Milan had new directors leading the mercato and a new coach appointed, but still added 6 new players to the squad of coach Marco Giampaolo, and said goodbye to over 10 men.
Milan started the summer with the exit of director of sport Leonardo, and the appointments of Paolo Maldini as Technical Director, Zvonimir Boban as Chief Football Officer, and Frederic Massara as Sporting Director. Together, the three conducted the transfer mercato of the Rossoneri.
The goal of Milan was to find players who are ‘functional’ to the system of coach Giampaolo, while always respecting the rules of the Financial Fair Play. Maldini, Boban and Massara worked under the radar, almost without making any statements to the press. Eventually, they managed to sign 6 new players and strengthen the squad of the Diavolo, who once again will try for a Top 4 spot.
The full list of arrivals can be found below, with the transfer fees as they were reported in the media:
| Player Name | Role | Age | Arrived From | Details (fees unconfirmed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Theo Hernández | Defender | 21 | Real Madrid | Permanent deal, five-year contract, €20m |
| Rade Krunić | Midfielder | 25 | Empoli | Permanent deal, five-year contract, €8m plus €2-4m bonuses |
| Ismaël Bennacer | Midfielder | 21 | Empoli | Permanent deal, five-year contract, €16m plus €2m bonuses |
| Rafael Leão | Forward | 20 | Lille | Permanent deal, five-year contract, €23m + Tiago Djaló |
| Léo Duarte | Defender | 23 | Flamengo | Permanent deal, five-year contract, €11m |
| Ante Rebić | Forward | 25 | Eintracht Frankfurt | Two-year loan, exchange with André Silva |
A lot of players left the club during the summer, many of which walked away as Free Agents, while others were used in deals to bring over new players, or were simply sold to create capital gains.
| Player Name | Role | Age | Went To | Details (fees unconfirmed) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riccardo Montolivo | Midfielder | 34 | Free Agent | End of contract |
| Ignazio Abate | Defender | 32 | Free Agent | End of contract |
| Andrea Bertolacci | Midfielder | 28 | Free Agent | End of contract |
| José Mauri | Midfielder | 23 | Free Agent | End of contract |
| Cristián Zapata | Defender | 32 | Genoa | End of contract |
| Tiémoué Bakayoko | Midfielder | 25 | Chelsea/Monaco | End of loan deal |
| Stefan Simić | Defender | 24 | HNK Hajduk Split | Permanent deal, €0.5m |
| Patrick Cutrone | Forward | 21 | Wolverhampton Wanderers | Permanent deal, €18m plus €4m bonuses |
| Alessandro Plizzari | Goalkeeper | 19 | Livorno | One-year loan deal |
| Tiago Djaló | Defender | 19 | Lille | Permanent deal, €5m, part of the Rafael Leão deal |
| Ivan Strinić | Defender | 32 | Free Agent | Terminated contract |
| Diego Laxalt | Defender | 26 | Torino | Loan for €0.5m with option to buy for €11.5m |
| André Silva | Forward | 23 | Eintracht Frankfurt | Two-year loan, exchange with Ante Rebić |
Does Rebic actually have an option to buy?
Option that can become obligation in some conditions
Interesting thing, Ante Rebic came to Milan for 2 years loan with option, Andre Silva left in 2 years loan without option, so at 25 Andre will come back to renew his contract :)) There are some more players who left : Felicioli, Vigolo, Tiago Dias, Bargiel, Guarneri permanent, Tsadjout, Pobega, Murati, Bellodi, Sinani, Forte, Capanni, Ruggeri on loan with or without option.
We wasted all this time on a person (Correa) who had no chance of coming unless we sold more players when we could have used the same money being offered for Everton, depay, neres tonali or an atm that actually has a creative brain. Instead we are still focusing on a 31 yr old player past his prime with very low resale value! And guess what, we won’t be getting him either since a loan option is not happening. This is why we get pissed off with the management. Honestly we should have seen this coming when they decide to… Read more »
Just a few pointers: The coaches you talk about want three leagues to play in minimum – Seria A UCL Coppa Paqueta – The coach is BANG ON about his brazilian football. At times this guy can cost you the game due to his selfish options in a pass or attempting some brazilian skill in crucial parts of the midfield. He has so much to learn before he can show his talent. He is the kid in your team who hogs the ball at times and messes up. Overall one to watch and develop. Cutrone – There are much better… Read more »
And do you think all this players will come without champions league football….Think deep mate.
Manchester city as an example started building there team with average players and coach.
