The Celtic star has been linked with an exit from the club for quite some time but his mega-money transfer move appears to have fallen through.
No matter how many titles you win, some players will always look to make an exit. All through the summer there has been talk that Kris Ajer has been keen on a move away from Celtic. His previous agent Tore Pedersen started the discussion indicating that the Norwegian would move on. A change of agents to top Dutch company SEG altered the tone, but didn’t kill the rumours by any means.
All through the summer and stepping up more recently we’ve seen plenty of stories that AC Milan have apparently been very interested in taking Ajer to Italy. Mind you, we’ve seen plenty of stories of Celtic being interested in players they haven’t bought too!
As the Glasgow Times reports the Italian club’s Technical Sporting Director Paolo Maldini didn’t totally dismiss the move yesterday but he did dampen things somewhat. The rumour was that he was keen to secure Nikola Milenkovic from Fiorentina as his first choice centre back signing. But was working on Ajer as his back up to that deal. Maldini admitted both were on his shortlist, but then added that so were other players. And critically he added:
"“Those two can be part of a shortlist.“But right now they are not names we are working on.”"
Encouraging news for Celtic who, while a big money sale is always useful, would rather retain Ajer as a critical player in their emerging 3 at the back formation.
The Glasgow Times report today goes further now though with even more news. Apparently Matija Nastasic, 27-year-old centre back at Schalke 04 in Germany is heading to AC Milan on loan. That would surely be one of those others on the list then! Nastasic left Manchester City in 2019 and has developed well in Germany. It’s certainly a very plausible and positive signing for Milan.
It would be great news for Neil Lennon if he can retain his three strong centre-backs in Shane Duffy, Christoper Juliien and Kris Ajer. They can build a great relationship and add strength at the back for Celtic. Ajer is still only 22 and will continue to grow and learn alongside his more experienced defensive partners.