AC Milan are reportedly still pushing to convince midfielder Mattia Liberali to rejoin us, but Como are considered favourites to land his signature.
The 19-year-old came through our youth ranks and emerged as one of our top prospects, but a lack of opportunities at senior level saw him leave in 2025 to join Catanzaro.
Liberali scored four goals and provided four assists in 30 appearances for the Serie B side last season, while he’s bagged six goals in 18 caps for Italy 19s.
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Speculation this week has suggested that new Milan boss Ruben Amorim is keen to bring him back to San Siro and has personally looked to reach out to him, as he evidently believes that he could play a key role in his plans moving forward.
As per Gianluca Di Marzio, as reported by MilanNews, Como currently lead the race for Liberali’s signature but he adds that Milan are not giving up and continue to push to convince him to return to us.
Time will ultimately tell if we are able to change the youngster’s mind and convince him that we would be the better option for him over Como, but perhaps his previous stint with us might work against us in that he has already struggled to make a breakthrough for the Rossoneri.
Meanwhile, Fabrizio Romano reports that Liberali’s agent still hasn’t given the green light to Como, who are ready to pay the €6m release clause to sign Liberali and close the deal, but they reportedly don’t want to wait to conclude the agreement at the risk of leaving themselves open to be hijacked.
It’s a fascinating scenario as it does seem as though Milan’s window of opportunity to snatch Liberali back is still there, but it remains to be seen if he can be convinced that it will be the best move for his career, with MilanNews also reporting that the management team have joined Amorim in talking with the player directly to try to convince him.
What is certain is that it’s positive to hear that Amorim is looking to give youth a chance if the reports are accurate, as he’s expected to give other young talents opportunities this season too.
That’s been sorely lacking from Milan in terms of trying to integrate and promote our own homegrown starlets, and so it will be interesting to see if that trend changes in the coming months.
