Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Junior Messias are technically no longer under contract with Milan, but that will change soon. Despite a major injury, the Swedish star will sign a one-year extension. Plus, the Rossoneri have reached agreement with Crotone to purchase the attacker.
As per Sky, the center-forward will earn €1/1.5M, plus add-ons tied to his number of goals and assists. He had surgery on his left knee to reconstruct his ACL, and address further problems, in late May. He will return in seven-to-eight months, therefore in January. The veteran will have the opportunity to become the oldest player to have starred in Serie A if he features late in the season, Corriere dello Sport points out.
On top of Ibrahimovic, Milan are keeping another member of the Scudetto-winning squad in Junior Messias. After not activating their option to buy, they got a slight discount from Crotone. They will acquire him for €4.5M, as per Calciomercato. They paid €2.6M for the initial loan last summer.
The attacker bagged 6 goals and provided 3 assists in 32 appearances in his first campaign in San Siro. The 31-year-old supplanted Alexis Saelemaekers as the starting right-winger in the final months of 2022/2023. The club already deposited his contract at the League’s office, so the annoucement is a matter of time.
Our Take on Milan Retaining Ibrahimovic and Messias
The charismatic leader deserves to play as long as he wants. The reasonable figures make it easy for the club too. It remains to be seen how much he will be able to contribute. He probably just like the challenge of coming back from a debilitating injury at his age. It will be interesting to see whether the Scudetto winners will shoot for two new attackers and just one after these moves.