AC Milan sporting director Igli Tare has confirmed that talks are ongoing over an exit for Theo Hernandez this summer.
Speculation has been rife over the 27-year-old’s future with the Rossoneri, as with just a year remaining on his current contract, talk of an exit has been building in recent months.
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Coupled with the dip in form he suffered along with the rest of the team last season and the arrival of Massimiliano Allegri this summer as our new coach, changes are expected as part of a rebuild to construct a squad that suits the Italian tactician’s ideas and way of playing.
In turn, there are several contributing factors to the expectation that the French international will move on this summer, and Tare has confirmed that there are ongoing exit talks, believed to be with Al Hilal, but no agreement has been reached as of yet.
“Theo’s qualities are well known, a player who has given so much to this club,” he said, as per MilanNews. “All these evaluations also start from a desire, on his part, to seek a new experience.
“We welcomed it with a normal thing because with my arrival and that of a new coach we will try to build a team different from the past years. His transfer is not yet defined, we are working: I understand that there is a rush to give the news but you must understand our difficulties, things change every minute and every hour. It is something in progress but it is not yet closed, we have to wait.”
It certainly sounds as though the desire to leave came from Hernandez initially amid his contract situation, so Milan are now looking to offload him this summer to collect a significant fee for a prized asset to reinvest back into the squad.
In turn, it makes it easier to accept and support the decision to sell, but it will be a critical aspect of the reshuffle that Milan identify and sign a replacement that is capable of filling that significant void at left-back.
While question marks were often raised over his defensive abilities, Hernandez gave us a fundamental attacking dynamic down the left side, and although Allegri may well want to shift that responsibility onto others in the attacking third, it will be fascinating to see who is identified as the best option to replace Hernandez moving forward, should the exit he is looking for materialises.