Italian giants AC Milan are closing in on the signing of Samuel Chukwueze from Villarreal.

After weeks of negotiations between the two sides, it appears an agreement has been found, and the Nigerian winger is on his way to join the rest of the Milan team in their pre-season tour of the US. According to most reports, Milan and Villarreal have agreed on a deal for €20m ($22m) plus €8m ($8m) in add-ons.

The 24-year-old becomes Milan’s seventh major signing of the summer, after securing deals for Marco Sportiello, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Luka Romero, Christian Pulisic, Tijani Reijnders and Noah Okafor.

New sporting director Geoffrey Moncada has had a lot of work to do this summer. Sandro Tonali’s €70m ($77m) move to Newcastle has given Milan more money to operate with in the transfer market than has been the case in the past several seasons, and thus Moncada has been negotiating with multiple clubs for players.

Once Chukwueze’s deal is confirmed, it will take Milan’s summer spending to over €90m ($99m) (excluding add-ons). This is Milan’s biggest spend in a single transfer window since the infamous summer of 2017, when the club spent - and mostly wasted - over €200m ($221m) on an array of talent after Li Yonghong had bought the club from Silvio Berlusconi.

The focus for Milan will now to be and trim the squad down and sell players. Matteo Gabbia has joined Villarreal on loan for the season while, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport, the likes of Ante Rebic, Junior Messias, Divock Origi, Fode Ballo-Toure and Charles De Ketelaere are all thought to be expendable given an acceptable offer.

According to La Gazzetta, Origi is the subject of serious interest from West Ham with a deal somewhere between €8m-€10m ($8m-$11m) mooted. De Ketelaere has interest from the Premier PINC League, with Aston Villa supposedly one of the teams keen on taking the youngster to England.

According to Calcio e Finanza, Milan are on close to post profits for the 2022-23 season of around €13m ($14m). This would represent the first time the club have posted profit in any season since 2006, mostly in part to Andriy Shevchenko’s move to Chelsea that summer.

Milan CEO Gerry Cardinale faced heavy criticism from fans for his decision-making upon the finish of last season. Club legend Paolo Maldini was let go from his post as sporting director, as was Ricky Massara. Moncada was promoted to take Maldini’s place, and his first call was to sell Tonali to Newcastle, further infuriating fans.

However, selling Tonali, as painful as it was for Milan fans and for Serie A as a league, may just be one of the best decisions the club has made in several years. It’s early days of course and a ball in a competitive setting hasn’t been kicked yet, but Milan are undoubtedly a much improved squad now than they were three weeks ago. If the new recruits perform to the standard that earned them moves in the first place, then Milan could successfully regain their lost Scudetto crown from Napoli.

That all lies in the future, but for now, Moncada is slowly beginning to win over the disgruntled Milanisti and optimism is rising with the new season less than a month away.