The 22-year-old Polish midfielder Piotr Zielinski who missed Poland’s exit to Portugal on penalties on Thursday has been linked with a move to Liverpool but AC Milan might attempt to hijack the move for the Empoli midfielder.
Liverpool seems to have clashed with AC Milan in the transfer market quite a few times this summer. A couple of days ago reports had emerged that Liverpool were looking to hijack Milan-bound Croatian ace Marko Pjaca from Zagreb. Now Milan seem to be returning the favour as they are all set to move in for Zielinski after they appointed Vincezo Montella as head coach on Wednesday.
Zielinski: An Idea for Milan
With the Chinese takeover on the verge of completion and the managerial conundrum also solved, Milan are finally looking to put months of uncertainty behind them as Sky Italia reports that they have identified Sampdoria’s Fernando and Empoli’s Zielinski as targets to reinforce the midfield (via Football-Italia).
Fernando has already enjoyed working under Montella during his time at Sampdoria and it wouldn’t be a problem prizing the ex-Shakhtar midfielder away from Genoa. Zielinski, however, has been waiting for Liverpool to make a decisive move with Napoli also in the race to sign the ex-Udinese midfielder.
The Future and the Past
The equal pedigree of AC Milan and Liverpool means that we might see a bidding war from both these clubs who were once great rivals in Europe, having played two Champions League finals between them. Empoli’s asking price, however, is a modest £11 million.
Zielinski had moved to Italy at the age of 17 and had joined Udinese, a club reputed to have one of the best scouting networks in Italy. However, Udinese’s ability to raise young talents had seen a considerable dip since the departure of Fransesco Guidolin who has found a new home in England.
This prompted Zielinksi to seek a move away from Udine to Empoli where he flourished with a talented crop of youngsters like Paredes, Tonelli, Saponara and Mario Rui in a team led by the highly competent Marco Giampaolo. Zielinski is a dynamic midfielder who can lend the mobility they have been desiring for a long long time now.
