AC Milan sign ex-Real Madrid flop after Mehdi Taremi saga

AC Milan made a swift response to missing out on Mehdi Taremi by acquiring Luka Jovic from Fiorentina on a season-long loan.

The Rossoneri and Porto seemed to have agreed on a transfer fee of $16 million for Taremi. Milan thought the player’s contract and personal agreement would be a breeze. However, issues arose when the player’s agents increased their demands.

Sky Italia claims the new demands were “double or triple” the original ones. As a result, unfortunately, the parties concerned were unable to come to terms with one another. Therefore, everything fell through. Moreover, AC Milan frantically sought a striker on the last day of the transfer window.

Rossoneri approached five players on Deadline Day

Patson Daka of Leicester City, Torino striker Antonio Sanabria, Sevilla’s Rafa Mir, AZ Alkmaar’s Vangelis Pavlidis, and Willian Jose of Real Betis were all on the radar of the Italian giants on Transfer Deadline Day. Amid all the chaos, Stefano Pioli’s team found someone else on transfer deadline day. Luka Jovic from Fiorentina is switching clubs in Serie A from Fiorentina to AC Milan.

The permanent transfer of Jovic to Milan has been confirmed via an announcement on the club’s official website. The Serbian forward has committed to the Rossoneri until the end of June 2024. His decision to wear jersey number 15 was also confirmed in the announcement.

Luka Jovic a journeyman who finds AC Milan

His professional career began with Red Star Belgrade, continued at Benfica, and ended with a loan to Eintracht Frankfurt. Over the course of 75 games, he scored 36 goals for the German team.

After signing with Real Madrid in the summer of 2019, he played 32 times for the club and scored twice. His time at the Santiago Bernabeu did not go to plan. In January of 2021, he returned to Eintracht on loan and tallied four goals in fourteen appearances.

Following the conclusion of his loan, he returned to Madrid for the 2021-22 season (19 appearances, 1 goal), before signing with Fiorentina permanently last summer and going on to play 50 matches, scoring 13 goals.

PHOTO: IMAGO / Domenic Aquilina