Who are you talking about that’s 31 year old??? Rebic is 25 and he is much better than Andre Silva. Most of the players you mentioned were linked to Milan by media. If you look at the players that came in vs players that left, management did well with limited budget.
Think he was talkin about Taison.But that pessimism is not what Milan support base needs right now.
I don’t agree with this monologue !
David Neres – Declined moves to Man U & Atletico Madrid. Has a market value of around 45M and that probably increased since he agreed to extend his 2022 contract to 2023 recently. Pepe – Had a market value of 65M and was sold for 80M. Publicly declared he only wanted Arsenal. Chiesa – Firoentina priced him at 75M when Juve inquired Correa – Atletico have not budged from 50M price tag Ceballos – Real Madrid offered only 2 options, flat out purchase (AS reported minimum 50M, but another report from a “source close to the club” stated 80M+); or… Read more »
” Hoooly shit! ” is all i could think about while reading this.
You sir just stated all the facts that many can’t seem to understand.
Respect mate.
@Nathan Graegin, why all these complaints? Management has done a great job so far, apart from selling Cutrone, more so for peanuts which I didn’t like bubi understand that they needed funds cos of ffp so it’s understandable cos his replacement is versatile and a potential world class talent. Management bought young players with good resale value, they are all versatile. I think we have a complete squad already. We have Suso, Rebic, Hakan, Paqueta who can all play the trequartista role, Rebic/Suso/Leao can also play Ss role, Piatek/Leao/Rebic CA play cf role, midfield/defence fully covered. This is the best… Read more »
i am some what satisfied with the mercato
milan bring some good prospects
and also get rid the like of monto, berto, etc
but still maintain depth in the squad
i am most excited about bennacer and rebic
can’t wait to see them play in 2 weeks
man i hate international break
this mercato would have been 10 out of 10 if only they can get rid of borini and samu
Borini is a versatile player. We need him as a back up. Especially for RB since we have only two players in that position. Calabria can cover the LB, so we actually have 3 LB. So If one of RB gets injured, Borini can cover as substitute.
i’m sorry but i have to disagree
borini is not a versatile player
the only way he can get play time is to accept willingly to play where ever the coach tell him
that’s what make people think he’s a versatile player when in the fact he just running around chasing ball like a headless chicken and fall down every time an opponent player touch him
milan only play in league and copa
they have more than enough players for that
if really needed they can get player from primavera
let’s not debate on the term of “versatile”
When the transfer market opened, I honestly only expected only 1 or 2 signings[ even mentioned it in one of the posts months ago ]. With missed CL qualification and a limited budget, this transfer market for us is easily a 8/10 with the business we’ve done. And importantly, the management did great with offloading the dead weights as well. 1 big star arrival for attack or Mid would’ve made it 10/10. But i’m happy with this. It’s understandable that there’s no way we could buy so many stars in one mercato. The signings we made are smart buys in… Read more »
I couldn’t agree more
Well , i am satisfied. We got rid of many dead wood with hight salaries , and got some talents with low salaries and long contracts. We spent about 59M , 3 starters ( Theo , Bennacer , Rebic ) and 3 good substitutes ( Duarte , Krunic , Leao ). So we went from chaos to a well planned project , and with some serious depth of squad. Each player we have now is either atleast-good at the present , or has a big potential for the future. Also , people here didn’t talk about this that much but… Read more »
Rebic Benaccer and Theo improves the level of the team. The other meh. Considering the wages from the departing players this mercato was OK surely in January we might get a strong reinforcement. Defusing Silva while getting Rebic is the best move IMO.
Maldini 7/10
Milan had a limited budget for this summer. only time will tell if that budget was spent well.
However, I am pleased with the signing of Bennacer, Hernandez, Leao, Rebic and Duarte which is majority of the players.
I’m more disappointed about the players we should have sold but didn’t like Biglia, RicRod and Castellijo. Hopefully we can offload them in January.
Agreed. I think we will have more signings in January since this team still has goal scoring problems which part comes from lack of creativity in midfield and part from master tactic Ian’s choice of players. Hopefully soon he will understand that Castillejo and Borini even Suso are not cut for Milan and he will play Rebic Leao and Most importantly Bonaventure from the start.
