Witsel? He’s definitely a top player and is a guy with a lot of quality and still room for improvement.
“A player like him would be a coup for Milan and Mihajlovic. He’s placed Italy as a priority.” The 26-year-old Belgian midfielder made 28 league appearances for Zenit last season, scoring 4 goals.
Scudetto
Defence!
True
One of the best conversations i saw here!
Hahaha
Comment: dnt realy ned him d midfied is owk 4 nw let d coach alow d young sters 2 develop i dnt reli tnk we need him
English mate
If zenit dont need the money and witsel wants to move to milan then zenit should help both parties out by agreeing to the 20m offer
This is great, but why pay 20m for Bertalocci, who isn’t better than Bonaventura, De Jong or Witsel. This means we we paid 20m for a substitute. We shouldn’t be rushing things so fast so early in the transfers window. You could get better deals if you just wait a little longer….
According to who? You keep making statements here with no validity. Bertolacci is a great player, and can become even better, hes young and hungry. Kind of like Bonaventura was when he came to Milan, that worked out well did it not? I bet you were saying the same thing about Bona when Milan bought him. Its a shame you dont give players chances before rushing to judge them. Very unfair of you as a fan.
i would rather pay 40 milion for an internationally proven witsel, rather than spending 20 mill on a relatively unknown bertolacci. He isn’t better than Bonaventura or dejong so i don’t know wat you are saying about him being great. mind you, bona caused less than 7million
Internationally proven you say? What has he won? If you mean he plays well internationally I will agree, Bertolacci also does. For Italy, under Conte. We havent seen enough out of Bertolacci to comepletely deem him a waste of money, like most people on this site are doing.
Exactly!
Listen here yank, what is your problem?What do you want from me? And stop voting your own comments. I knew about Bona before he came and i was optimistic about that transfer.
”Its a shame you dont give players chances before rushing to judge them”.
I can jugde any player I want, so does the rest of the football world, who are you to jugde who I can or cannot jugde?
¨Very unfair of you as a fan¨.
You come here to attack other fans and now you’re trying to teach me moral values
Im not attacking anyone, you made a comment about how bertolacci will be a substitute. He is already starting for the italian national team, under Conte who won how many straight scudettos? Ill take his judgement over yours. Im sorry. Im also not a Yank, im Canadian first of all. What is it with the people on this site autmatically attacking where someone lives? Maybe i should teach you some moral values, racist. For the record i dont vote my own comments. Your jut upset that your wrong. What are you going to do? Come on here and congratulate our… Read more »
If you think Bertolacci is not better than Bonaventura than you have not seen him at all….
I dont appreciate the “yank” comment….efff offf.
Wel I always thought Bonnaventura was great even when he played at atalanta. And to be fair, de jong, bonnaventura, and witsel are better midfielder.
Our problem last year were the tactics and mentality imposed which is why I believe that with a good coach we can at LEAST get a top 3 position with the current squad that we have.
Go and cheer for some other team I you think like that!
Bertolacci is a very good player, just wait and see.
That’s right…we don’t really need him anymore…better concentrate on our defense…Romagnoli remains first priority…but we must find other options…
Even need additional midfielder, if it is possible, I prefer gundogan…
Galliani paid 20m for Bertolacci and still wants to pay 20m for Witsel? He must be high on class Z bcos Witsel is a different top top class midfielder with lots of experience both at club and International level.
Pay up baldie and let’s have some piece of mind in midfield.
I see your point, Problem was that bertolacci was ovet priced…. 15m should have been most we payed for bertolacci…… witsel, obviously is more valuable than him, so i’m thinking 25-27m no higher
I remember a few years back, we were interested in Witsel when he played for Standard Liege … We could have bought him then for EUR 8Million … Instead now we may have to cough up 30 Million …
Back then I remember fans on this blog were not too keen on us going for an unknown Belgian player … Now all are clamouring for his signature …. I am sure next year it would be the same with Bertolacci ..
If we have the money, would say buy him! 25-30 mio should do it! Would prefer to buy first the new CB!
I think our midfield is not the best but good. And yes! Witsel is right now better than Romagnoli, but hopefully that will change in two years!
Maybe we should buy Tielemann , he is going to be very good and expensive in a couple of years.
