Franck Kessie has rejected a £110,000-a-week contract at AC Milan amid interest from Premier League giants Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur, as reported by Gazzetta dello Sport.
You only have to look at Kessie’s recent performances to realise all that uncertainty is starting to take its toll.
He was given the runaround by Jurgen Klopp’s rampant Reds at Anfield a fortnight ago – a 3-2 Champions League defeat flattered the visitors rather than the vastly superior hosts – before being dropped to the bench for the Serie A clash with Venezia a few days later.
And while Kessie can consider himself unfortunate in midweek – he was sent off for a debatable second yellow during the heart-wrenching, last-gasp defeat to Atletico Madrid – a red card in the 29th minute summed up how his season has gone.
Is Franck Kessie on his way to Tottenham or Liverpool?
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, there’s no chink of light at the end of a winding tunnel either, with a transfer saga that has set tongues wagging in Italy and England set to rumble on.
It’s understood Kessie, who will become a free agent in July, has turned down the chance to sign a new deal worth £110,000 a week that would have kept him at the San Siro until 2026.
The Ivory Coast international is asking for £130,000 a week.
And, as Milan showed when letting Hakan Calhanoglu and Gigi Donnarumma leave in the summer transfer window, they won’t bow down to excessive demands, no matter how important the player.
As it stands, Gazzetta believes the gap between Kessie and Milan is “unbridgeable”.
Calciomercato, meanwhile, has reported the former Atalanta star may be available for just £7 million in January with Arsenal, Leicester City and Everton interested (90Min).
Tottenham are also in the race for a box-to-box, Swiss army knife of a midfielder who looks every inch the perfect foil for the more defensively minded Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg.
Meanwhile Liverpool have been admiring Kessie for the best part of six years, their interest undiminished by a forgettable display at Anfield.
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