It’s very painful to lose one of your biggest players without receiving a fee for him. And it adds an insult to the injury when it’s your bitter rivals take your playmaker. It’s what happened to Milan this month after Hakan Calhanoglu decided not to extend his contract and opted to join Inter. There isn’t much time to spend crying over the past. Milan acted like gentlemen, they wished their former player all the best in his future career – and found a replacement. Yusuf Yazici, Calhanoglu’s Turkey teammate has been handpicked by Milan’s technical director Paolo Maldini and coach Stefano Pioli as a fitting replacement in the Rossoneri midfield.Money is everything: Calhanoglu choses bitter rival over 129 million KshYazici has had a fantastic season with LOSC Lille in France as Les Dogues dethroned Paris Saint-Germain to lift the Ligue 1 trophy. He scored 14 goals and made 5 assists in all competitions. Notably, he bagged seven goals in eight Europa League appearances playing just behind the strikers. What has possibly been the main reason Milan are interested, Yazici scored a spectacular hat-trick against Milan when Lille won their Europa League fixture 3-0 in Milan in November 2020. You could say he left his business card at San Siro.Lille have done great to spot talented players both in France and abroad and Yazici is just one of them. He arrived from his formative club Trabzonspor for just under $20 million in August 2019 and has taken to Ligue 1 like a fish to water. ⚽️⚽️⚽️ Sparta Prag⚽️⚽️⚽️ Milan⚽️⚽️ Lorient🔥 Yusuf Yazıcı’nın bir ay içerisinde attığı sekiz gol. Durdurulamıyor. 😎pic.twitter.com/aUmD6Y3jxQ— Socrates (@SocratesDergi) November 24, 2020 The asking price would be at least $25 million, but the Rossoneri have a good working relationship with Lille, having already done deals for forward Rafael Leao in 2019 and goalkeeper Mike Maignan in this transfer window.Yazici too, like Calhanoglu, has returned from a disappointing Euro 2020 tournament, with three largely forgettable appearances, in which Turkey crashed out of the tournament.
