Milan only took 5 million euros to win 40 million Bundesliga magic strikers. Is it a masterpiece? Or a trap?

According to well-known transfer expert Romano, Serie A giant AC Milan has officially won the center Bonifas of Leverkusen in Bundesliga by loan + buyout. What’s more interesting is that AC Milan paid only 5 million euros in loan terms, and the optional buyout clause was only 24 million euros. In other words, Milan took only 29 million euros to win the center forward, which is currently valuation of 40 million euros in the transfer market. In terms of value, it is indeed a big advantage.

You should know that Bonifas is only 22 years old this year. In 2023, he spent 23 million euros on the opponent's side since joining Leverkusen in the Bundesliga. Now that he has been leveling in the Bundesliga for two years, the buyout fee has returned to 24 million. After all, he is only 24 years old, which is the beginning of a center player gradually entering the peak. Could it be that Leverkusen is so generous that he can make players of Bonifas' level a benefit?

Let's first analyze Leverkusen's forward configuration. After Bonifas left, only Hick was the main center. He scored 27 goals in 45 games last season, which is indeed worthy of such treatment. However, except for Hick, Leverkusen has no reliable substitute in the bench center position. Terrier has good efficiency in 9 goals in 20 games last season, but he is relatively thin and has poor deterrence when standing at the center position. Kofane, who just transferred from Albacete this summer, is only 19 years old. Although his potential is good, he can buy it for 5 million euros, which shows his roughness. Obviously, both of them are hard to compare with Bonifas.

Perhaps the real reason why Leverkusen gave up Bonifas is because the players have become more and more serious injuries in the past two years. In just over a year, Bonifas' ligament has had two serious problems. In the 23-24 season, he was able to play in 34 games and score 21 goals, but last season, his appearance dropped to 27 games and his goals also dropped to 11. It is precisely because of this increasingly serious injury trend that Leverkusen, who is blessed with Bayer, is suffering from unscrupulous medicine, which allows him to join AC Milan.

Of course, Milan's scouts must also be well aware of Bonifas' hidden worries about injury. Buying this young center with high potential and high risk is also a helpless move for Milan. They have followed up with many well-known centers this season. In Muani's transfer, they lost to Juventus. Compared to Juventus's courage to issue a forced buyout clause, Milan's financial resources seem to be short of money.

Then there is the recent transfer of Hoylen. Although there is no competitor bid this time, Milan was unable to win Hoylen in the end, obviously because Manchester United wanted to get a contract offer with a forced buyout clause, while Milan was only willing to offer a term of 5 million euros to buyout of 35 million euros.

In fact, in recent seasons, buying players who have hidden injuries in the past is not a new move for Milan. Previously, they bought two players from Chelsea who had more injuries. Although Chik still had poor appearances, he made 40 appearances in 23 seasons and 28 appearances in 24 seasons, similar to Bonifas.

But Pulisic is different. After joining Milan, he has played more than 50 consecutive seasons, which is obviously different from frequent injuries in the Premier League.

However, objectively speaking, Chick's style of playing football tends to be physically confronted, so when the Serie A style remains unchanged, it is normal that there are still many injuries. On the contrary, Pulisic needs to frequently confront physically and run back and forth in the Premier League. Both points in Serie A have been greatly reduced. The number of injuries of the two seems to be related to their own technical and position characteristics.

Unfortunately, Bonifas' style characteristic is that the overlord in the penalty area will definitely be many confrontations. This is also the reason why Milan has found a big advantage on the books this time, and many media are still worried about it.

Of course, after all, it is only a 5 million euro loan, and the buyout clause is relatively flexible. At least for now, Milan doesn't have to worry about the center position.