Milan step up efforts to ward off Spurs for Musacchio

TRANSFER TALK

AC Milan CEO Adriano Galliani is wasting no time in trying to keep Atgentinian centre-back Mateo Musacchio out of Mauricio Pochettino's clutches. He will try and close a deal with the player and Villarreal in the next couple of days, suggests a report from Sky.
Cristian Zapata underwent successful ankle surgery yesterday and with a need to improve their backline anyway, signing a centre-back is crucial. Milan and his agency company EMG Mundial have been negotiating for weeks.

This isn't a straightforward transfer as Villarreal only own 35% of the rights of the 25-year-old, a third party owns the rest. When we tried to buy him last summer Villarreal were insisting we pay them 76% of the transfer fee and were thus insisting on £50-million. The Premier League don't allow third party ownership.

Tottenham have made a last minute intervention expressing our interest to the player. Whether he wants to play every week or as a backup to Toby Alderweireld we may know in a couple of days. The indications from Italy are that he is keen to sign for AC Milan.