First one down [Newsletter]

Jul 02, 2026

🚀 Foot on the gas

It seems I picked the wrong week to go on vacation. After weeks and weeks of stalemate on the head coach front, finally resolved by the appointment of Ruben Amorim, rumours weren’t exactly coming in thick and fast regarding signings. Then, in just a matter of days, Goncalo Ramos went from being an idea to ‘Here we go!’. A signing that was initially kept a secret, it seems.

Gianluca Di Marzio has claimed that the medical tests took place as early as June 12, when the negotiations began, and you would assume that this had to do with the striker’s World Cup commitments. As for the fee, Fabrizio Romano reported that Milan agreed to a whopping €74m plus bonuses. That beats the previous transfer fee record by some margin (Rafael Leao at €49.5m).

Anyway, I’m sure you have all read enough about Ramos’s arrival at this point, but it definitely does seem like the Rossoneri are only getting started. Not that they should really get any praise for that; we are in the beginning of July with a coach who still needs a lot to drive his project forward. But hey, it would have been a lot worse without a statement signing to kickstart the summer.

⛔ Liberali dream squashed

Once it was confirmed that Mattia Liberali had a release clause of just €6m in his contract, many Milan fans dreamed of a return for the academy product. After all, thanks to the 50% resale clause, he would have cost just €3m (i.e. half of the release clause). So, the Rossoneri initiated talks with Liberali’s entourage to beat Como, who were ahead in the race.

Despite a few positive meetings, a call from the owner Gerry Cardinale, and a better contract money-wise, Liberali opted to go with Como. It hasn’t been announced yet, but Fabrizio Romano tweeted the ‘Here we go’ on Wednesday afternoon. You could definitely say that it’s a big disappointment for Milan, although they will at least pocket €3m from it all.

Seemingly in an attempt to avoid similar losses in the future, Milan held talks with the agents of both Francesco Camarda and Christian Comotto in recent days. Ruben Amorim will evaluate them during the pre-season and then, together with the management, he will decide whether to keep them or send them out on loan again. The feeling is that both have a pretty good chance.

📋 Milan Bulletin

Below, we have collected the most important Milan news from the last week, including our longer reads and newspaper reports.

📰 Latest News

The big news regarding Milan Futuro is the confirmed exit of Massimo Oddo as the head coach, and it is claimed that a foreign name could replace him. There is another departure too, as Alessandro Longoni has joined PSG on a free, becoming the second promising young Italian goalkeeper in recent years to swap Milan for Paris.

More information about Ruben Amorim’s first couple of weeks has emerged. Firstly, he is aiming to enforce a set of rules for the squad to abide by, or rather values that he hopes they carry forward to create a better culture. Secondly, owner Gerry Cardinale seems to have given him the keys to the castle, and is listening to what he needs transfer-wise.

After Goncalo Ramos’ big-money arrival, the next position to spend on seems to be a centre-back. Goncalo Inacio of Sporting CP - someone Amorim knows well - has emerged as the main target. Antonio Silva appeared close to joining before Benfica put up a wall, while other names have been linked like Lisandro Martinez, John Stones, Tiago Gabriel and even Virgil van Dijk.

Other mercato rumours: Comotto and Camarda are expected to renew to avoid a repeat of the Liberali saga; Napoli are out of the running for Rabiot; two sales are planned to recoup the Ramos outlay; Modric is open to staying another year; a pair of midfield exits are likely; an approach for Pulisic has been quickly rebuffed.

🔍 Longer Reads

Our longer reads from over the past week are unsurprisingly centred around the club-record signing of Ramos. We took a look back at the previous times the top fee was smashed, and weighed up the risks versus potential rewards of the blockbuster deal. The latest Devil’s Advocate asks ‘Is this what a record signing should feel like?’, while we also have a full scouting report on the new No.9.