Milan’s Transfer Strategy: Is Alexander Sorloth the Right Choice?
Aldo Serena has never been shy of a blunt verdict. This time, his question cut straight to the heart of Milan’s transfer strategy.
“Milan, are we sure?” the former Rossoneri, Inter and Juventus striker posted on X, alongside a picture of Alexander Sorloth. Seven words, but the message was clear: serious doubts about the Norwegian as the man to fix Milan’s attack.
The timing was no accident. Sorloth had just come off the bench in Atletico Madrid’s 1-0 defeat to Arsenal on Tuesday night and wasted a golden opening, miskicking inside the box when the chance seemed to beg for composure. For Serena, it was the kind of moment that lingers in the mind when a club is weighing up whether to build an attack around a new No. 9.
Milan’s Plan A up for debate
According to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Sorloth has climbed to the top of Milan’s shortlist for the 2026-27 season. The reasons are as cold as they are simple: Dusan Vlahovic and Robert Lewandowski, long admired in Milan, come with wage demands that stretch beyond what the club is willing to pay. Sorloth, by contrast, represents a more accessible target.
The report claims the 30-year-old has already given his approval to a move. Milan like the profile, the player likes the project. On paper, the pieces line up.
But paper doesn’t score goals, and Serena’s intervention taps into a wider unease. Is Sorloth, with his current output and age, really the forward to lead a club with Milan’s ambitions back to the sharp end of Europe?
Numbers, context and a contract clock
Sorloth’s season with Atletico Madrid has not been anonymous. Nineteen goals in 50 appearances is a respectable return in a demanding environment, and he remains under contract in the Spanish capital until June 2028. Any deal will require an agreement with Atletico, who are under no immediate pressure to sell.
Yet the debate in Milan goes beyond raw statistics. At 30, Sorloth would arrive as a finished article rather than a long-term project. The room for explosive growth is limited; the expectation would be instant impact. Missed chances in high-profile games, like the one at Arsenal, inevitably fuel questions about whether he can carry the weight of a club still chasing the standard set by its greatest No. 9s.
Serena, with his own history in that shirt, clearly isn’t convinced. His short, pointed message captured what many fans are already thinking but haven’t articulated with quite the same sharpness.
Milan now stand at a familiar crossroads: accept a compromise solution in attack or hold out, at greater financial risk, for a forward with the aura to match the San Siro stage. The Norwegian has said yes. The club is negotiating. The only real doubt, as Serena has underlined, is whether Milan themselves truly believe in this choice.
