AC Milan Looking At Alternatives To Chelsea Midfielder As Price Stays High

Sky Italia via MilanLive.it are reporting that AC Milan are beginning to consider alternatives to Tiemoue Bakayoko as Chelsea are playing hardball. Milan are unwilling to pay an excessive fee for the redemption to Bakayoko despite the admiration for the player but his parent club are attempting to include a 30 million buyout clause which is just too high. The deal has been in the advanced stages for a while but has not be able to get closed as a result. In addition, the report notes that there is only an agreement on personal terms for the first year of the player’s move to Milan and they have not agreed terms for the player if he is signed permanently.

As a result, Milan are looking at Boubakary Soumare of Lille as an alternative but he is quite expensive compared to what Milan want to spend considering the Sandro Tonali deal. The other alternative is a return for Benfica youngster Florentino Luis as a back up midfielder but he is also expensive and would not add anything significant given the current collection of midfielders. Paolo Maldini has nonetheless spoken to the agent of Luis this past week.

Fabrizio Romano is meanwhile reporting that Milan are close to finalising the deal for Bakayoko for a 3 million paid loan with an option to buy for 30 million euros.