AC Milan will play an extremely important match on Friday against Torino (10.45 PM EAT, San Siro). The Rossoneri have been without a win for a month, that is, in the previous seven games, and since that painful defeat in the Super Cup final against Inter (0-3), they have been defeated three times in a row in Serie A as well.It is clear that the title will not be retained, leading Napoli are ahead by as many as 18 points, but Milan’s players are still in the race for the Champions League. The fourth position is only a point away, and the second-placed Inter, who are at +5, are also within reach. Therefore, every point until the end of the season will be of great importance.Stefano Pioli and his team will try to return to winning ways on Friday, when the aforementioned Bulls of Turin come to visit, and before that game there is good news for Milan fans: Zlatan Ibrahimović regularly trained in the previous days, on Tuesday he completed a complete training session with teammates and could be in contention for the team against Torino.##NAJAVA_MECA_7007341##Due to injury and knee surgery, the Swedish goal scorer has not played since the end of last season. His last match was against Sassuolo on May 22, and he scored his last goal more than a year ago – on January 9 in a 3-0 win over Venezia.It will certainly take some time for the experienced attacker to catch the rhythm, the question is how much he can do at the age of 41 after such a long break, but they are optimistic at San Siro. They believe that with his first-class charisma and experience, Ibrahimović will help his younger teammates to get up and start winning. At the same time, the return of the Swede will please Olivier Giroud, who in the absence of better solutions, plays much more than would be expected from the 36-year-old attacker.And while we are on that Giroud subject, AC Milan need reinforcements for next season if they want to join the top four in Serie A or do something more on the international stage. Like most Italian clubs, the Rossoneri are not really in a position to think about bombastic names and the best players in Europe.##EDITORS_CHOICE##Rebuilding the team will not be an easy task, this was also seen this summer with the example of the months-long pursuit of Charles De Ketelaere, who was paid 32,000,000 euros, without any concrete contribution to the progress of the team. Paolo Maldini and the rest of the sports sector in charge of transfers will have to work hard in the coming months to find adequate players for the red and black jersey. In the meantime, the former captain will try to keep what Pioli already has at his disposal.That’s why the club, according to Gazeta dello Sport, scheduled a meeting with Giroud for Thursday. The experienced striker’s contract expires in the summer, but regardless of the fact that he turns 37 on September 30, they want to keep him for one more season, with the option of extending it to an additional one.The 🦁 returns! 🔴Zlatan Ibrahimovic returns to Milan training for the first time in a long time.His last game for the Rossonerri was an 18 minute cameo against Sassuolo in May, last year. pic.twitter.com/zusKlK66wj— H/F (@hfworld_) February 8, 2023 Allegedly, Giroud has nothing against staying, with the fact that he is asking for a salary increase, which currently amounts to 3,500,000 euros per year net. The veteran and his representatives believe that, regardless of his age, he deserves to be paid like 10 years younger – and much less efficient – Divock Origi, who according to the contract has 4,000,000 euros net per year.For the sake of comparison, the Frenchman scored 10 goals and assisted with six goals in 27 appearances this season, and the Belgian scored two and set up one goal in 19 games. Looking at the minutes, Giroud did spend three times as much time in the game, but even taking into account the injury problems he had during the season, much more was expected of Origi after his arrival from Liverpool last year.All things considered, 500,000 euros should not be an obstacle for the continuation of cooperation between AC Milan and Olivier Giroud.AC Milan have scheduled new meeting with Olivier Giroud agents to extend the contract — current one expires in June. 🔴⚫️🇫🇷 #ACMilanEverton asked for Giroud on Deadline Day, MLS clubs also wanted him but no way to negotiate: he’s crucial player for AC Milan. pic.twitter.com/zmpqfddvyf— Rohan (@Rohan5640) February 8, 2023
