Milan are hoping that the bidding war between Arsenal, Newcastle United and Manchester City steps up for Olympique Lyonnais talent Lucas Paqueta, because they will pocket 15 per cent of the fee.
The Brazilian has become a firm target for the two Premier League clubs, with L’Equipe today suggesting Manchester City could be in the running too.
Paqueta turns 25 next month, but he was still very young indeed when snapped up by Milan from Flamengo in January 2019 for a massive €38.4m fee.
He failed to settle in with the Rossoneri and was sold to Lyon in September 2020 for €20m.
As part of that deal, Milan retained a 15 per cent cut of the future sell-on fee and that could prove to be a very lucrative clause indeed.
The asking price is going to be close to €50m for Paqueta, which would give Milan circa €7.5m.
He contributed 11 goals and seven assists in 44 competitive games for Lyon last season, helping them reach the Europa League quarter-finals.
A real enigma for us, and maybe a departure that happened too early. He should have been given one more year and played consistently at AMC. I guess the club had a greater desire for the money at the time, to cover other areas. But he may also go to the EPL and re-flop, as that is a much more physical league. Time will tell…