AC Milan striker Stephan El Shaarawy set to join AS Monaco on loan
According to Sky Sports, AC Milan forward is on his way out of San Siro to AS Monaco. The deal will initially be a €2million loan deal, although if he makes 15 appearances for the French side, it will trigger the buyout clause for an additional €16 million, Football Italia reports.
The forward will have his medical on Monday, according to the Dailymail. The deal was struck by Adriano Galliani, Manuel El Shaarawy and intermediary Federico Pastorello in Ibiza and he will receive a five-year contract worth €3m per season.Soon after lunch, the player left the Milan camp and joined his brother and Postorello to finalize his move.(Football Italia)
He arrived from Genoa in 2011 and has also appeared 11 times for the Italian national team. The Little Pharoah has three years left in his contract at the Italian club.
He made just 28 appearances for Rossoneri in the last two seasons, which was marred by injuries. The 2012/13 was the breakthrough season for El Shaarawy where he scored 19 goals in 46 appearances for Milan. He made a total of 101 appearances for the Italian giants, scoring 27 goals in the process (stats via ESPN).
Monaco reached the last eight of the Champions League and finished third in their domestic league last season, even after losing their star men, Rademel Falcao on loan to Manchester United and the James Rodriquez to Spanish giants Real Madrid and most recently have sold Yannick Ferreira Carrasco and Geoffrey Kondogbia to Atletico Madrid and Inter respectively.
Falcao meanwhile has chosen to stay in England having signed for Chelsea, thereby prompting Monaco’s manager, Leonardo Jardim to step in the transfer market. With the arrival of Carlos Bacca and Luiz Adriano at Milan, El Shaarawy was deemed surplus for their goalscoring prowess by Siniša Mihajlovi?, thereby allowing the striker’s move to Monaco.
El Shaarawy loaned to help Milan sign Zlatan Ibrahimovic?
Meanwhile, Zlatan Ibrahimovic has been linked with a move back to Italy. According to Corriere dello Sport, Milan have increased their bid for the Swedish striker and are willing to pay the 33-year-old £5.3 million per year for three seasons after interest from Inter surfaced.
As Football Italia reports, AC Milan will soon move to sign Roma’s talented defender Alessio Romagnoli, after Mihajlovi?’s intention of landing the youngster at San Siro having worked with him at Sampdoria last season where he was on loan.