It’s that time of year when judgments must be made about the futures of players who spent the previous season on loan.
What do Fulham do with players like Jay Stansfield and Carlos Vinicius? The two attackers are returning to West London after spells with Birmingham City and Galatasaray.
What will Nottingham Forest do with Omar Richards, Gustavo Scarpa, and Remo Freuler? One of Switzerland’s Euro 2024 heroes faces an uncertain future at City Ground.
AC Milan, the Italian powerhouse, also has a handful of players that look to be little more than a drain on the Rossoneri’s resources.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the great former striker who now serves as a senior advisor to Milan’s RedBird owners, spoke out this week about the futures of two players who spent the 2023/24 season on loan away from the San Siro.
Milan duo struggled with Fulham and Nottingham Forest.
Fode Ballo-Toure spent a year at Fulham. Meanwhile, Divock Origi had a nine-month stint with Nottingham Forest, which he enjoyed – or perhaps suffered.
In an interview with Tuttomercatoweb, Ibrahimovic stated unequivocally that until Ballo-Toure and Origi get permanent moves, they will be forced to train with Milan’s reserves rather than Paulo Fonseca’s first-team group.
“Origi and Ballo-Toure will play for ‘Milan Futuro’,” Ibrahimovic explains. “Because they are not part of the first team project.”
According to Sempre Milan, Nottingham Forest’s chances of triggering the £4 million acquisition clause in Origi’s contract appear minimal. The former Liverpool, Wolfsburg, and Lille forward has only scored once in 22 outings for Nuno Espirito Santo’s side.
Meanwhile, left-back Ballo-Toure appeared in only 67 minutes of Premier League action. Ballo-Toure saw little playing time because Antonee Robinson was already Marco Silva’s preferred choice in the position.
Fulham declared on their official website that Ballo-Toure would not be retained.
“I was right in line with it on the edge of the penalty area, and I just couldn’t believe what he did there,” Birtles told the Forest Focus podcast after Origi squandered a chance to win the game by overhitting a simple pass to Chris Wood.
“It was simply embarrassing. It was not even tough for him to complete his tasks. Again, he made one too many touches. Wood has gotten himself into a wonderful position, and the ball speed was just insane; it beat everyone and it wasn’t even close.
“At that stage, you need to ask Origi again. He simply cannot perform for us for some reason.
“That’s a basic simple error, pass across the goal to win the game and he couldn’t do it.”
