With the transfer window closing soon, AC Milan are no longer willing to wait for Sporting Lisbon to meet their demands.

Time is running out, and with just a few days left before the transfer window closes, AC Milan can no longer afford to wait for other clubs to make their moves. Translation: the Harder deal, i.e., the path that led to the Sporting Lisbon center forward, is also falling through. The Diavolo no longer intends to wait for the white and green club to sort things out and has decided to focus on other profiles to strengthen the attack. The deal is not yet definitively off, but unless there are sudden changes of course, this seems to be the fate.

domino—  Milan was waiting because Sporting Lisbon intends to release the player only when it is certain it can replace him. The classic domino effect. A legitimate requirement when the transfer market is coming to an end and you can’t run the risk of finding yourself exposed, but then there are also the needs of those who buy. In Lisbon, they are still waiting to finalize the deal with Panathinaikos for Ioannidis: the last details of the agreement are still missing, and in any case, the Greens of Athens will only release him after the Europa League preliminary match against Samsunspor scheduled for Thursday evening. It’s a tough situation, considering that Pana has set its sights on Taremi to replace Ioannidis. But it’s a situation that doesn’t leave Milan feeling at ease: there are too many pieces that need to fit together. Hence the decision to look elsewhere, compounded by the player and his entourage raising their demands during the negotiations. For Harder, a €23 million plus bonus deal had been set up with Sporting, while the player was expected to receive a five-year contract worth €1.5 million per season. However, the clock continues to tick, and the limited time remaining has led the Rossoneri to change their target.