Lacroix, Miranda, Zirkzee – Milan planning at least four summer signings

The winter transfer window may have just closed, but it seems that the work of Geoffrey Moncada and his team is more geared around a summer with potentially more big spending.

This morning’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport (seen below) report that the priorities of the management in view of 2024-25 are as follows: to sign a central defender, a top centre-forward, a midfielder and a full-back.

Milan have been working on various options for some time with regards to the centre-back role, starting with Lilian Brassier of Brest who wanted to join in January but his asking price was deemed too high.

Centre-back

Maxence Lacroix, the 23-year-old Frenchman from Wolfsburg, also has a contract until 2025 like Brassier. Milan asked for information in January, but the message received from Germany was clear: he was not for sale.

In June the discussion will logically change given he will be one year from his contract expiring and the Rossoneri will be able to negotiate the fee down, but Lacroix and Brassier are not the only options.

Tosin Adarabioyo of Fulham will be free to sign with another club in June and Milan will be first in line, then there is Lloyd Kelly of Bournemouth (also on an expiring deal) plus the Chelsea duo Benoit Badiashile and Trevoh Chalobah.

Strikers

Moncada and his team are looking for the No.9 of the future, who will guarantee goals and is ideally under 25. There are four names on the list: Benjamin Sesko, Joshua Zirkzee, Santiago Gimenez and Jonathan David.

All would cost around €40m or more. Sesko is the most similar to the like of Olivier Giroud and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gimenez has 21 in 27 games, Zirkzee seems to play multiple positions at once and David’s 2022-23 campaign plus his contract situation make him tempting.

Full-back

Regarding Juan Miranda, Real Betis raised the white flag in December: the agreement over a renewal has not been reached and he will say goodbye in the summer.

Milan are looking for a deputy to Theo Hernandez to join the wild card Filippo Terracciano (and Alex Jimenez, who can be bought by paying Real Madrid €5m).

They have been pursuing Miranda for some time and have accumulated a decent advantage over the competition but the deal is not closed: among others, watch out for Dortmund.

Midfield

This is the least concrete department in terms of targets, but club know perfectly well what is missing in the middle: intensity and defensive solidity to protect the runners à la Reijnders.

Carney Chukwuemeka of Chelsea, already linked in the past, has the right profile to emerge as one of the names.