Pervis Estupinan could be on the transfer hunt again just months after leaving Brighton for AC Milan.
The Ecuador international defender signed a five-year contract in July after agreeing a deal worth £17m including add-ons.
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The 27-year-old’s move came later Manchester United held talks with Estupinan’s camp about a summer move for the left-back.
However, according to to the Italian outlet La Gazzetta dello SportHis disappointing performances have put his future in Milan in doubt.
European football expert Andy Brassell told The Pitch Prospect.com: “He wasn’t particularly impressive.”
“Actually there have been doubts about him for a few games.
“Max Allegri and his staff thought: ‘Yes, maybe the club has made a small mistake here.’ It feels like that.
Estupinan’s future in Milan is already in doubt
Estupinan played 104 games for Brighton over three seasons, helping the Seagulls qualify for the Europa League in 2023.
However, he was only used at the start of Serie A this season and was an unused substitute in three of Milan’s last five league games.
Despite playing more on the attacking left, Estupinan has yet to score a goal for his new club and has just one assist – the same number of red cards he received with red and black.
“It doesn’t feel like he was trusted,” Brassell added. “But what has really made the difference in the last few months is Davide Bartesaghi.”
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Rise of Bartesaghi
Brassell told The Pitch Prospect.com: “Bartesaghi is still a teenager. He’s been hugely impressive. Really, really good.”
“It’s tempting to say, although I don’t know if he’s been here in Milan long enough to really say that, it’s tempting to say that Estupinan was spoiled by his Ashley Cole in Bartesaghi.”
“Sometimes there’s a guy who just comes up through the ranks and turns out to be a lot better than you.”
“And I wonder if that happened at Estupinan. And it would be a shame because it was a big move for Estupinan to a very prestigious club.”
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“It’s unpleasant for Milan because they paid a lot of money for him.
“If Real Madrid wanted to sell Dean Huijsen tomorrow, there would be a market in the Premier League.”
“I’m not convinced Estupinan will get his money back. Or I’m not convinced they’ll get it all back.”
“I’m sure they would sell him to some Premier League team but they would probably take 30 to 40 per cent of their purchase price as it took a while to put a big deal together.”
“And I think if you asked a lot of Milan fans before the game, that would probably be the problem they have with the club at the moment.”
They have a good coach in Max Allegri, but the transfer policy, which of course was a hostage to fate because there were a few musical chairs at the top, you look at some transfer deals and you can’t really see the logic in some of them.
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Milan shouldn’t buy into the Premier League
“Especially for a club in Milan’s position who have generally made fairly sensible transfers, I would leave Christian Pulisic out of what I’m about to say because he was very influential.”
“But actually a Milan club having relatively modest resources compared to the name of the club means they shouldn’t be buying into the Premier League on a regular basis.”
“You shouldn’t go to Brighton, where there are really good prices for everyone, and buy Estupinan.
“You probably shouldn’t go to Chelsea and buy Nkunku. Even if Chelsea suffered a loss there, Milan paid more than 38 million euros. That’s a lot of money.”
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The Pitch Prospect understands Fenerbahce are interested in signing Nkunku, who has scored just four goals in 14 Serie A games, in January.
However, the 28-year-old is believed to want to stay at AC Milan despite his problems since arriving from Stamford Bridge.
“When Igli Tare, the sporting director, said, ‘Oh, we believe in him and we want him to succeed,’ what he meant was that we can’t afford for him to fail,” Brassell continued.
“So they have to stay with him for a bit.
“With Estupinan it is perhaps a little more undeniable because you have someone so good in his position who promises to be a future star for Milan in the next decade, but for Estupinan it is a real shame.”