PAOLO MALDINI has distanced AC Milan with a move for Celtic’s Kris Ajer. On Friday night rumours circulated that Milan would be targeting the Norwegian defender as a result of Alessio Romagnoli and Mateo Musacchio’s injuries. However, the legendary defender said that they were working on other targets when speaking to Milan Live – as per Sempre Milan. But Maldini refused to be drawn into specific names – mentioning Celtic’s central defender and Fiorentina’s Milenkovic.
“As a manager there is always room to learn and improve. The proclamations have been talking about Champions for many years but we haven’t been there for seven years.
“Last year something different was created, now we must see the fruits. We were asked to try for Champions. There are better equipped teams but we do not set ourselves limits.
“We have an idea of how to build the team. We also look at the budget and the amount of wages. We are consistent with what we did last year. We still have two qualifying rounds of the Europa League.
“The biggest need is the central defender. Are we focusing on Ajer and Milenkovic? There are others too, they are not the names we are working on. We are calm in midfield with Tonali.”
Ajer joined Celtic from IK Start in 2016 for £500,000 as a midfielder; however, Brendan Rodgers retrained the youngster as a central defender. The Norwegian became a first team regular striking up a partnership with Dedryck Boyata and impressing in the centre of defence.
Ajer had struck up a formidable partnership with Christopher Jullien at the heart of the Celtic defence before Neil Lennon opted for a 3-5-2 in the second half of the season. The Norwegian made 49 appearances in all competitions for the Scottish Champions last year and had continued this season being a mainstay in Lennon’s teams.