Interest From England And Bayern Munich Could Complicate AC Milan’s Summer Transfer Targets
Written By Onyeka Daniel
This winter, AC Milan have made a priority to bring in defensive reinforcements and after recalling Matteo Gabbia from his loan with Villarreal, the Rossoneri are targeting at least one more player for that position and the top name is Torino defender, Alessandro Buongiorno, but they will face several hurdles for his signature.
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First and foremost, The Granata have made it known that they’re not looking to sell the player, according to their president, Urban Cairo and the player will reportedly not look to force a move, even if he would like to play for a big club at some point in his career.
Now, there’s a new threat, as according to Tuttosport, Bayern Munich are among the clubs monitoring the Italian defender and will likely make an attempt to sign him at the end of the season. Amidst the growing interest, the club from Turin have set their asking price at €40m and expect a bidding war for their captain next summer. Bayern Munich are among the clubs interested in Buongiorno for June.
The Bavarians had reportedly opened talks with Torino in December 2023 following an injury to Matthijs de Ligt, but with Torino unwilling to sell, they are ready to resume negotiations in June. The report claims the race for Buongiorno will heat up after the Euros, with Milan, Bayern and two Premier League clubs interested in the Azzurri centre-back.
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Buongiorno’s Torino contract runs out in June 2028. A product of the club’s Academy, he snubbed a move to Atalanta last summer. Another target for Milan is Bologna striker, Joshua Zirkzee and according to Italian transfer expert, Gianluca di Mario, there is a possibility that the Dutch international will join a Premier League club in the summer.
Zirkzee has been sparkling for Thiago Motta’s Bologna, showing his range of capabilities on and off the ball. In 19 Serie A games, the Dutchman has scored seven times and has two assists but his skillset goes beyond simply scoring or assisting as he has earned a reputation as a complete striker.
Di Marzio recently spoke to SoccerNews and he spoke about the future of Zirkzee, revealing that Serie A or the Premier League will be his next destinations and Milan see him as a key target for the summer. He said: “Is his market value €35 million? No, I think it is more. He has a release clause in his contract worth €50 million.
And Bayern Munich have the option to bring him back for 50 percent of that amount. He is a key target for AC Milan, and I think he will soon move to an Italian top club or maybe the Premier League.” Bologna boss Thiago Motta has been linked with a move to Milan, where Stefano Pioli’s future is far from certain amidst what has been an underwhelming season.
Di Marzio stated that there is a possibility that Motta could take Zirkzee with him to Milan in the summer. He said: “He Is so strong, and has so many qualities. In Serie A, he is the striker who leaves the best impression in Italy after Lautaro Martínez.
Thiago Motta is in a list to become the coach of Milan, and Motta and Zirkzee have been in contact; maybe he will take him with him if he’ll join Milan.” Manchester United have also been linked with a move for the 22-year-old and it remains to be seen how the striker’s future pans out.
Meanwhile…
The talk regarding a potential takeover of AC Milan never seems to go away, and a report this morning has claimed that there is interest from the Middle East. According to La Republica, PIF are interested in acquiring a majority stake in Milan. They have been reporting for several weeks that there could be changes at the top of the club.
But today they’ve gone a bit further. New rumours have arrived from the Middle East regarding the future corporate reorganisation of Milan because the fund interested in the Rossoneri are keen on getting a deal done as soon as possible. That group are the Public Investment Fund, (the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia).
In particular, investors related to Saudi Aramco (an oil company under the control of the fund since 2016) are the ones that are keen. We are talking about an almost total acquisition too, because the report states: ‘The fund are interested in acquiring the majority shares of the club by the end of the season’. The Indiscretion is important, both because it reveals the name and identity of those interested in taking over the club, and because it gives precise timing and guidelines: by the end of the season.
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If in the summer of 2022 Milan were valued at €1.2bn and that was the figure agreed between RedBird Capital and Elliott Management, the club are now worth around €1.6bn as per the source. The newspaper reports that ‘unofficially’ the news has filtered from Milan, RedBird and Gerry Cardinale that there is no intention to sell the majority shares of the club to the PIF fund in the short term.
The hypothesis put forward by Repubblica, however, goes in the opposite direction: “If two months ago it was Cardinale and AC Milan CEO Giorgio Furlani who travelled for meetings in Arabia, now the journey in the opposite direction of the PIF-Aramco emissaries would testify to the leap forward in the story.”
The situation is expected to become clearer in the coming weeks as the same funds have been linked with the acquisition of Juventus and Inter Milan. They currently own a majority stake in English Premier League side, Newcastle United as well as the top four clubs in the Saudi Arabian League.
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