• Milan believe agreement close after positive contacts • Arsenal will try to persuade Gazidis to stay

Milan are hopeful that Ivan Gazidis will leave his role as Arsenal’s chief executive to take up the same position at San Siro.

Gazidis has been identified as Milan’s number-one target by the president, Paolo Scaroni, and the Elliott group, the US hedge fund that owns the Italian club.

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Contacts between the parties have been positive and Milan believe an agreement is close, clearing the way for Gazidis to join in the coming weeks. Arsenal, though, will try to persuade Gazidis to stay.

Among the tasks Milan want Gazidis to oversee are talks with Uefa over financial fair play. In June the club were banned by European football’s governing body from participating in this season’s Europa League for breaking rules around requirements for clubs to break even but this was overturned by the court of arbitration for sport.