Milan are hatching a plan to reduce the cost of the Josip Ilicic transfer by removing some of the outstanding money from the Matteo Pessina deal.
Ilicic is one of the many players linked with a move to the Rossoneri for that trequartista role, and perhaps the most likely to make it stick, as he is increasingly outside Gian Piero Gasperini’s plans in Bergamo.
According to Tuttosport writer Fabio Gennari, who was speaking to MilanNews.it, there could be a key to making the deal work.
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When Milan sold Pessina to Atalanta for just €1.78m in 2017, they retained 50 per cent of the profits from a future transfer.
However, that clause expires at his 100th appearance in the Atalanta jersey, and he is currently on 59.
At that stage, Milan would simply receive €2m, which is a pittance compared to the figure Atalanta could make from selling the UEFA EURO 2020 winner now.
The Rossoneri could therefore propose to remove that clause and therefore lower the offer for Ilicic to circa €6-7m.
Ilicic is 33 years old and spent practically his entire career in Italy, coming to Palermo in 2010, then Fiorentina before the switch to Atalanta in 2017.
He contributed seven goals and 11 assists in 38 competitive matches last season.