Joshua Zirkzee’s contract with Bologna has a €40 million release clause, so negotiations with the club over a transfer fee are not necessary. Agent Kia Joorabchian is demanding a massive €15 million commission as a reward for getting that written into the original deal on the move from Bayern Munich. This is the issue holding up the transfer to Milan and could put Arsenal or Manchester United back in the running for the Dutch center-forward. The battle over Zirkzee and the €15 million commission demand is just the most recent in a string of Milan stands against the power of agents that proved costly.
Milan have long battled agents over commission La Gazzetta dello Sport points out this is hardly a new fight for the Diavolo, who since Elliott Management and then RedBird took over have taken a firm stand against outrageous demands from agents.
They frequently paid a price for it, as they were unable to retain free agents Gianluigi Donnarumma and Franck Kessie. It was rumoured at the time that Kessie’s counsel demanded about €10 million in commission, while Donnarumma’s agent sought €20 million. More recently, Milan was set to sign Matija Popovic as a free agent from Partizan Belgrade in January, but the commission caused the deal to collapse at the eleventh hour. A similar circumstance surrounded Medhi Taremi, who is moving from FC Porto to Inter for free.