The 18-year-old joined AC Milan from French outfit Caen last summer and has already made 12 appearances for the club, most recently in last night’s 2-0 win over relegation threatened Genoa. He became Milan’s second youngest goal scorer ever when he netted in a Coppa Italia game against Reggina in December.
The French youngster has been highly acclaimed in his youth years and considered to be the next Thierry Henry. In his two professional seasons with Caen, he scored 5 goals in 30 appearances. His international record speaks better, as he bypassed three international levels to be called up to represent France in the qualifiers for the 2013 U-21 European Championship. He made his U-21 debut against Latvia and scored within 15 minutes of coming on as a second half substitute.
One cannot associate a French youngster with the talent that Niang has without mentioning Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger. Prior to his summer move to Milan, the striker went on trial with English clubs Arsenal, Spurs and Everton. Arsenal were rumoured to be close to landing Niang but nothing materialized and the Frenchman jumped at the chance of joining Italian giants Milan.
The lanky striker is enjoying a fine debut season at the San Siro and has impressed one and all with his energetic performances. There were rumours surfacing in November last year that Milan were ready to offload the young starlet following his reckless actions that included visiting a nightclub on the eve of an U-21 qualifier and driving without a license. However, such rumours were quashed when Milan officials offered him a one year extension to his current contract on his 18th birthday, thereby tying up the talented player till 2018.
But sources at Chelsea have suggested that Milan may still be willing to sell him come next summer and Blues scouts were present to watch the player come on as substitute in Milan’s famous 2-0 first leg win over Barcelona in the Champions League round of 16 a fortnight ago.
Chelsea are known to be in the market for a striker following the continued failure of record signing Fernando Torres and have been rumoured to make big money bids for the likes of Radamel Falcao and Mario Gomez. But, Niang has shown maturity for a 18-year-old with his assured performances and the Blues prefer recruiting him, since he falls under Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich’s policy of recruiting top young talent.
Blues have searched all over to look for young talent in recent windows and have bought the likes of Lukaku, Oscar and Hazard among others. And Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich looks set to continue his investment in the brightest young talent by lining up a bid for the Milan striker in the summer window.