AC Milan continues to work on the transfer market, and at the moment, the priority for sporting director Igli Tare is to strengthen the midfield. According to Tuttosport this morning, yesterday the Rossoneri accelerated—perhaps decisively—for Samuele Ricci, a Torino player: in the morning, there were new contacts between the two clubs, and the deal should be finalized on the basis of 25 million euros plus bonuses, a figure close to Torino’s request of 30 million.
Milan could close today or tomorrow:
The Rossoneri has had an agreement with the Italian midfielder for some time now; he will sign a four-year contract and is pushing to move to Milanello. There should be no technical counterparts involved in the deal (in recent hours, names like Warren Bondo or Lorenzo Colombo had been mentioned as possible inclusions). The green light is expected between today and tomorrow, after which Massimiliano Allegri will have his first reinforcement. With Ricci’s arrival getting closer, Milan should put Javi Guerra of Valencia on the back burner, while two other tracks remain very much alive—those leading to Granit Xhaka of Arsenal and Ardon Jashari of Club Brugge.
For the latter, who plays in Belgium, the club management is ready to make a new offer after the first proposal of 27 million plus 3 in bonuses was turned down: on the table now should be an offer of 30 million euros plus bonuses to convince the Belgians. The Rossoneri are also continuing to work on Xhaka, who wants to move to Milan, but Bayer Leverkusen is putting up a wall: “There has been and there is no negotiation with Milan for Granit Xhaka, nor do we have any intention of selling him. Granit is a very important player for us,” said sporting director Simon Rolfes to Kicker. Nonetheless, the Diavolo is not backing down and hopes the Germans will soon lower their demands (they are asking for at least 15 million euros).
