Milan have sent Samuele Ricci to Como on loan until 30 June 2027, with an option to buy him permanently. The announcement came on 29 August 2026 from both clubs, from Como first and from Milan an hour later. The point is not the change of shirt: it is that a 25-year-old midfielder is leaving a side playing in the Europa League for one about to play the first Champions League in its history.
The deal at a glance
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| Player | Samuele Ricci, 25 |
| Position | Central midfielder |
| From | AC Milan |
| To | Como 1907 |
| Type of deal | Loan with an option to buy |
| Expiry | 30 June 2027 |
| Fee declared by the clubs | None |
| Shirt number | Not announced yet |
The number that holds it all up is 1297
These are the minutes Ricci played in Serie A in the 2025/26 season, according to the count reported by Sky Sport, spread across 31 appearances. That works out at a little over 41 minutes a game: 11 times he started, 20 times he came on with the match already under way. Football Italia adds the detail that completes the picture: he was named in the squad for all 38 matchdays, up against competition from Modric, Rabiot, Fofana and Jashari.
It is the portrait of a player who never quite became a regular, not of one who was cast aside. Milan themselves, in their official biography, close his first season in the red and black on 34 appearances in all competitions and one goal, scored in Bergamo against Atalanta. Corriere dello Sport puts his last outing on 17 May 2026, in Genoa v Milan, with 22 minutes on the pitch. In the first two matchdays of the 2026/27 season his playing time dropped to zero, and on 28 August, in the 2-0 win over Venezia, Ricci was not on the pitch at all.
The wording says option, not obligation
Here the difference between the words matters more than the figures. Milan write of a temporary transfer with an option to acquire him permanently, Como of a loan until the end of the season with an option to make the move permanent. Neither statement mentions an obligation to buy, not even a conditional one: in twelve months the decision will rest entirely with the Lake Como club.
On the figures, though, the clubs say nothing: not a single amount appears in the two official texts, not for the loan, not for the option, not for the wages. What is doing the rounds are press reconstructions. Sky Sport, Fabrizio Romano and MilanPress talk of a paid loan of 1.5 million euros, of add-ons, of a buy option set at 22 million and of wages covered entirely by Como, with Sky the only one to specify that the add-ons would be tied to qualification for European competition. Football Italia, with the deal still being negotiated, reported instead an overall package of around 22 million between loan and option. The first version is more recent and better supported, but neither of the two is contractual data.
What Milan get out of it
A year ago Ricci had arrived from Torino on a contract declared until 30 June 2029, with an option to extend to 2030, and the number 4 shirt. Back then too the amount was never published: the roughly 23 million plus add-ons reported by Football Italia come from the press, just like today’s 22 million buy option. Comparing the two sums means comparing two pieces of hearsay.
What remains is the accounting substance, which does not depend on the decimals. Milan take a salary off the books for a season and put off for twelve months the decision on a player they have not yet amortised. If Como exercise the option, the deal closes somewhere near the purchase price. If they do not, in the summer of 2027 the problem comes back with a year less on the contract.
Why Como is the right place
Como have qualified for the 2026/27 Champions League, with the single league phase drawn on 27 August in Monte Carlo. For a player who last season did not play a single European game, because Milan were not in Europe, the jump is a clear one: he leaves a side playing in the Europa League this year for one making its debut in the most important competition on the continent.
Then there is the technical reason, and that is the one Como put in writing. Cesc Fàbregas describes him as a player he knows well, with great technical quality, intelligence and an excellent ability to look after the ball, and says he is convinced his characteristics fit the team’s style. The profile is that of a central midfielder with the instincts of a deep-lying playmaker, the man who dictates the tempo in front of the defence.
The CV holds up the role: an Empoli academy product, a Serie B debut in 2019, more than 90 appearances for the Tuscan club and the award for best player in Serie B in the season they went up, then three and a half seasons at Torino. Como sum it up in a cautious formula: at 25, more than 200 appearances in the professional game in Italy. In Serie A that means 158 appearances and 6 goals according to the data quoted by Corriere dello Sport, and for the senior national team 11 caps without a goal, a figure Milan declared as up to date in June 2026.
What to watch now
Two things, and neither of them concerns the figures. The first is the shirt number, not announced at the time of the deal and which at Como cannot be the 4, already Jacobo Ramón’s.
The second is playing time, which is exactly the reason Ricci changed clubs. Fàbregas has built a crowded midfield, and the risk that a player who never quite becomes a regular stays that way somewhere else too is a real one. The sense of this loan will be measured against a single question: how many times Ricci starts in the Champions League. If the answer turns out to be almost always, the buy option the press is talking about will become a serious conversation as early as the spring.
Sources: official Como 1907 and AC Milan statements of 29 August 2026, the two clubs’ websites, encyclopaedic entries and public statistical archives, Sky Sport, Corriere dello Sport, Football Italia. No figure for the deal appears in the club statements: the amounts quoted are journalistic reconstructions.
Frequently asked questions
On what terms did Samuele Ricci join Como?
A loan with an option to buy him permanently, until 30 June 2027. The official statements from the two clubs, both published on 29 August 2026, say so in almost identical words. Neither of them mentions an obligation to buy.
How much is the deal costing Como?
The two clubs have declared no figure. According to Sky Sport, Fabrizio Romano and MilanPress it would be a paid loan of 1.5 million euros with add-ons and a buy option set at 22 million, with the wages covered entirely by Como. Football Italia, the day before, spoke instead of an overall package of around 22 million. These are press reconstructions, not contractual data.
Why did Ricci leave Milan after a single season?
Because of his playing time. In the 2025/26 season he made 31 Serie A appearances for 1297 minutes according to Sky Sport, with 11 starts and 20 outings from the bench, even though he was named in the squad for all 38 matchdays, as Football Italia reports.
What kind of midfielder is Samuele Ricci?
A central midfielder with the instincts of a deep-lying playmaker, the man who sets the play in front of the defence, and he can also be used as a number eight. Como present him as a player able to control the game from midfield, and Cesc Fàbregas praises his technical quality, his intelligence and his handling of the ball.
What shirt number will he wear at Como?
It has not been announced yet. Neither statement gives it and the official squad list on Como's website did not include him at the time of the announcement. The number 4 he wore at Milan already belongs at Como to Jacobo Ramón.
