“Now Allegri has to worry, because the goal is no longer third place. Now he has to fight to win as we have done in the last two years." Adriano Galliani is sure of it: after the purchase of Nigel De Jong, Milan are back competitive for the Scudetto. “We think we have worked well, because in our opinion Niang is good, Bojan is good, De Jong is good. Once again the Milan fans have to thank Silvio Berlusconi, after 26 years in Milan I think I've learned how to make the transfer market. The market takes place in the last seven days, it's useless to get excited beforehand, you have to stay calm, things have happened in the last week that would never have happened in the previous two months”. The Rossoneri CEO appeared really unleashed, thanks to De Jong, who landed in Milan after a quick negotiation with Manchester City. The Dutchman, who will sign a three-year contract worth 2,5 million per season today, cost 4 million. The contacts, already assiduous since Wednesday, became frenetic yesterday, so much so as to "force" Ariedo Braida and Giuseppe Riso to leave for Manchester. In fact, at a certain point the deal seemed to get complicated: Mancini had tried to include De Jong in the Maicon deal. However, Inter's refusal put Milan back in the game, which closed the operation in the late afternoon. In the evening, the Dutchman landed in Milan, and as expected he showed up at "Giannino", a well-known restaurant near the Central Station, which has by now become a key place on the market. There he made his first statements as a Rossoneri: “I'm happy, Milan are a great club. Everyone knows its story and from an early age they would like to play with it. This club always plays to win because it is full of many good players. Then I can't wait to play the derby against Inter, that's always a great game. I say to the fans that I am happy with my arrival, because I will always play with my heart."
But does the Milan market close here? No. Because last night, away from the microphones, Adriano Galliani made it clear that something could still happen. The Rossoneri are looking for a last minute opportunity to strengthen the defence, especially the left flank. The names are still top secret, but the candidates could be Luca Antonelli from Genoa (a club with which Milan has always had excellent relations) and Federico Peluso from Atalanta, on whom, however, there is also Juventus. Today there is only one certainty: the market will close at 19pm. For the rest, we can still really expect everything.
