Milan Probed Manchester City and Chelsea Defenders Late | OneFootball

Milan patiently waited for some opportunities to materialize after nabbing Niclas Fullkrug even before the start of the window, but, other than the Jean-Philippe Mateta affair, they didn’t address other roles and onboarded just Alphadjo Cissè from Verona for €8M, plus €1.5M add-ons, who’ll stay at Catanzaro until the end of the season, Calciomercato reports.

Massimiliano Allegri wouldn’t have minded a new defender, but Igli Tare didn’t find one who combined quality with an affordable price tag. The budget for the role was meager, as they put all their eggs in the Mateta basket. The director made more than a few attempts to convince Manchester City to let go of Nathan Aké, but Pep Guardiola slammed the door.

The other options on the Milan radar were Federico Gatti and Radu Dragusin. However, Juventus and Tottenham didn’t let them go on initial loans. The most reachable target was Axel Disasi, who indeed transferred temporarily, heading to West Ham. However, the Rossoneri didn’t proceed after some internal evaluations.

The management inquired about some players who could have served as Alexis Saelemaekers’ deputy. In the end, they decided to valorize Zachary Athekame, for whom they spent €10M in the summer.

Our Take on Milan

They are living dangerously in the back, but Koni De Winter has returned to his Genoa levels, and their schedule isn’t too grueling. They were right in standing pat if they couldn’t identify the right man for the present and the future. On the other hand, unless Christian Pulisic and Rafael Leao’s physical problems are worse than reported, it’s unclear why they wanted another striker after already bagging Fullkrug, and with Christopher Nkunku finally finding his footing.