Milan, Diaz wants to stay: soon the summit with Real

One hundred and forty thousand clapping hands is a declaration of love. Brahim Diaz was replaced fifteen minutes from the end of Milan-Tottenham and San Siro, seeing him leave, deigned to applaud. One day Brahim will look back on the best days of his career and this will be one of his first: the evening he decided on a Champions League round of 16, at home, in a legendary stadium, diving on the goal line as if he were at the sea. Before thinking about the present – ​​therefore at Monza, which awaits Pioli on Saturday – let’s look to the future. Among the players in the Milan squad, Diaz is one of those who are suspended.

In the summer of 2021, Milan agreed with Real Madrid for a two-year loan, which arrived after the 2020-21 season, the first as a Rossoneri. Strange situation: a loan that drags on for three years, as in top-level football practically never happens. In the coming months, Milan and Real will sit down at a table to understand who will be the number 10 for the future but Milan appreciates Diaz and Brahim has no doubts: he is fine in Milan and would be happy to stay. The one hundred and forty thousand hands help.

The ransom

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Milan have always given Diaz confidence on the pitch. Pioli started the season with Charles De Ketelaere as playmaker: CDK used August to settle in and was deployed regularly in September. Brahim had the right attitude and in October he overtook, with Milan-Juve on 8 October as a symbolic match: starting shirt and great goal, celebrated on Rafa Leao’s shoulders, showing the shirt with the 10 at the corner. He virtually never came out. For this reason, in the plans for a future Milan, there is number 10. The choices on the summer market will depend on many variables, above all the end of the negotiation for the renewal of Rafa Leao and above all the qualification for the 2023-24 Champions League, however Milan and Real Madrid will talk to each other soon. Maldini and Massara appreciate Brahim, under the right conditions they intend to redeem him and in the coming months, probably already in March, they will understand if there are the numbers to continue the story. The idea in recent months was that Milan could redeem him for 22 million, perhaps to be adjusted downwards, but the negotiation has not yet come to fruition and Real will obviously have their say about him. The ball is inevitably in the field of whoever owns the card.

Double English

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Rather, if Brahim stayed on for the Rossoneri, in the summer there would be a contract to be rewritten but that’s another matter, still premature. His thoughts on the team are much more current: “I’m happy because we did an incredible job during the week – said Diaz two nights ago -. We all deserved it, even the San Siro. Now we have to look ahead, this success is good for the whole group”. To the group and to him, who hadn’t scored since 22 October – brace against Monza – and in the cup from Liverpool-Milan in September 2021. That goal too, scored from close range. Brahim, goal or no goal, in Milan restructured by Pioli remains a starter, also because Yacine Adli never plays and Charles De Ketelaere is currently a reserve. Diaz plays a little closer to Rafa Leao but essentially his duties have not changed compared to the past. He remains an attacking midfielder and on Tuesday evening he played above all in the centre-right corridor, where he tried to give quality and unpredictability.

Fake old

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For this reason too, Milan have always thought that Brahim would make sense under the right conditions. The Rossoneri’s 10 isn’t a top tier player but he’s playing the important games well and has room for improvement. We’ve been talking about him for a lifetime, since he was a very talented boy taken from City, but he’s not yet 24 years old. On Tuesday he scored in a knockout match in the Champions League aged 23 years and 195 days and it hadn’t happened in Milan since 2004, when Kakà scored twice at Deportivo La Coruña before turning 22. Not bad for a season in which he should have played less.

Give me your hand

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The coming months will complete the picture and the truth is that a handshake would call another, in a virtuous circle. Brahim celebrated the 1-0 on Tuesday by shaking hands with Rafa Leao, with whom he then exchanged a double bow. If the goals multiply, the chances that Milan will make an effort and shake hands with Real with a millionaire offer will also increase. Diaz, like the stadium, would applaud.