Joao Moutinho, who won the Euros this summer with Portugal, has been reportedly offered to AC Milan by his agent Jorge Mendes. Milan have been looking for a creative midfielder all summer, however their current priority is to sign Roma’s Paredes.
According to Gianluca Di Marzio, super agent Jorge Mendes has offered the services of 29-year-old Monaco midfielder Joao Moutinho to Milan as a solution to their midfield creativity woes. Milan are still looking for a player that can play in either as a box-to-box in the midfield or as a regista above the defence.
The Requirement
Milan have been looking all summer for a player who can switch and distribute play with vision, creativity and passing. However, with the financial situation of the club in dire straits, despite the Chinese takeover, most of their transfer market ventures have ended in failures.
The club failed to sign Borja Valero and Milan Badelj from Fiorentina; attempts to lure Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski have also been unsuccessful. Zielinski joined Napoli after Milan were able to reach an agreement with Udinese. Another Milan target, Bologna’s teenage sensation Amadou Diawara is also reportedly on the verge of joining Napoli.
The club has signed Jose Sosa, who has had a previous unsuccessful tenure in Serie A with Napoli, but Sosa is more suited to playing an advanced role in the midfield. Moutinho, on the other hand, has experience and fits the bill, but Milan want to invest in a younger player – namely Roma’s Leandro Paredes.
Roma coach Luciano Spalletti is reluctant to let go of the young Argentine who had a successful last season with Empoli under Marco Giampaolo. Coupled with the offer of Milan’s initial loan with an option to purchase, will not be a lucrative enough offer for Roma to let go of the player. Paredes is set to fill the shoes of Bosnian Miralem Pjanic, who left for Juventus.
El Ghazi Situation
Reports in Italy claim that Moutinho is not the only player Mendes has offered to Milan. Ajax’s temperamental youngster Anwar El Ghazi, who is also a Liverpool target according to reports in England, has also been offered to Milan. The 21-year-old was heavily linked with a move to Milan in the winter mercato but Milan’s lack of decisiveness caused the player to remain in Netherlands.
The signing of El Ghazi would be a luxury for Milan right now as they are more than well stocked in that department with the versatile Bonaventura, Niang, Honda, Suso and the new signing Jose Sosa. Moutinho, however, is a completely different story. Despite his age, the Portuguese star’s resourcefulness can hardly be undermined as he was a key figure pulling the strings in midfield in Portugal’s triumphant summer.
