Huntelaar set to move to Milan
Huntelaar set to move to Milan
With a move to Stuttgart falling apart, AC Milan has stepped in to reach a deal with Real Madrid to sign striker Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. The move to Italy ends the player’s unhappy eight-month spell with the Spanish club.
Milan’s Pato has insisted that Leonardo needs to sign a target man to complement him. Originally, Luis Fabiano was thought to be joining AC Milan from Sevilla, however, an agreement was not reached between the clubs as Milan would not succumb to Sevilla’s asking price for the Brazil striker.
Spanish sports daily Marca reported Thursday that Milan was prepared to pay between €15 million ($21.6 million) and €18 million ($26 million) for Huntelaar in a deal welcomed by Madrid, which is keen to offload players before the start of the season.
Galliani did not disclose details of the deal with Madrid, saying only that Huntelaar would not be on loan but would transfer permanently to Milan.
The Dutch forward was expected to travel to Milan later Thursday for a medical and to sign his new contract, Milan vice president Adriano Galliani said.
“We have a deal with Real Madrid,” Galliani told Italy’s Sky Sport 24 TV channel. “All that’s missing is the player’s medical exams and the economic agreement with the player.”
“It is not true that there is still no fax from Madrid, the agreement has been finalised. Huntelaar will arrive in Milan on Thursday evening, then we will perform his medical and he will sign the contract.”
Madrid confirmed late Wednesday that negotiations with the Italian club were ongoing but added that an agreement had yet to be reached.
Madrid has spent €254 million ($365 million) on eight players including Cristiano Ronaldo and Kaka since Florentino Perez returned to the club presidency in June
So far, the club has raised a reported €15 million ($21.6 million) through the sales of Javier Saviola and Javi Garcia to Benfica and Daniel Parejo to Getafe.
Expected to follow Huntelaar out of Madrid is his compatriot Rafael van der Vaart. There are doubts over the futures of three more Dutchmen - Ruud van Nistelrooy, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder - together with Mali’s Mahamadou Diarra.
Huntelaar, who turns 26 next week, made only 13 first-team starts after joining Madrid from Ajax for €20 million ($28.8 million) in December when Ramon Calderon was the Spanish club’s president.
