Milan made a late attempt to sign Renato Sanches from Lille for €25m plus bonuses, claim Sky Sport Italia, but talks collapsed due to his salary demands.
They are likely to try again in the summer, as the 24-year-old midfielder is seen as a natural heir to Franck Kessie.
Gianluca Di Marzio insists the Rossoneri were prepared to make a big investment in the January transfer window and were ready to strike a deal with Lille worth €25m plus add-ons.
However, the Portugal international’s salary demands were considered excessive and there simply wasn’t time to negotiate them down.
Milan have laid the groundwork for another attempt over the summer, when Sanches will have only one year left on his contract with LOSC.
The former Benfica, Bayern Munich and Swansea City player is not the only Rossoneri target, as they are also in advanced negotiations to get Lille defender Sven Botman at the end of the season for circa €30m.
Il #Milan ha provato a prendere in extremis Renato #Sanches: il retroscena di #calciomercatohttps://t.co/sx93lAHL7P
— Gianluca Di Marzio (@DiMarzio) January 30, 2022
Funny thing is, probably none of them will come in the summer either. Linked with everybody but signing no one.
Botman, Sanches and David are all good players with huge potential. Will Elliot invest 100m to sign them?
I’m actually hugely impressed that we haven’t signed anyone in January. Top teams generally don’t sign players in January because they aren’t many great players willing to move midway through a season, and top teams have got longer term strategies rather than just making do. Sure if a top player does become available e.g. Vlahovic we should be ready to move but we shouldn’t be trying to fix problems in January.
Sure, but we have problems needing fixing in January. Would be good to bring in players sooner rather than later so they get more time for integration.
Sport vs. Economy. The bosses decide and they want profit. Sad but true
The level of delusion in these comment sections defy any logic or being in touch with reality.
Milan‘s losses for the 2019/20 season amounted to nearly £200m. This was reduced to around £96m for the last financial year ending June 2021, but this club is still operating at a loss! When will you part time plastics get this through your skulls? We DON’T have the money to pay silly wages and silly transfer fees. Just covid along cost the club nearly £60M.
These people are living in la la land, talking about transfers as if its buying spinach in the supermarket.
If the problems are his wages demand then probably we won’t get him in the summer as well, as wages negotiation isn’t exactly our strongest suit lol AND surely he would be increasing the demand during the summer as bidding war is anticipated. Time to look for alternatives, or probably just resign Kessie.
All I have to say is… DUH! Talent demands expenditure. I mean its basic Mercato 101; You have to spend to get better, because last I checked, Milan wasn’t hitting home runs in acquisition of young talent. Sanchez is quality. Kessie is quality. Vlahovic is quality. Quality costs MORE. I mean, this isn’t rocket science. We pinch and we play the likes of Diaz and Krunic and Samu and so on…
Having said this, Elliott is clearly not gonna open up the treasure chest. So we’re continuing to rely on Pioli to punch above his weight to keep Milan in Top 4. We sure as **** aren’t winning a Scudetto anytime soon…
You won’t get anyone worthwile while Eliott is in charge. Juve could get Vlahovic because Agnelli panicked and opened his war chest. Inter only got Gosens because Zhang gave the okay. When was the last time Eliott sanctioned a major transfer from their own money?
If it wasn’t for Elliot we would have gone into bankruptcy. Berlisconi sold Milan to someone the first chance he had and ran. The Chinese so called businessman couldn’t even pay the initial deposit on time. Milan had not been to the champions League since 2014. To this date the strategy Elliot used and the hirings they made have all proved to be the right moves and the results compared to a few years back show it.
Well, if the salary was the problem then this will still be the problem in the summer, So i dont think sanches will move to us….
I actually believe were not gonna get anybody in the summer who cost a minimum of 30 mions. Sad but true
@RZH Milan Fan
Finally someone who gets it.
All this talk of “mercato”. If you love the “mercato” so much play fantasy football. I’d prefer to support the players who are actually at the club because they’re the ones I watch each week. This is modern football. It’s not a sport it’s just some rubbish version of the stock market where nobody makes money. No signings means I get to support the same players next week that I supported last week. That’s worth more to me than trophies.
@Maldinis heir
They want Milan to overspend and end up being suspended from European competition again. And when that happens, they’ll also blame management. As you say, it’s all easy if it was football manager/fantasy football, forgetting that football is a business. If they want such silly levels of spending, maybe they should dig into their own pockets and help the club.