Milan have secured the second piece to shore up their midfield after Luka Modric, who’ll put pen to paper after the FIFA Club World Cup, striking a deal with Torino to onboard Samuele Ricci. They’ll shell out €23M plus €2M add-ons, Calciomercato relays.
He re-upped his contract with Torino in January but was promised to be let go if a top team targeted him again. He was on Manchester City’s radar during the winter, while Inter and Atalanta were after him before the Rossoneri sealed the deal.
Milan acted quickly for Ricci after running into trouble for Granit Xhaka and Ardon Jashari, but he won’t be their final addition. He’ll pen a contract until 2029 with an option in a few days once he’s back from vacation and earn 2.5M per year. He has 113 games with Torino to his name, during which he has scored 4 goals and provided 7 assists, and starred 10 times with Italy.
The Rossoneri will keep trying to lure the Swiss talent, but Club Brugge are driving a very hard bargain. The latest offer amounts to €30M. Next on the agenda is a dynamic box-to-box. In the meantime, Ruben Loftus-Cheek will stay unless he draws rich bids.
He’s not a world beater yet, but he’s super solid, and their multi-year chase allowed them to sign him for a relatively modest fee considering his quality and today’s price tags. He has yet to fully specialize, having played mainly in a two-man midfield, but it shouldn’t take him long to become a proper deep-lying midfielder. They might have reached their cap with their proposal for Jashari, so there’s a chance they’ll move on, at least for a bit.
