BEVERLY HILLS, May 10, (THEWILL) – The interest of Stefano Pioli’s AC Milan in trying to keep Brahim Diaz, their loanee from La Liga club Real Madrid was heightened when the 21-year-old turned up a brilliant display in Sunday’s unwinding of Serie A former champions Juventus. Pioli intends to open a negotiation with Real Madrid, about keeping Spanish forward, who has plugged comfortably into the Milan team.
Brahim was on the scoresheet as Milan dealt Juventus another crushing blow in the league’s top-four race with a 3-0 win at the Allianz Stadium in Torino, Juventus’ home grounds. Goals from Ante Rebic and Fikayo Tomori, added to Brahim’s opener, took Milan to third behind champions Inter Milan at the top and Atalanta. Victor Osimhen’s Napoli take up the coveted fourth place after 35 matches.
Pioli saw Brahim do what has impressed the Milan management in his time at the club. The forward was excellent throughout. He scored the opening goal and generally orchestrated play well from the frontline alongside Zlatan Ibrahimovic, their veteran Swede. And, Milan is ready to open talks about keeping the playmaker, at least for another year.
The Manager sees Brahim as solid competition for regular starters in the squad. Furthermore, in the event that Hakan Calhanoglu leaves Milan on a transfer in the summer, the 21-year-old would represent an ideal substitute and will easily blend into the position given the understanding that already exists with him in the team.
The only stumbling block at this stage will be Real. Are they going to be prepared to sell the jewel of Malaga so easily, especially as Manager Zinedine Zidane remains a strong admirer of Brahim and could seriously consider bringing him back to the squad to keep his forward line competitive?
That will however depend on where Zidane ends up after this season as it is not clear if his stay in the Madrid side is a guaranteed fact at the moment. However, Milan are ready to propose a renewal of the loan until June 2022, perhaps with the inclusion of an option to buy especially if Brahim keeps up his growth in the side.
They may have lost their title challenge, which kept them at the summit of Serie A’s standings until Inter usurped the position but Milan have improved at the right time. They left Juventus fifth with the 3-0 beating. The Old Lady is now one point behind the top four with three games left to play, one of which is against champions Inter at the Allianz Stadium in two weeks time.
Andrea Pirlo’s side have fallen well short of expectations this season with the very real threat of losing out of UEFA Champions League places a major concern. To lose the title to Inter is bad enough with a star like Cristiano Ronaldo on the pitch. However, to be 16 points behind and struggling to qualify for the Champions League is a far cry below the Bianconeri’s exceptionally high standards and has left some fans calling for Pirlo’s head to roll, ever more insistently than before.
This has given that Saturday, May 15 fixture between Juve and Inter all the more significance and heaped extra pressure on Pirlo to straighten out the chinks in his side and, if nothing else make the best of the time between now and then with the mind to get all the points on offer before the season ends. Because, his defiance to stay put at Turin aside, if he fails to qualify for next season’s UCL, he might have a hard time explaining that away to his employees.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
