AC Milan continue to be linked with a move for Sven Botman this summer, but does a swoop for the Lille and Netherlands defender make sense for the Rossoneri?
As reported by MilanNews, Gianluca Di Marzio has noted that Botman is still waiting for Milan to accelerate their push to sign him and rival Newcastle Utd, but the problem remains as to how long he can continue to hold out if the Rossoneri aren’t able to reach an agreement with Lille.
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It’s expected that Milan will continue talks in the coming days, and while signing Botman would be a great move for the club, should he necessarily be our priority in this transfer window?
No doubting Botman quality, but Milan have other factors to consider
There is absolutely no denying the 22-year-old’s ability and the expectation is that he will go on to become a top player at the highest level both for club and country, and so it’s easy to understand why Milan are interested as we look to build on our success from last season.
However, Pierre Kalulu showed exceptional development and improvement last season and his partnership with Fikayo Tomori in the latter stages of the campaign was a fundamental factor in our ability to close things out and secure the Scudetto.
Milan ended the season with the joint-best defensive record in Serie A, and so with that in mind, it doesn’t necessarily seem to make sense that that area of the squad needs to be strengthened any further in terms of an expensive signing that could impact our spending elsewhere on the squad, as it will seemingly take a big fee to match Newcastle.
Simon Kjaer will return from injury to provide depth and competition next season, while Matteo Gabbia and Alessio Romagnoli are still options at Stefano Pioli’s disposal as things currently stand.
An exit would ultimately then raise the question as to whether or not we have enough in that department, and so Botman would then make more sense, but ultimately he’d face stiff competition for a starting berth and wouldn’t be guaranteed one which raises the question as to whether spending a significant part of our budget on the Dutchman makes sense.
At 22 years of age, he would of course represent a longer-term fix in defence and combined with Tomori and Kalulu, Milan would have three stand-out options as we look to compete on multiple fronts.
That said, we also have other areas of the squad that arguably need more attention and to be prioritised, namely adding more creativity and quality in the final third after Brahim Diaz’s struggles last season as well as replacing Franck Kessie in midfield, and so there is a balance that Milan have to consider with our spending in the coming months.
If we do complete a deal for Botman, it would be an excellent signing. However, it’s important it doesn’t impact our spending and ability to bring in reinforcements elsewhere as it’s clear we need to add more if we wish to reach the elite level again and build on what we’ve achieved thus far.