If we get bertolacci and witsel for combined 40 m. I will be laughed in front of my my inter’s fan friends
Comment:if we get him good he is a great player, for nw our back line is all we need most, all the best champion league wil be sure forza milan
Wow there coming thick and fast although there’s a long long way to go as we’ve heard similar story’s only a few weeks ago of certain players we had only for them to join someone else As much as its great to see some quality players arriving I wouldn’t mind seeing some of the useless ones leaving to free up some space, has anyone here heard of any club interested in Nocorino or any of the other guys who haven’t a hope of getting a game? Maybe we’re doing all our signings early so they have time to gel which… Read more »
He is a bit too slow but with more skills. i prefers Gundogan because he is much younger and much faster making our midfield more dynamic with DeJong-Mauri – Bertolacci – Gundogan, what a killer midfield we can have if we play 4-4-2 with Adrinao and Becca as main strikers.
Well if we are going for another mid, I would rather go for Gundogan.. But firstly, we need to get rid of players to have place for others… And defense MUST be priority now… Zaccardo, Alex and albertazzi out, world class CB in, we have two young hopes in Ely and Vergara so that is good, along with Mexes and Paletta and Zapata(if he doesent leave)…
And in midfield we need to sell also.. Nocerino for sure and maybe Monty and Poli (depending on Miha and preseason).. And than buy…
Comment:we dnt need him for nw, bcos alot of player are there in his position
Great player! Hope this actually happens.. After all, better join us than join Juve :S I was soo disappointed when we didn’t get him when he left Porto to Zenit
Benfica to zenit.
Oops, yeah Benfica :S
😉
yes I was still believed on him Aldo he has seen the transfer market how it look and also show how hungry Milan want to make Europe, but i feel doubt on him, he is pure defensive mid especially in NT even he had played as central for zenith, so can he fit into central mid in Milan and italy.
We dont need him our midfield has over 10 players why over crowd it more than it already is unless you sell players like menez i mean come on he is selfish plus his price will more likely drop since hes not the false 9 anymore, montolivo is not captain material give it to dejong or lopez plus i dont see montolive doing much at this point will all the young talent we have at our disposal either on the senior team or the youth team the question is do we really need a player like Witsel
Not true. Our ATTACK is made of ten men. Our midfield is also quite crowded, but Witsel is a higher-class defender who has proven himself internationally and on club level.
Midfield is (off memory) Jack, NDJ, Bertolacci, Mauri, Poli, Monty, Suso + any youth players that may be considered.
That’s only around seven players, and of them NDJ, Jack and maybe Suso, Bertolaci and Mauri are worthy of consistent starts. Witsel will definitely be a great signing, he is an established talent who will bring force to our mid-field.
And in other news Silvio Berlusconi found guilty of bribing an Italian senator…
Sell monto,poli,nocerino. Free up space for witsel and 2 primavera midfielders and we are good to go.
Montolivo is the worst player ever to have worn milan captain band. He was good at fiorentina (midtable team) but awful in milan. He spends all his time in criticising coaches rather than playing football. Our dressing room has been in disarray under his captainship.
Poli i dont understand his role in the midfield,he only runs around no creativity at all..! And if possible pls terminate nocerino and zaccardo’s contract. Calabria or christian maldini can replace zaccardo.
I think worst captain is muntari he’ll remain a hard one to beat.
Didnt Bonera also don the captain’s armband??
The worst captain is Montolivo. Muntari, Bonera and others were just stand ins…
Lollz. Witsel will be a good signing provided we sale monto
YES!
montolivo may not be a great captain however he’s a good player. I might be alone but I consider him and menez as starters. I specially think montolivo will prove alot of people wrong.
Hope so too, motilivo in 2012 r 13 season when we played Barcelona n won 2-0 at home was great, he played so well especially in that game, hope he can restore his form
If so called Milan fans say Monto should be sold then I am really stupified …if you really watched that guy early 2013 for both club & country he was just too superb, those with a short memory should still remember his champions league game against Barcelona that year …and some league matches especially against Pirlo’s Juventus that same year considering we still had some Mediocre starters since then …like you think Pirlo would have made much difference if he was in this Milan (for some dumb asses I am not comparing the two) what we should be asking is… Read more »
You can’t always blame a player for his Injuries hopefully let’s see if Monto will regain his form before we hang him out to dry
Let him join… Dis team will be strong nd there will b a lot of competition, don’t get me wrong but right now in our current squad we need Witsel, for those who are crictisizing Bertolacci then u havw to know that we lack someone like him in our midfield nd he is among the top 3 best midfielder last season so chill up nd let’s wait to see action b4 passing out our judgement, look at team like PSG dere bench is dangerous, I remember Sir Alex once said “A team with good bench is called a good team”… Read more »
The only problem with witsel is that hhe has never played in any of the top leagues
Doesnt need money but asking for 30m? His agent know how to joke.
