Fabrizio Romano has shed some light on how AC Milan managed to complete the signings of Santiago Gimenez and Joao Felix late in the winter transfer window.
It ended up being a lively January mercato for the Rossoneri, following the poor start to the season, as they brought in five players including Kyle Walker, Warren Bondo and Riccardo Sottil in addition to the aforementioned duo.
A full financial breakdown of the window – such as gross costs, how the sales increased the budget and so on – is available on our Substack. It’s one of the most popular bonus articles we do every year, so it is worth a read.
Romano was on the Monday episode of Viva El Futbol – a video podcast by Lele Adani, Antonio Cassano and Nicola Ventola – and he gave some background on how Milan were able to bring in Gimenez and then Felix.
“The deal where I worked the most? I say Gimenez to Milan. We started from Feyenoord’s wall, dealing with them is very hard and you can ask Juventus who tried to get Hancko for weeks even going beyond 30 and 35 million. A really tough club,”
“Milan managed to do it, working on the flanks, waiting, maintaining patience and despite the draw, there was the risk that Feyenoord would hold on to the player. Milan had the ability to wait, understand the right moment and have the player on their side who then forced it. A slow deal but one on which Milan worked with skill.
“Joao Felix is a deal that lasted 4 or 5 hours: a deal that started the night after the derby, before the last day of the transfer market. Milan had been thinking about it for a while. Chelsea had a limited number of spaces for loans: there were two slots left for players who could leave on loan outside England.
“One was Chukwuemeka who went to Dortmund and the other was feared to be Disasi who continued to refuse Tottenham. Instead, during the night Disasi got the final OK to go to Aston Villa and stay in England.
“Then Milan had the chance to really go for Felix. The deal was done in 4 or 5 hours, between 8 in the morning and midday on the last day of the transfer market.”