I agree with this. We were linked with Mykolenko for the right back and I think we should still look to do that deal. Get rid of RR cos he isn’t dependable to offer the sort of dynamism we need to win games. Also I agree with getting rid of Biglia cos he’s too injury prone. Losing him is what cost us the Udinese game
Good mercato. Just to remember that we are not in ucl
Milan might have sold some good players. e.g cutrone and silva but this transfer was a success,Milan are well covered up in every position. And they have 3 deadly forward in rebic piatek suso. What has been killing Milan in previous seasons is that Milan had only one side of attack that hold ball. (Suso) so if you stop suso Milan perform badly, or if suso is having a off day it always affects Milan performance. BUT NOW; man mark suso and you have another dangerous winger at the other side plus a dangerous poacher. Ps the only thing that… Read more »
good mercato i think,
Taison didn’t come too, it’s good. we’ve Paqueta, Hakan, Jack, Suso, Rade, Rebic & Maldini all of them can play as CAM so is enough covered.
also is Taison better than Honda? he was best CAM in Russian League, & you guys remember Luiz Adriano who 1 of best striker there? both failed in Serie A.
Taison compared to Honda ????? Are u kidding ??? Did u ever see Taison ???? Taison is an excellent player !!!! Taison has dribbling, speed, is brasilian, Honda was an average player !
Underwhelming transfer market. We managed to refresh the ranks, and definitely got more depth. But is our starting 11 better than last year? Not by much, if at all. You can tell budget constraints were hindering our decisions, but regardless- we should have gone for a proper LW to play opposite of Suso, and we mised out. Maybe Leao can work there; who knows.
4th place will be very difficult. Again.
Yes, it is ! If u put Theo, Bennacer, Rebic in the first eleven, the team is better than last year ! With Bonaventura available and Krunic on the bench, when last year we had Mauri and Bertolacci, I think it’s better !
I think we will be switching to a 433 now we have rebic who will play on left, suso right, piatek /leao through middle.
Did you know? Rebic won’t play is first official debut for Milan until match day 6
Why you may ask. Because giampaolo doesn’t play players that he does not know. So expect more of borini,(Milan shame) than rebic or leo.
Rebic will score against inter and inter will lose the derby !
I would have called this a positive mercato if we didn’t sell Cutrone. Now our squad is weaker than last year because we simply have no replacement for Piatek. If he get injured, our options are 20 years old Leao who never played as lone striker, Samu & Borini. bennacer is a good signing. Specially for this price but I prefer baka for defensive midfielder. I see bennacer in his more natural role that he played in African Cup. Plus we simply failed in getting rid of average players. Biglia, Borini, Samu, Suso (yes), Laxlat &… But to be fair… Read more »
Why everybody includes Borini on their black lists? He is an average player at best, with great work ethics, low salary, and plays wherever the coach tells him. Every team should have a player like that imo. Bennacer is good as far as i can tell. I don’t know him much, but i definitely prefer him over Baka for that position. Baka is strong but can’t see further his feet. Bennacer is agile, and fast. He can take the ball and build up in a heartbeat. He is no world class in any means, but can be. Even though i… Read more »
– Borini’s salari is 2.6 million.
– I have a really good work ethic. may I play like shit and gain 2 & half a million a year?
– every team does not have a shitty player playing in every position possible for a reason.
– so every team need a clueless player like borini but Cutro with really high scoring/minutes ratio should leave? (right now Cutrone has better goal per minutes ratio than Piatek (for Milan) . can you understand statistics or I need to explain it to you?
+ Borini gains more than Kessie, Bonaventura, Conti, Mussachio & Calabria!
Because Borini can play on all those positions. Have you seen the market nowdays? We are talking about a team who aspires CL football. Be realistic. You get what you pay for.
Borini can’t even play his original position! You are ignorance not realistic
If that makes you feel better, then so be it.
We have Rebic and Leao. First, Giampaolo will come back to his 4-3-1-2, second we can play with false 9 or Leao and Rebic can play 9, what is the problem ??
The problem is that Inter got Conte Lukaku Sanchez and we basically got squad players. RR is solid AF we didn’t needed someone in that position. We needed a regista and we got a kid with huge potential but still a kid. We needed a strong mezzala and we got a Krunic? Which our hopes are him being the next Juraj Kucka. We needed Delofeu Delay or Everton and we got “The Portuguese Mbappe” We need to give Gabbia a chance and we got Duarte. On top of all of that we sold Cutrone. That’s the problem, I want to… Read more »
Kramarić agent said that Milan wanted him but Hoffenheim wanted 70M , so Maldini told them they are ‘fools’. If Bayern wanted him , they would have let him go for 20M. It’s alright though , we got Rebić who’s just as good. There will also be clarifications about other transfers that crush down , so some people can stop blaming Maldini for it. ” Thanks for destroying my dream ” is what Taison said on facebook after they didn’t allow him to move to Milan. Things like this is what makes us proud , we are at an all… Read more »