I am happy to welcome him. Im curious about the lineup for next season. Bcause until now i am not hear or read anything about selling menez, nocerino, matri, zaccardo, agazzi, albertazzi, and some others except mastour, alex.
gee, they dont need money so they dont have to sell witsel. This means they might sell it on the right price or not selling him at all. what were you guys thinking.
Meanwhile Napoli reject 60 mio bid from Arsenal for Higuain….lmao
They are so stupid. Higuain is so overrated. That copa america final. He basically played a huge role in argentinas failure.
Lol
Napoli are trying to squeeze every last penny when they should take the money and run Higuain is worth at most 40-45 IMO.
Sounds like his agent is just barking hoping to get attention cause we lost interest. Instead he should focus on talking to zenit to lower the asking price if witsel is in fact desperate to leave.
Comment:milan is batter to buy a good playmeker nd most sellng some of player lyk zaccado,pazini, abbiati,honda,matri,niang,
Some say we dont need him
Wake the crapp upp !!!!
This is milan Milan the worlds second largest giant in cl
We must have a team like real madrid and these are steps that are verry good
Even if berta would be sub i dont care evvery body in the team must fight for a place and talents than learn in training
Forza milan
What is this about people wanting Menez to leave,wasnt he a top five goal scorer in the Serie A?
He was but half of those goals came from penalties and when he could have made a simple pass that led to a goal he wanted to do everything by himself
Any striker that is not selfish is not a good striker, if you watch soccer very well u’ll understand me. Check d history of great strikers and mention any of them that wasn’t selfish with the ball
Benzema, Ibrahimovic, Rivaldo, Henry, Madzukic, Morientes, Pauleta, Bebeto, Jan Koller
If he is selfish in the 18 yard box, I can understand. But when you are selfish from the mid field and wanting to do it all. Its time to leave. This is a team sport. 11v11. Not 1v11.
My brother I wonder o!!!! Why would someone want a player like Menez out of the team? A player that virtually single handedly kept Milan outta relegation zone.
Wijnaldum played all last season on the right side of a 3 man midfield. He may go to Newcastle for 15 million pounds. Fact: He is a better player than Witsel.
Yes the market is inflated but you have to be smart. There is always alternatives.
If Wijnaldum was a better played, he would have left Eredivision years ago. + he have never played CL football.
I saw some of his highlight videos and he looked average. When you look average in your best moments (5-10 mins highlight video), thats a very BAD sign.
And Darmian will play for MU, another Milan reject.
I wish Milan give more time for our youth product, they just need to play.
35m? Lmao, you can buy Oscar for the trequartista role for that and sell honda.
Offer them menez or zapata plus 20 or 15mill
Realisticly, Witsel is a very good player, he would certainly start in our midfield, but I’m not sure if he will have the passion for the red and black jersey based off his hesitation to join…I say offer between 25-27mil, if that’s not enough, we’ll be okay without him.
Haha go n watch witsel and bertolacci clips. I am sure bertolacci is much more worth it if you are talking about 40 million. Witsel doesn’t link midfield to attack at all whereas bertolacci is a true box to box who can cross as well. Witsel. Just an over hyped player. Internationally ???? I wasn’t impressed with anyone in the belgian squad at the WC. Milan shouldn’t pay more than 25 million for this guy and bertolacci will he great. Can put in nasty tackles and do long range passing and shooting is average to good. No to Witsel. I… Read more »
Buy Romagnoli first! Strenghtening the defence is prio no 1.
Then sell Alex, Zaccardo, Nocerino, Menez, Honda, Albertazzi, Matri and Montolivo or Poli.
After that we could consider buying Witsel. Imo we don’t really need him anymore.
I hope Milan will build a Italian-based team. Therefore i hope they will also buy keeper Perin, and loan him out for a year.
