It has been three years since Olivier Giroud joined Milan on a free transfer from Chelsea. Since then, he’s emerged as an attacking talisman for the Rossoneri, registered 48 goals and 20 assists in 130 appearances, helping to put an end to an 11-year Scudetto drought in the process. However, at 37 years of age, his time at the San Siro has come to a conclusion, with the veteran striker joining ex-France teammate and fellow World Cup winner Hugo Lloris at MLS club LAFC this summer.
By Zach Lowy
Whilst Milan added two centre-forwards last summer in Noah Okafor and Luka Jović, who scored six goals apiece in Serie A, it is clear that the Rossoneri will need to dedicate a good deal of the summer transfer budget towards finding a replacement for Giroud. Today, we’re going to be taking a look at several potential options that could fill Giroud’s vacancy at the top of the pitch.
To start, let’s lay down some criteria. Whilst Milan reaped the rewards from a short-term option in Giroud, his lack of pace and inability to find the back of the net on a regular basis has seen the Rossoneri miss out on the league title to Napoli and Inter over the past two years. Moreover, Milan’s club-record signing is Leonardo Bonucci at €42 million, and unless they decide to break that record fee by a considerable distance, they will miss out on options like Viktor Gyökeres and Victor Osimhen. As such, we’re going to limit our search to players under the age of 29, and we’re going to cap the release clause value of our potential candidates at €45 million.
Now that that’s over, let’s get our search underway…
Artem Dovbyk, Girona
Girona are headed to the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their 93-year history, and one player who has proven essential is Artem Dovbyk. After losing top scorer Taty Castellanos, the Catalan side splurged a club-record €7.5 million fee to sign him from Dnipro-1, and he has paid it off in stellar fashion. Similarly to Giroud, Dovbyk thrives with his back to goal and can act as a magnet when it comes to trapping long balls and facilitating his teammates with a flick-on pass or a through ball.
He’s not just a traditional target man, though, but a speedy forward who’s capable of dropping deep to link up play, turning past his opponent in the blink of an eye. Adept at bursting into the penalty box and getting onto the end of chances, Dovbyk’s combination of quick thinking, incisive off-the-ball movement and composed finishing have made him into one of La Liga’s revelations, whilst his towering physique and relentless pressing are more than enough to strike fear into any defender.
With 21 goals and 28 goal contributions, Dovbyk still has a chance to become the first Ukrainian to win the Golden Boot in Spain. It seems both he and his attacking partner Sávio will be departing the Estadio Montilivi this summer, and with a release clause of €40 million, he is well within the Rossoneri’s price range. At 26 years of age, Dovbyk has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Andriy Shevchenko and solidify a legacy not only with the Ukraine national team, but AC Milan as well.
Serhou Guirassy, Stuttgart
Over the course of a year, Stuttgart have gone from contesting a promotion / relegation playoff to achieving Champions League football for the first time in 15 years, and perhaps no player has epitomized their transformation quite like Serhou Guirassy. The Guinean had scored just 30 league goals in his previous three seasons, but today, he has emerged as one of the top strikers in European football with 28 goals in 28 Bundesliga appearances – only Harry Kane (36) scored with greater regularity this season.
Guirassy became the second player this century in Europe’s top five leagues to score 14+ goals in the first eight matches of a season after Cristiano Ronaldo in 2014/15 (15), and whilst many expected his form to cool off after heading to the Africa Cup of Nations, he has picked up where he left off, finding the back of the net in nine of his last 14 matches and leading Stuttgart back to the promised land. The complete package, Guirassy is equally capable of dropping deep, holding up his opposing defenders and bringing his teammates into play as he is skipping past opponents and showcasing his world-class close control and ball manipulation. A nimble, physically imposing striker who has a knack for reading the cross to perfection and deceiving his opponent with a quick feint, he has won two penalties this season and has proven effective not only as a goal-scoring threat, but as a playmaker.
After spending the first decade of his career bouncing around France and Germany, Guirassy could very well be set to reap the rewards of his patience and hard work by gaining a move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs this summer. With a release clause of €17.5 million, he’s a bargain waiting to be acquired.
Simon Banza, Braga
Last but not least, we turn our attention to northern Portugal and take a look at Braga’s Simon Banza. Having begun his career at Lens, Banza left France for the first time in 2021 and joined Famalicão. Banza impressed with 14 goals in 29 matches, including a brace in a 3-2 comeback win vs. Braga on the final day. This was enough to convince Braga, who signed him on a contract through to 2027 for a fee of €3 million. Banza began the campaign with 5 goals and 2 assists in 4 matches but was unable to find consistency at the centre-forward position, eventually dropping below Vitinha (sold to Marseille in January 2023 for a club-record €32 million) and Abel Ruíz in the pecking order.
This season, however, Banza has taken Portuguese football by storm with an astonishing 21 goals and 4 assists in 28 appearances, bettered only by Gyökeres in the Primeira Liga. Having spent a month away at the Africa Cup of Nations, Banza has scored 12 more goals than any other Braga player, and he ranks amongst the best strikers in the league in various parameters. He’s won three penalties, the joint-most in the league, registered 17 Expected goals and 20.5 Expected goals on target (only Gyökeres has more) and 0.95 goals per 90 (only Paulinho has more), whilst his 0.75 xG per 90 puts him well above Gyökeres (0.70), Paulinho (0.65) or any other player in the championship.
The Congolese striker boasts an intimidating physical prowess, a poacher’s instinct inside the box, as well as cunning movement and aerial supremacy, and he has served not only as Braga’s main inspiration in the final third, but an outlet who can hold up the ball, progress it into dangerous areas, and create space for his teammates.
Braga have already lost one key piece of their attack, with Álvaro Djaló set to join Athletic Club in the summer, and after missing out on Champions League football, they may be forced to cash in on Banza for below his €40 million release clause.
(Images from IMAGO)
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