Ruben Amorim has held a lengthy meeting with Youssouf Fofana in recent days, with the midfielder making clear he wants to stay and fight for a place, according to Calciomercato.com.
That matters because Fofana has quietly slipped onto Milan's list of sellable players this summer, part of a wider clear-out the club is trying to push through. The problem is that offloading players has been harder than expected, and until bodies leave, the incoming market stays frozen. Fofana is one of the names Milan would happily cash in on to get things moving, which is what makes a face-to-face with the new manager worth noting.
Amorim wants to judge his squad himself rather than inherit other people's verdicts, and the sit-down was part of that process. Fofana used it to state his case: he wants to remain and prove he can be a regular in this team. Milan only paid Monaco around €20m for him last summer, so a sale now at a similar level would be flat business at best, which may explain why the club isn't rushing.
There is nothing concrete on the exit front regardless. Crystal Palace and Everton have both shown interest, but no formal move has landed. Milan's stance is that a bid in the €15-20m range would open the conversation.
The wrinkle is that if Fofana stays, another midfielder has to go, and Samuele Ricci is currently the likeliest to be sacrificed. Except Ricci is also winning Amorim over, which leaves the manager with a surplus he seems increasingly reluctant to trim.
For now the meeting changes little on paper, but Amorim holds the pen here, and until he tells the club which midfielder he can live without, the whole department stays in limbo.