Milan, Sanches ever closer to PSG. And now there is an auction for Botman

Overtaking for now has been placed by PSG, but there is the risk that Milan will soon find themselves also behind Newcastle. The GP is always run in the same circuit, that of Lille where the stars of Renato Sanches and Sven Botman shine, the Devil had accumulated a considerable advantage over the competition thanks to months and months of negotiations (with the players and also with Lille himself) but the long wait for the decisive thrust could end up reversing the positions: if so, the heir of Kessie and the reinforcement for the defense will be sought elsewhere.

Sanches walks away

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Until a few days ago, the deal to dress Renato Sanches as Rossoneri seemed to be in close proximity. AC Milan and the 24-year-old who blossomed at Benfica, withered at Bayern and flourished again at Lille had reached an agreement in principle and the Rossoneri were also hoping to find the square with Lille around 10-15 million. A lower figure than the requests of the French, which in January did not move from 30 million, but negotiable downwards given the contractual situation of Sanches, expiring in a year. The invasion of the PSG, however, changed everything. First of all, because Luis Campos, new sporting director of the Parisians, is not only the architect of Sanches’ arrival in 2019 at Lilla (a club of which Campos was ds at the time), but also and above all a figure to whom Renato is very attached , a sort of second father whom the Portuguese midfielder trusts blindly. And if the Christophe Galtier who led Sanches and Lilla to the conquest of Ligue 1 in 2020-21 were to sit on the PSG bench, then the family picture would be reassembled. Added to this is the PSG’s ability to seduce its interlocutors: from Lille, whose economic demands could be met without “discounts”, to Renato himself, intrigued by the possibility of joining a dream team without changing league and country. Milan have taken the blow and are looking around: staying in the race, at this point, would only be possible in the event of a sudden retreat of the Al-Khelaifi club (a scenario that can always happen, for example if the new coach was not Galtier) . Or a twist signed by Sanches himself: “Choose what is right for your soul, not for your ego”, read a photo yesterday on the Portuguese’s Instagram profile.

Botman to close

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The situation on the Botman front is more balanced. Lille value their jewel no less than 30 million, and the offers presented by AC Milan and Newcastle so far are the same. In short, he is in the air of an auction, which would favor the British for obvious reasons, in the hands of the Saudi fund for public investments and with a much larger budget than the Rossoneri. If the negotiation were to turn into an upward game, it is clear that Milan would pull out by evaluating alternative profiles. The card to play remains the feeling with Botman: the contacts between Maldini and Massara and the representatives of the Dutch central office have been going on at least since last winter – when it seemed that the deal could be successful in the January market – and the prospect of affirming itself with the jersey of a historic club that has returned to victory, has always fascinated the person concerned. Will that be enough to beat Newcastle’s million-dollar competition?