Tijjani Reijnders is already in the United States with Manchester City and is ready to debut in the Club World Cup, but he will not be the only AC Milan exit.
As La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report this morning, other players still in the squad or destined to return from loans after June 30, still have to find a new team because the club and Massimiliano Allegri do not consider them essential for next season.
The squad will not be too expanded too, given that there will only be three competitions (Serie A, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana) for Milan to play in. In the European competitions, the Rossoneri will be spectators.
Big name departures
Theo Hernandez’s experience at Milan has reached the end credits. Unless there are any dramatic changes, he will not go to Atletico Madrid and will have to find another place.
Milan hopes that Simone Inzaghi and Al-Hilal will try again after the end of the Club World Cup, when perhaps the Frenchman will have understood during training at Milanello that he is not part of the project. At that point the Arab money could seem more tempting than the prospect of waiting for a major offer from Europe.
Theo Milan Atletico
Photo by Simone Arveda/Getty Images
They hope that the story related to Yunus Musah, one step away from a transfer to Napoli, will come to a quicker conclusion. Instead the operation has slowed down: the Azzurri do not want to go beyond the €25m mark including bonuses.
The Diavolo are asking for a few million more. Could everything fall through? The American’s entourage is confident and even the Rossoneri directors are hoping that there will be no surprises, with the finish line in sight.
Before investing, Milan need to raise money: the sale of Reijnders (€57m plus €15m in bonuses) and Pellegrino (to Boca for €3.5m), combined with the buy-out of Kalulu by Juventus (€14m plus €3m in bonuses), are not enough.
Instead, the club need to look for offers for Emerson Royal, who in January – before his injury – was in Galatasaray’s sights. It’s unlikely that anyone will invest the over €11m needed to avoid a capital loss: a loan with an option to buy is easier.
Samuel Chukwueze is also coming off a disappointing season, although certainly better than the Brazilian. A lot was invested in the Nigerian but overall he hasn’t convinced. He hopes to stay, but it’s not a given that it will go that way and offers would be listened to.
The situation is different for Ruben Loftus-Cheek who can be useful in the middle of the pitch with his physicality, so Allegri likes him. At least one departure in defence is a given: Malick Thiaw is popular in Germany, especially Leverkusen, while Fikayo Tomori has admirers in the Premier League.
la gazzetta dello sport 16 june
Returning
A separate discussion is deserved by the players who were loaned out in 2024-25 but will return to base because they were not bought permanently.
Milan are happy to have Alexis Saelemaekers back as the versatility of the Belgian is much appreciated by Allegri. At this moment, by moving his range of action back as Max did with Cuadrado at Juve, he could be the starting right-back. He will leave only in the event of a significant offer.
Ismael Bennacer was not bought by Marseille, but De Zerbi would gladly keep him. The problem? The Algerian’s €4m net salary, which is pushing the French club to ask for a discount on the €12m agreed for the redemption. Al Duhail, who would like to sign him, are not a priority for the midfielder.
Yacine Adli will return from Fiorentina. Stefano Pioli has already coached him at Milanello and played him very little in 2022-23 and only a little more in 2023-24. Not enough to spend €10.5m and keep him.
It will be difficult to find a buyer for Noah Okafor who was a spectator at Napoli, and to think that in January Leipzig was willing to take him on loan and buy him for €25m. Also looking for a destination are Tommaso Pobega (who Bologna would like to have back on loan) and Lorenzo Colombo.