Riccardo Calafiori was heavily linked with a move to AC Milan in the summer, but he ended up joining Bologna instead. For the player, the outcome couldn’t have been any better, but the Rossoneri are now left with some regret.
As reported by Daniele Longo of Calciomercato.com, Milan seriously evaluated the idea of signing Calafiori as the deputy for Theo Hernandez. However, they were only willing to offer a loan with an option to buy, which Basel did not appreciate.
Instead, Bologna entered the race and agreed to pay €4m plus bonuses for Calafiori. It has been a smashing success for the Rossoblu, with the former left-back shining in the middle of the defence under Thiago Motto’s management.
His start to the season has not gone unnoticed, with Napoli closely monitoring the situation, and Luciano Spalletti is also set to call him up to the national team. Milan, as the report continues, are thus right to feel some regret.
It remains to be seen if the Rossoneri will make a new attempt for Calafiori in the future, seeing as a left-back might still be needed then. However, it seems they have learned their lesson, securing Filippo Terracciano from Hellas Verona already this month instead of the summer.
The great “Algorithm” strikes again 😆😆😆
Circus trio of Furlani-Moncada-Pioli…
Yeah algorithm : Pellegrino instead of Calafiori, Thanks Furlani-Moncada-Pioli and above all Gerry
Trio Bego….
If he joined us, Pioli would never trust him over theo and he would be stoned into bench!
So chose the right club
He isn’t even playing as LB at Bologna.
Yes, but we got Pellegrino and look how that turned out !!!! Muppets
Read the article about non-EU allocation. Maybe it will shed some light onto why Pellegrino was signed. Or why Vasquez was signed before him…
The almighty algorithms from Billy the magic Beane gave us Pellegrino for same amount. Good work M0r0ncada and F00lani.
Terracciano is more versatile of a player anyways. No need to dwell about the past, but just do things right in the future. And yeah I wanted Calafiori to join us too.
No we need a more reliable CB, instead of moving to French average player like Brassier, we would have gambled on Calafiori, a way better off than Pellegrino
High quality scouting strikes again.
Why sign a guy with 30 to 40 Serie A appearances under his belt when you can sign an unknown quantity from Argentina? @Maldini’s Heir, you got any views?
Milan is kidding itself if it thinks it can right this wrong.
Calafiori is a bona fide gun. His performance against Genoa was immense. He marked Gudmundson out of the game from LCB but he also zoned off him and cut out about 7 Genoa attacks, and dominated an underdone Retegui, and was otherwise instrumental setting up attacks playing essentially as a midfielder while Bologna had the ball.
If Dragusin nets Genoa 30m Calafiori should cost something similar. He’s a better player with more strings to his bow even if he’s probably still a but raw.
The trick to not having money to spend is to project into the future. Any bozo sitting on his couch can see a good Serie A player once he has broken out.
If Pioli is still at the realm at Milan,no way such player will prosper.
Oh so when the scouting gets it right… crickets. But When the scouting foregoes someone, all of a sudden EVERYBODY is a critic and knew from the start that the target was a sure thing….
Peanut Gallery out here, I swear!
Calafiori is what he is at Bologna because of Motta. Pioli would have likely not afforded the same development and game time to him as is evident in his sparse use of our own young players.
Let it go.
Agree. Calafiori wont get much opportunity to grow if he had joined milan instead of bologna. He would be in a similar situation to pellegerino. However, if some clubs offer crazy money for tomori this summer, i do hope milan would sign either him or scalvini as the replacement.
On a side note, pellegrino only played once this season and was injured during that single appearance. So i would not jump to conclusion regarding his quality yet. Remember thiaw last season, same story
Pellegrino is slow and not especially athletic. An absolutely bizarre signing. What was the need when we have Simic and Barteshagi?
His main position is CB, not left back. His signing makes sense if Motta is the next coach. Calafiori would be a starter. Thiaw will be back-up for Tomori and Calafiori. Also he’s another Italian. The more Italians in the team, the better.