It looked during the winter transfer window as though AC Milan would be making changes in the centre-back department, but in the end things remained unchanged.
Calciomercato.com writes that while Christian Pulisic, Joao Felix, Santiago Gimenez and Rafael Leao are making the Milan fans dream, it is the ever-growing Strahinja Pavlovic that Sergio Conceiçao strongly hopes will be the anchor of the side at the other end.
Conceicao asked the management to resist the many tempting offers that arrived in the last January transfer window. The first club to move for Pavlovic was Fenerbahçe with a proposal for a loan with an option to buy for a figure higher than the €18m spent by Milan to sign him from Red Bull Salzburg.
Strahinja’s hesitations then led the Turkish side to close a loan deal for Milan Skriniar from PSG. Then, around 48 hours from the final gong, a proposal from Crystal Palace of around €28m arrived for Pavlovic on Milan’s desk.
The figure was significant and it deserved to be evaluated. However, Zlatan Ibrahimovic was not convinced because of the timing of the attempt, and Conceicao even less so. The Premier League side received the ‘no’ from Milan with a hint of amazement.
Pavlovic is a candidate to become one of the key players for Milan also for the future, the trust of the management and the coach is total. The Rossoneri are now thinking of pairing him with another young defender with high potential: Antonio Silva from Benfica.
Fikayo Tomori’s position is less solid: the English centre-back rejected Tottenham in January but remains available for the right price. The next few months could be his last in Rossoneri, because the club are ready to listen to new offers for the 27-year-old.
