There are growing reports suggesting that Santiago Gimenez is pushing for a move to AC Milan as soon as the January transfer window.
Today’s edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Gimenez wants to move to Milan this month and his entourage are working to make the dream come true. There has even been a verbal agreement reached over personal terms, which was described as ‘easy’ to achieve.
It will be more complicated to convince Feyenoord to sell their striker in the current winter transfer window. Their directors, who have already said no to Juventus for David Hancko, intend to hold on to the Mexico international at least until the summer.
However, in the next few hours the agent who officially represents Santiago – Rafaela Pimenta – and the footballer’s father Christian (who also manages his son’s career) will tell them that the forward wishes to join the Rossoneri.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Giorgio Furlani and Geoffrey Moncada wanted Gimenez as Alvaro Morata’s attacking partner last summer. Feyenoord’s high request (over €40m) saw them turn back to Tammy Abraham and close the loan swap with Roma involving Alexis Saelemaekers.
Gimenez – who has an Italian passport – remained at the top of the Rossoneri’s wish list. Whether Milan will break through the wall erected by the Dutch club to prevent their striker from leaving remains to be seen, with the Milan management ready to contact Feyenoord after his agents.
There is no possibility of closing a loan with option to buy, at best a loan with obligation. The figure must be worked on, perhaps tying a portion of the sum to the results obtained by the team’s results, such as qualifying for the Champions League and trophies won in the next few seasons.
The €40m that Feyenoord are asking for is deemed too much and there is the intention to negotiate. It is possible that the sale of Strahinja Pavlovic to Fenerbahçe could help bring forward the investment (on the attack) planned for 2025-26.
Meanwhile, Sky are also stating that Milan want to give Sergio Conceicao a striker. After abandoning the Marcus Rashford option and sounding out Chelsea for Joao Felix (the Blues are not open to a loan), the Rossoneri are looking at the Eredivisie.
Gimenez is the first name on the list and in the last few hours there have been contacts with the entourage of the 23-year-old centre-forward, who has scored 13 goals in 17 games in all competitions with the Rotterdam club this year.
Today, Wednesday 22 January, could be an important day to understand the real feasibility of the operation. The option of Sevilla’s Dodi Lukebakio – a Belgian player with different characteristics to Gimenez (he is more of a winger) – remains alive.
Finally, Calciomercato.com state that contacts between Milan and Gimenez have been ongoing for months now and the closeness between the parties remains strong. However, Feyenoord are not currently open to an immediate sale, but would set up an operation for the summer.
The second obstacle is that Milan is thinking first about raising funds and then coming forward with a significant offer to present to the Eredivisie club. The deals involving Emerson Royal, Pavlovic, Luka Jovic and even Noah Okafor could increase the propensity to do so.
