Repubblica: ‘Game of 9s’ – San Siro sub-plot emerges as Milan and Roma explore swap

A fascinating sub-plot could be played out during AC Milan’s game against Roma, and it involves two struggling strikers.

As La Repubblica (via MilanNews) report this morning, there is a mercato flavour to the game at San Siro tonight. Over the years, these two clubs have closed several deals, the most recent being the Saelemaekers-Abraham loan swap, while competing for others like Manu Koné.

In January, the axis between Milan and Roma could heat up again, given what the paper refer to as ‘The Game of 9s’, involving Santiago Gimenez and Artem Dovbyk.

Two problems to solve

Both Milan and Roma have struggling strikers, and just as happened in the summer, the two sides could sit down to discuss a possible swap deal between Gimenez and Dovbyk in the upcoming winter window.

Negotiations were underway regarding the exchange but ultimately fell through at the end of the summer window. This is because the Giallorossi wanted to explore the possibility of buying the Mexican permanently, but now that the clubs are back in touch, something could happen.

Jonathan Moscrop + Paolo Bruno/Getty Images

At this point, Dovbyk is Milan’s first choice for January, even though the Rossoneri management are also following other profiles for the role of centre-forward just in case the two clubs fail to find a meeting point again.

There is talk of Joaquin Panichelli at Strasbourg being a name that the management admire, as well as Jonathan Burkardt at Eintracht Frankfurt and a new name: Kader Meité of Stade Rennais.