AC Milan could end up abandoning their long gestating move for Chelsea forward Hakim Ziyech, as his performances at the World Cup ramp up his price.
That’s according to both Corriere dello Sport and Gazzetta dello Sport, who say the Italian side may leave any deal until next summer.
Corriere explain that ‘everything depends’ on the assessments that Chelsea do in the coming weeks and the figure they put on Ziyech.
His performances in Qatar have only helped to confirm his ‘absolute value’ and that’s a problem for Milan’s limited budget.
They’re concerned that while Ziyech has made it clear he wants to leave Chelsea, the Blues may end up ‘firing high’ and that would get in the way of a deal. Indeed, Milan are anticipating it happening and are looking at alternative solutions to bolster their forward line.
Gazzetta, meanwhile, say that Qatar has offered a ‘golden opportunity’ to Ziyech, who has managed to put himself on the international radar with several impressive performances
Milan are one of the clubs who could ‘untie the knot’ for him but the newspaper says it is ‘difficult today’ for that to happen.
That’s because his displays in the World Cup have attracted possible buyers from all over the world and the Chelsea man is ‘becoming more expensive’ and increasing his suitors.
That’s something Milan don’t like as they would prefer to be doing ‘confidential negotiations’ rather than part of a public bidding process.
There is also the issue of Ziyech’s pay packet, which is high and would cause issues in the Milan dressing room.
The Morocco star currently earns €6m per year at Chelsea but he could demand an even bigger fee, which would fall foul of the strategy at Milan, which has ‘abolished crazy expenses’ for a more streamlined, conservative approach.
Paying Ziyech a star figure would only ‘create imbalance’ in the Rossoneri dressing room and there is a feeling the move may be abandoned because of that.
