Milan bought players all across the pitch and invested once again in youth, while seeing some of their players leave for free with the contracts expiring.
After winning the Scudetto for the first time in 11 years and having RedBird begin the takeover from Elliott (a takeover that was completed yesterday), went into the transfer market with the idea of strengthening the squad of coach Stefano Pioli. After losing Alessio Romagnoli and Franck Kessié and working again with a limited budget, Milan still made some important moves in the mercato.
Yacine Adli and Tommaso Pobega returned after their loan spells, while Paolo Maldini & Frederic Massara decided to buy out Alessandro Florenzi and Junior Messias. However, the biggest signing of the summer is obviously Charles De Ketelaere, who arrived from Club Brugge for €32m.
Towards the end of the mercato, Milan managed to give Pioli more tools in defense and in midfield, signing Malick Thiaw, Aster Vranckx, and Sergiño Dest. In total, the Rossoneri signed 3 Belgian players in this window, as in addition to De Ketelaere and Vranckx, Divock Origi also arrived for free.
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) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tommaso Pobega | Midfielder | 23 | Torino | Returned from loan |
Yacine Adli | Midfielder | 22 | Bordeaux | Returned from loan |
Alessandro Florenzi | Defender | 31 | Roma | Permanent deal (bought-out), three-year contract, €2.7m |
Divock Origi | Forward | 27 | Free Agent (Liverpool) | Permanent deal, four-year contract |
Junior Messias | Forward | 31 | Crotone | Permanent deal (bought-out), two-year contract, €4.5m |
Charles De Ketelaere | Forward | 21 | Club Brugge | Permanent deal, five-year contract, €32m + €3m bonuses |
Malick Thiaw | Defender | 21 | Schalke | Permanent deal, five-year contract, €5m + €2m bonuses |
Aster Vranckx | Midfielder | 19 | Wolfsburg | Loan (€2m) + option to buy (€12m) |
Sergiño Dest | Defender | 21 | Barcelona | Loan + option to buy (€20m) |
Milan also sent away some players: besides Romagnoli and Kessié, Samu Castillejo also left the club, while some players who were out on loan were bought out by their clubs. A number of youngsters went out to seek more playing time, most prominently Daniel Maldini who headed to Spezia.
The full list of exits can be found below, with the transfer fees as they were reported in the media:
Player Name | Role | Age | Went To | Details (fees unconfirmed) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Franck Kessié | Midfielder | 25 | Barcelona | End of contract |
Alessio Romagnoli | Defender | 27 | Lazio | End of contract |
Jens Petter Hauge | Forward | 22 | Eintracht Frankfurt | Permanent deal (bought-out), €12m |
Lorenzo Colombo | Forward | 20 | Lecce | Loan deal + option to buy + buy-back |
Léo Duarte | Defender | 26 | İstanbul Başakşehir | Permanent deal (bought-out), €2m + 40% of a future resale |
Samu Castillejo | Forward | 27 | Valencia | Released from contract |
Frank Tsadjout | Forward | 23 | Cremonese | Permanent deal, fee unknown |
Mattia Caldara | Defender | 28 | Spezia | Loan deal + option to buy |
Alessandro Plizzari | Goalkeeper | 22 | Pescara | Permanent deal, fee unknown |
Daniel Maldini | Forward | 20 | Spezia | Loan deal |
Nikos Michelis | Defender | 21 | Mirandés | Permanent deal, fee unknown |
Marco Brescianini | Midfielder | 22 | Cosenza | Loan deal |
Marco Nasti | Forward | 18 | Cosenza | Loan deal |
Sebastiano Desplanches | Goalkeeper | 19 | Vicenza | Permanent deal, fee unknown |
Good mercato. Could have been better, but under the current financial situation, a gradual improvement of the squad is the best way to go. Like Maldini said, this is a 5 year project. Hopefully a good RW will arrive next season
Disapointed in Dest, we shouldnot pay high salary for a rotation. Why club didnot invest in Italian players (like Zappacosta/Zappa) to match Club’ s philosophies, ECL’s requirements and cheaper than Dest? Or Maldini want to make new American owners happy?
Dest can play as RB, RM and LB. Very close in playstyle to Dalot. After our loan he became starter for Man Untd. Dest was a promising star before Barca and as Theo had the spark in him which got reignited here, so does Dest. Having Dest, Calabria, Theo and Florenzi as fullbacks is an amazing achievement. I think in the end it was a very good business, although salary is something I don’t like either, 50-50 between us and Barcelona would have been better. Only regret I have is us not going for N’Dicka who could have come for… Read more »
Now let the season begin transfer is over I hope and trust our boys will do something miraculous and spectacular
Hopefully parisi will arrive next year to compete with theo. Calabria and either dest or florenzi should be the RB. So we’ll have 2, max 3 italians for the 4 fullback spots.
I wish in Jan we can get a RW. Someone take a look at Jesper Lindstrøm.