To secure a Champions League spot through goals, Milan intend to return to the market for attackers even before summer arrives: an attempt to sign Nicolò Tresoldi is being prepared. At the end of last June, the club had announced the signing of Gonçalo Ramos for more than €70 million, which to this day (and probably for quite a while longer) remains the most expensive signing in the club's history. Ramos has not, at least for the moment, cured Milan's goal-scoring problem, a shortage of goals that had already proved decisive last year in their failed pursuit of Champions League qualification.
The objective remains to try to restore further strength to the department with a new, significant addition. A cure... from Tresoldi, Nicolò, striker for Brugge and (for the moment) the German Under-21 national team.
Figures
The negotiations, however, promise to be expensive. Last summer, Brugge rejected another Italian offer of €35 million, coming from Roma, and in the meantime the price has skyrocketed. Between the JPL, the Jupiler Pro League, Belgium's top division, and the Champions League, Tresoldi has scored 13 goals in 15 matches. If the four goals scored this season with Germany's youngsters are added, the total comes within two of 20. The league hat-trick against VV Sint-Truiden at the end of October followed the one scored in the middle of the month at San Siro. With three goals against Inter in Europe's biggest competition, Nicolò has already left the Milan stadium with the match ball under his arm.
For this reason, the cost could now be around €50 million, another sensational expense if Milan really decided to push ahead. The club, after three years of accounts in the black, closed the latest financial year with a minus sign in front: -€24 million. The effect of missing out on international competitions. Milan want to avoid further losses... by spending, explains La Gazzetta dello Sport: the investment in Tresoldi, a Rossoneri supporter, currently appears low-risk and with good margins for growth, both individually and for the team.
Relationships
The investment would therefore be a considered one, and there is a desire to put the deal together as early as the January transfer window. Unless Brugge drive up the price, also because of a potential bidding war caused by competition from abroad.
Milan, in any case, are there: strengthened by the relationship built over the years with Brugge (the latest deal was the one for Jashari) and by the insistence of owner Cardinale. It has now become clear how much Gerry cares about the success of the Rossoneri project, which he now manages personally, and how willing he is to expose himself financially to build an increasingly well-equipped squad.
The most recent example once again concerns the attack and the multimillion-euro purchase of Gonçalo Ramos, completed only five months ago.
Milan with two strikers?
The expenditure has produced just three goals and two assists, which does not mean that he has not been effective or that he is ready to be put away in a drawer, but it is precisely in combination with another attacker that the directors believe the Portuguese player could become more productive.
In the future, in short, a Rossoneri team with two strikers cannot be ruled out. In the European climb, it is goals that fuel the ascent, and Milan no longer want to stop at stations that offer, at most, a ticket to the Europa League.
Timing
If they fail to finalize the operation with Brugge, the club would leave the channel open for the summer. In the meantime, they would fill the gap with an attacker to be taken on loan from among the surplus players of a major European club.
Tresoldi, however, could provide a first assist in Milan's favour: his support for the Rossoneri is now well known and proven, and for this reason, among the various options from which to choose, Nicolò would point his index finger towards Milan.
A permanent return to Italy could also favour national team coach Roberto Mancini, who, after the Under-21 European Championship (which Tresoldi will play with Germany), would finally like to see him wearing the Italy shirt.
Nicolò, born in Cagliari in August 2004, is still free to choose which senior national team to represent, and Mancini declared himself confident at the beginning of the week:
"I have spoken with Tresoldi, and Ranieri has spoken with him too. First of all, I believe he must feel the desire to play for Italy. He was born in Italy, like his father (former defender Emanuele, editor's note), who played with the Under-21s and won the European Championship: I think there may be some possibilities that he chooses the Azzurri. He knows that he can be an important player for our future, and I hope he makes the right choice."
The Other Targets
The attack will have priority at Milan, which does not mean that the other departments will be neglected, starting with the defence. The primary target remains Gonçalo Inácio, a pillar of Sporting's defensive line and particularly appreciated by Amorim.
