AC Milan want to tie down youngster Alessio Romagnoli to a long term contract to prevent future interest from Chelsea.
According to Italian outlet Calciomercato, the Rossoneri are set to offer a contract extension to the 21-year-old centre-back in a bid to fend off interest from Chelsea. Romagnoli’s current contract is till the summer of 2020, but Milan want him to extend for another year.
The report goes on the state that after extending his current contract to 2021, they will also pay him upwards of €2 million a year. However, this deal would have to be approved by Sino-Europe Sports, who will be taking over the club in March.
The Italian international is reportedly content at the San Siro, and has made no requests to leave Vincenzo Montella’s side off late. However, it is understandable why they would want to tie him down to a long term contract, perhaps with a large release clause.
The Italian international is one of the most promising young defenders in the world and was heavily linked with a move away to Chelsea and Barcelona earlier this year. Both the Blues and the Blaugrana had bids rejected by AC Milan for Romagnoli in summer transfer window.
Chelsea were desperately in the hunt for defensive reinforcements in a bid to avoid last season’s calamities and were linked with a number of throughout the summer transfer window before they eventually settled for David Luiz and Marcos Alonso.
However, despite managing to turn things around brilliantly at Stamford Bridge, Conte will be well aware of the need of top quality reinforcements for the long term. Terry, Cahill and Ivanovic are all over 30 and David Luiz turns 30 next year.
With Kurt Zouma slowly returning from injury and on loan defender Andreas Christensen’s first team involvement next season almost confirmed, Chelsea would be hunting for more young prospects who they could slowly integrate into the first term over time.
At only 21, Romagnoli would be a superb long term option and Conte would know him well from his time in the Serie A and with the Italian national setup. Even though they have already had 2 bids rejected for him, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Chelsea come back with a stronger bid in January.
