Bologna have announced the loan signing of Milan midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers in a deal which includes an option to sign him outright. The Rossoblu have reportedly paid €500,000 to take the Belgian on loan until June 2024. The move was confirmed via a statement on the clubs official website:
Bologna Fc 1909 announces that they have acquired from AC Milan the registration rights of midfielder Alexis Saelemaekers on a temporary basis until 30 June 2024 with an option to outright purchase.
The sixth Belgian in the club’s history, Alexis is a valuable attacking joker who has always stood out for quality, reliability and application in his four seasons with the Rossoneri. Mainly a right winger but also a trequartista or a midfielder, he is a ’99 who grew up in Anderlecht and arrived at Milan as a 20-year-old in January 2020, immediately convincing Pioli to trust him. A balancer in attack, he guarantees dynamism, running, restarts and vision of the game, as well as good cover on the right flank: he starts as an alternative to Castillejo but soon climbs the hierarchy, forming a close-knit and effective pair with Calabria on that track. He made 140 appearances for the Rossoneri (with 10 goals, the first of which came against Bologna, and 14 assists) between the league and European cups, and made his Champions League debut in September 2021 against Liverpool as a right-sided trequartista in the 4-2-3-1 behind the central striker. At the same time, he also acts as a high outside player with the Belgian national team, with whom he makes his debut earlier, in autumn 2020. In the 2021-22 season, the season of Milan’s 19th Scudetto 11 years after their last triumph, Saelemaekers is the most reliable interpreter of the right outside position for Pioli, with a central trequartista between Diaz and Krunic on his side, Leao on the left and Giroud as centre forward.
