Milan are battling Liverpool in the race for interesting Schalke 04 defender Malick Thiaw, claim multiple sources in Italy.
According to Sky Sport Italia, Sportitalia, Milannews.it and others, Thiaw has been identified by director Paolo Maldini as a potential reinforcement for their defence in the final days of the January transfer window.
The 20-year-old fits the profile set out by Maldini of a young player who could make an impact at the club for several years and not just for a few months to fill the gap left by Simon Kjaer’s injury.
The tall central defender has two goals in six caps for Germany at Under-21 level and worked his way up through the Schalke youth academy.
Negotiations are at an early stage and there seems to be a rather large gap between the German club’s valuation and the Milan proposal at this moment.
There is also the concern that Liverpool are keeping track of the player as well.
His contract runs to June 2024 and he was promoted to the senior Schalke squad in 2020.
AC Milan are considering young talents and potential opportunities as new centre back. Schalke defender Malick Thiaw’s one of the names in the list for the final days of the window, per @ManuBaio on @SkySport. 🇩🇪 #ACMilan
Not easy negotiation with Schalke – but he’s in the list.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 25, 2022
From Botman and Bremer to this guy.
I mean, I don’t know anything about him, might be talented, but the constant change of targets is so annoying. Looks like either we need to be first and quick on a player or forced to change targets and go down our list as soon as there’s competition or the price is a little high.
That is not the way for a giant club.
“Negotiations are at an early stage and there seems to be a rather large gap between the German club’s valuation and the Milan proposal at this moment.” -says every single report of a Milan negotiation for a player. Nobody is coming.
@Milan Fan – Milan are not ‘a giant club’. And I am not being antagonistic or provocative. The last time `Milan were giants on the European Stage this player was 4 years old. He will have grown up with other ‘giant’ clubs on the European stage; PSG, Bayern, Madrid, Barcelona and Liverpool. I can’t obviously speak for Thiaw but in his mind Liverpool are the ‘giants’ I would imagine.
Milan have to operate at their level. Hopefully they will soon be amongst Europe’s best again. The stadium has to be the number 1 priority.
@Milan Fan Unfortunately, the reality is most transfer news is driven by agents and clubs trying to strengthen their negotiating position. Being linked to many players and having alternatives if clubs are not willing to negotiate over fees is beneficial to Milan’s position, as it allows them to thrash out better deals. Whilst as fans we want to see clubs sign the best possible players, I think we also don’t want to see them overpay for players, whether it’s in transfer fees or player payments (especially if the players eventually run down their contracts and leave for free!)