On the day that marks the completion of Alvaro Morata’s move to AC Milan, a lot of supporters have been asking the same question: how did he end up being the chosen one?
Through our colleagues at SempreMilan.it, we can piece together the full background on the move. The starting point is that the hunt for a new striker began practically at the end of last season when it was certain that Olivier Giroud would not renew and would head for the United States.
It is a search that the management initially linked together with the hunt for a new head coach and they wanted the two protagonists of the ‘miracle’ that Bologna achieved last season: Thiago Motta and Joshua Zirkzee.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Geoffrey Moncada were the men put in charge of putting the pieces in place for the post-Pioli era, and in their minds they wanted the exciting young Italian coach plus the talented Dutch forward as the head coach and new No.9.
However, the first blow came regarding Motta. Milan stalled on making a call regarding Pioli’s fate after a run of wins which coincided with Juventus’ decline under Max Allegri. They decided to dismiss him and were already far along in talks with Motta, who kept his word despite Milan’s attempts.
The commission issue
Having lost the chance to hire Motta, Milan focused solely on Zirkzee, first trying to unravel the mystery related to the release clause that was built into his contract and what influence Bayern Munich had.
Among Moncada’s moves, as we reported, there was a meeting with Bayern (the striker’s former club) in which the Rossoneri received confirmation of the existence of a €40m clause that is valid not only for the Bundesliga team but for all clubs.
Having established this, Milan immediately mobilised with Bologna, communicating their intention to pay the entire clause. However, it was more difficult to get in touch with Zirkzee, who was called up by Ronald Koeman for the European Championship after some injuries.
The negotiations therefore did not take place directly with the player but with his agent Kia Joorabhchian, a name now known not exactly in a positive way among Milan fans.
The story with Zirzkee’s agent is now famous: Moncada and Giorgio Furlani did not find an agreement regarding the high commissions requested (€15m) and they froze the negotiations after Manchester United entered.
Change of plan
The follow-up question that has been put forward by fans is along the lines of how Milan then went from a young profile worth €40m+ to one nine years older with a much lower transfer fee.
Well, the Morata idea did not arise the day after the collapse of the Zirkzee deal but several months earlier. The Spanish forward had even been a target of Milan last summer when Moncada went in person to speak with the former Juve man, who did not want to leave Atletico Madrid.
This caused things to dry up in terms of contacts between the Rossoneri and Morata, but then Ibrahimovic arrived. Shortly before the appointment of Paulo Fonseca, it was the Swede who took the reins by contacting him in person, all while he had expressed concerns about staying at Atleti.
To simplify even more, while Furlani and Moncada were carrying out negotiations for Zirkzee and hoping to unlock the door on the commissions front, Zlatan was working on the ‘plan B’ so they could quickly switch if needed.
The real green light for Morata came a few days before the official presentation of Fonseca as the new Milan coach at Casa Milan. In a meeting held in the city with the coach there were a number of options presented, and he picked the 31-year-old.
The crucial clause
The real turning point in the Morata-Milan story came from the Spanish training retreat at Euro 2024, where Morata had explicitly declared his intention to leave LaLiga because he did not feel at home in his own country.
Milan were already aware of the existence of a rather low release clause (€13m) in Morata’s contract with Los Rojiblancos. However, they needed the forward himself to open up to the move, otherwise triggering that clause would have been for nothing.
Step forward Giuseppe Bozzo, the mediator of the operation. Through him the entire economic side regarding the salary was defined, which was a quick negotiation but not necessarily simple given the initial reluctance of Milan to offer the a four-year deal at €5m net per season.
Ibra’s conviction but also, it must be said, the lack of ‘affordable’ alternatives (when factoring in the transfer fee) then led the directors and the ownership to give in, accepting the player’s demands almost entirely.
We arrive today. Morata has just become European Champion wearing the captain’s armband of his national team and in the last few hours he underwent medical tests with his new club. Milan closes a soap opera that perhaps initially had other protagonists, but has a happy ending.