————————lopez———————-
abate—new cb——–new cb—–antonelli
—witsel——–de jong——-bertolacci—
—————–jack————————-
———-adriano——bacca———–
Where is El shaarawy na? Is he on honey moon?
El shaarawy
stop being obssesed kid
From the way i have known Galliani recently, he will offer 20m first, then 23m and after that the deal is likely to be closed at 25/27m. However considering that Man utd paid about 35m for Fellaini who is almost the same as Witsel, its actually cheap.
Are the rumours about mastour true
Add some defense and Milan will be in the Champions League next year with this move included. Looking good
So we have Bonaventura, De Jong, Montolivo, Bertolacci, Witsel (Maybe), Honda, Sasu, Cerci, Poli, Mauri all in Midfield.
Where are all these going to play.
I am assuming, Niang, ElSharaawy, Menez, Bacca, Adrian, Mastour are all forwards.
I am a hardcore Rossoneri but I would sell Montolivo, being a Milan Captain he said pretty bad things about Seedorf who is a MIlan legend. He doesn’t look like a captain Milan need plus Monto is getting top wages and is mostly injured anyways.
montolivo/poli and honda can be sold. mastour and niang/ses shld be loaned-out.
I also forgot about Nocerino. He’s still a Milan player and has said want’s to stay. I am sure we have more players in the squad but I can’t think of anyone else at the moment.
why Axel Witsel and we already have Honda
Milan needs a quality CB under the age of 26
We have lots of quality in the midfield with Berto and Bona. Its a good problem to have. Where we are suffering is in the middle of the defense. I hope we can solve for that. Can it be that one of the following dejong, Mauri, or if we sign witsel play deeper if needed?
You know what, many of us fans have forgotten about Montolivo or just don’t have him in our plans. I’m the first to say I’m not fond of him and never was, but you can’t deny that on fiorentina and first season in milan and euros he was very good. I believe injuries have slowed him down but if he can regain form, then we have another good player. He’s got decent vision, it’s just been so long I’ve seen him play consistently that all I remember is his bad matches
Don’t get me wrong I love the signing… but what happened to the original summer plan of fielding a majority italian team? Seems that their is no real plan just trying to piece together talent blindly
The all Italian lead by inzaghi plan died when inzaghi flopped so hard. Sinisia isn’t Italian. So why would he restrict himself to Italians if you have good options available that aren’t Italian. Seems silly to restrict yourself.
I need a strong viper in d right wing, El shaarawy is perfect on the left, then 2 or more standard centre backs are needed without doubt
Why are players so expensive all the sudden. And it seems that when Milan sell a player its worth crap in comparison.
The problem of having bad players on high wages. Most of these players we bought where on low wages compared to the free transfer garbage we’re trying to sell. No club will pay high transfer to a player demanding high wage. So we end up slashing transfer fee to dump them off. Better than paying wages for useless players that we won’t use.
Hopefully this dumb free transfer with high wage strategy is behind us now.
Sinisa has already expressed that he will play SES92 on the left wing and Berlosconi has always said that SES92 is a winger. I hope we don’t sell off Mastour – that would be a big big mistake, at least try to slowly bring him into the team. So we only need to get Romagnoli & Witsel. Keep: Mastour, Niang, MDS, Ely, Mexes, Bonaventura, Mauri, Poli, Verdi, Honda, Menez, Suso, Cerci, Donnarumma, Abbiati. Promote: Calabria, Mastalli, DiMolfetta, Manuel Locatelli Sell: Zapata, Zaccardo, Montolivo, Nocerino, Alex, Albertazzi, Matri, Agazzi HOWEVER: We might need to look for a young promising back-up for… Read more »
Milan fan:do you know how or where Gattusso: came from?.unknown player and unknown club,Salernitana after Rangers.He blossomed in Milan and became one of the best most combatant midfielder in modern day football.So give Berto chance.God willing he will grow.FORZA MILAN!
Have watched witsel couple of times, I don’t see anything special bout the way he plays, he’s not even better than NDJ, we need creativity, he very slow. I will prefer mhykityrian or gundog an even calhanoglu… Believe me, he’s not the solution to our problem, all we need is creativity…. And stop critising montolivo…and about bertolacci, I expected more than what have seen since he came to Milan, well maybe he needs time…. And we also need. Better RW, for me Honda has a good technique but just too slow, maybe the coach should try him from another position(maybe… Read more »