"Borrow First," Italian Serie A Clubs' Winter Transfer Strategy

Entering the 69th minute of the match against Cagliari, Saturday (3/12/2025) early morning WIB, at the Unipol Domus Stadium, the AC Milan coach substituted in new striker Niclas Fullkrug to replace the sole goal scorer, Rafael Leao. Less than 24 hours after being introduced as the first signing in the winter transfer window of 2025-2026, Fullkrug had the opportunity to make his debut with "I Rossoneri."

Wearing the number nine, Fullkrug has become Milan's hope to be a source of goals in the second half of this season. The German striker is expected to meet the needs of a pure center forward for Milan.

This season, Milan's only true poacher, Santiago Gimenez, has been suffering from a serious ankle injury since last October. Gimenez is not expected to return to action until late February 2026.

However, Fullkrug's debut did not go well. Coming on to take the place of Leao, who scored in the 50th minute to secure a 1-0 lead for Milan, Fullkrug failed to replicate his teammate's performance.

Playing for more than 20 minutes, Fullkrug failed to create any threats towards the home team's goal. The 32-year-old player did not produce any shots. In fact, he only made two touches inside Cagliari's penalty area.

That performance may have been disappointing, but Milan remains confident that Fullkrug will only need a short time to adapt to the Italian league.

We lack players with character like him (Fullkrug) in the squad after Gimenez's injury, so we made an important agreement with West Ham.

Milan's optimism seems to overshadow the reality that Fullkrug has only scored three goals in 28 appearances with West Ham United during 18 months of competing in the English Premier League. This is a very poor statistic considering his status as a key player for the German national team.

However, it would not be the Italian League if it did not believe in the saying "there is always a second chance." Milan has loaned Fullkrug from West Ham until the end of this season. The hope is that Fullkrug can soon end his goal drought that has lasted since April 2025. It has been eight months.

"We lacked a player of his character (Fullkrug) in the squad after Gimenez's injury, so we made an important agreement with West Ham," Milan sporting director Igli Tare told Sky Sport Italia.

From Fullkrug's debut performance, Tare sees positive aspects. According to him, the performance of the 1.88-meter tall striker is not only measured by the quantity of goals but also by his collective role in assisting the team's play.

"He brings good physical qualities, a strong presence in the penalty box, and great enthusiasm within the team. We are impressed with his performance in training, and he is a player who will help us achieve our goals this season," said Tare.

Milan is beginning to establish itself as a team that enjoys giving second chances to great players during the winter transfer window. They loan these players in hopes of recovering from their downturn. However, this effort does not always go smoothly.

This can be seen from the loans of Kyle Walker and Joao Felix in January 2025. Both failed to assist Milan in breaking into the European zone by the end of the 2024-2025 season.

However, individually, Walker performed well, providing the leadership the Rossoneri lacked last season. He appeared in 14 matches. Felix, meanwhile, only contributed three goals in 19 appearances.

After Milan acquired Fullkrug, the winter transfer market of the Italian League began to heat up with several rumors. Primarily, there are reports of the return of Italian players who have been playing abroad.

There is also news of the return of several players who once had careers in the "Land of Pizza." However, they will not arrive with permanent transfer status.

The financial condition of Italian teams is not as strong as that of the English Premier League and the German Bundesliga, prompting them to opt for loaning players during the second half of this season. If they perform convincingly, they will open the opportunity to make the player transfers permanent at the beginning of the 2026-2027 season.

For example, Atletico Madrid striker Giacomo Raspadori is currently being pursued by two teams from the capital, AS Roma and Lazio. The former Napoli player, as reported by La Gazzetta dello Sport, has been given the green light to join Roma. Atletico have agreed to a loan and purchase agreement for next summer.

However, Raspadori has not agreed to the transfer idea. This situation has opened up opportunities for Lazio to poach Raspadori from their city rivals.

In addition to Raspadori, Federico Chiesa is reported to be close to a potential "CLBK" or rekindled romance with Juventus. Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano stated that Chiesa's camp and Juve are just waiting for the green light from Liverpool to realize the loan transfer.

Juve coach Luciano Spalletti revealed that his agreement to accept Juve's offer did not include his desire to bring in new players this January. Instead of mentioning target players, Spalletti introduced Marco Ottolini as the new sporting director of Juve.

"He (Ottolini) will be in charge of the transfer market. This is an opportunity to strengthen the squad. That's not a topic I want to discuss. I'm happy with the players I have, and as of now, I don't need anything," Spalletti said, as reported by Tuttosport.

Meanwhile, several players who are potential returnees to Serie A include Tottenham Hotspur defender Radu Dragusin; Al Hilal wing-back Joao Cancelo; and Bayern Munich center-back Kim Min-jae.

Observing the intentions of the best team in Italy to strengthen their squad for the remainder of the season through a player loan strategy is not a foreign concept. In the winter transfer window of the 2024-2025 season, Serie A Italy recorded the highest loan fee value during that period.

In total, Italian clubs spent approximately 28.3 million euros or around 554.7 billion rupiah. This figure represents 12.3 percent of the total transfer expenditures during last season's winter transfer window in Serie A.

Previously, the value of player loan fees during the winter transfer period was established in the 2021-2022 season. At that time, Italian teams spent 10 million euros (Rp 196 billion) to loan players from other leagues.

The Italian League, undoubtedly, is the competition with the highest percentage value of loan transfers compared to the other four top European leagues during last year's winter transfer window.

The competition with the second largest percentage of total transfers compared to loan costs is La Liga, with 9.7 percent of total expenditures amounting to 33 million euros (Rp 646 billion).

The percentage value of borrowing from the total winter transfer expenditure in Italy and Spain surpasses that of the English Premier League (3.3 percent), the French League (2.5 percent), and the German League (2.4 percent).

Thus, the loan aims to provide players who are currently underperforming with the opportunity to revive themselves for the remainder of the ongoing season. If the team's performance improves, that player has the potential to be signed permanently in the following season. However, this is contingent upon the parent club not setting an exorbitant price that is difficult for Italian teams, which are forced to be frugal due to circumstances, to meet.