The battle over Joshua Zirkzee and the €15m commission demand is only the latest in a series of Milan stands against the power of agents that proved costly.
There is a €40m release clause in Zirkzee’s contract with Bologna, so negotiations with the club over a transfer fee are not required.
As a reward for getting that written into the original deal on the move from Bayern Munich, agent Kia Joorabchian is asking for a massive €15m commission.
This is the issue holding up the transfer to Milan and which could let Arsenal or Manchester United back into the running for the Dutch centre-forward.
Milan have long battled agents over commission
La Gazzetta dello Sport points out this is hardly a new fight for the Diavolo, who since Elliott Management and then RedBird took over have taken a firm stand against outrageous demands from agents.
They often paid a price for that, losing Gianluigi Donnarumma and Franck Kessie as free agents.
At the time, it was suggested Donnarumma’s agent wanted €20m in commission and Kessie’s representative around €10m.
More recently, Milan had a deal in place for Matija Popovic in January as a free agent from Partizan Belgrade, but it all fell apart at the last minute because of the commission.
A similar situation was around Medhi Taremi, who instead is going to Inter for free from FC Porto.