Much to Massimiliano Allegri’s relief, the direction of travel at Milanello has changed over the summer.

After waving goodbye to Tijjani Reijnders, who joined Manchester City in a £46million deal less than a month into his second spell at the San Siro, and losing Theo Hernandez to Al-Hilal, a flurry of new signings have been welcomed through the door of AC Milan’s training ground.

Luka Modric joined on a free transfer from Real Madrid, while Brighton left-back Pervis Estupinan and Torino midfielder Samuele Ricci arrived for a combined £34.6m and veteran goalkeeper Pietro Terracciano moved to the San Siro after his contract with Fiorentina expired.

At long last, Ardon Jashari is joining the list of arrivals with Milan agreeing a deal worth up to £32m with Club Brugge for the Switzerland international, who scored four goals and registered six assists in 52 appearances for the Belgian giants in all competitions last season.

Transfer sagas are two-a-penny in football, but even by modern standards, the tug of war involving the 23-year-old reached farcical levels after Milan’s opening gambit of a package consisting of a £27.7m fee with a further £5m in bonuses was swiftly knocked back.

The Belgians wanted a £35m upfront payment plus add-ons for a player they signed for just £5m from Swiss side Lucerne a year ago.

The discrepancy between the demands and Milan’s offer led to a protracted impasse, the relationship between the two clubs growing frostier still after Jashari successfully requested to train on his own and was left out of the squad for the Belgian Super Cup last month.

“Brugge have shown they can win even without Ardon,” club captain Hans Vanaken said after they beat reigning Belgian champions Union Saint-Gilloise to lift the first trophy of the season.

“If he doesn’t want to play for us anymore, we’ll get over it. Life goes on.”

Brugge, however, were far less inclined to move on and stood their ground, hoping interest from Chelsea and Saudi Arabian club Neom would lead to a better transfer fee, only for Jashari to rebuff the offers in order to force a move to Milan.

With time running out, his unwavering determination to join the Rossoneri finally broke down Brugge resistance, and they realised they were about to start the season with their best player effectively in a self-imposed exile.

For his part, Allegri wanted the summer signings completed before Milan kick off their season against Bari in the Coppa Italia on August 17.

Jashari becomes the most expensive signing Milan have completed under new sporting director Igli Tare and is a significant coup for the Albanian, who had vowed to address the Rossoneri‘s issues in midfield at the beginning of the summer.

“First and foremost, we’re seeking a holding midfielder,” the Albanian told reporters in June. “And then we will sort out the rest of the squad, including adding a forward to challenge [Santiago] Gimenez for a starting spot.”

Tare has now delivered on his promise and Fabio Capello suggested the Albanian’s perseverance in chasing Jashari bodes well for Milan.

“This also leads me to believe it’s the right signing,” the former England manager told La Gazzetta dello Sport on Wednesday. “Igli is an experienced sporting director who knows what it takes to succeed at a club like Milan. If Tare chose Jashari, it’s because he saw not just a great footballer, but a reliable person in every respect. He’s not the type to leave anything to chance.

“And let’s not forget Massimiliano Allegri, who surely must have approved the move.”

While Modric’s arrival has been met with enthusiasm on the black and red side of the divide in Milan, the 2018 Ballon d’Or winner will turn 40 less than three weeks into the Serie A season.

Plainly, the Croatian maestro is not a man upon which to build Milan’s future. His experience, however, could be the perfect foil for the youthful exuberance of Jashari and Ricci, with Youssouf Fofana, Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Warren Bondo also still at Allegri’s disposal.

The prototypical modern No 6, Jashari is tactically versatile and has played as a defensive midfielder and in a box-to-box role. He completed 88.4% of his passes last season, running an average of 10km per match.

His tactical awareness, positional discipline and vision have drawn comparisons to Barcelona great Sergio Busquets.

Jashari also becomes the most expensive purchase of RedBird’s tenure, beating the (£25.5m) fee plus bonuses Milan paid Feyenoord in January for Gimenez.

The American investment firm had not broken the £25m barrier on signings in three years since taking over from Elliott Management in the weeks following the last Scudetto win in 2022.

RedBird can rightly point out that their approach to spending has allowed Milan to balance the books. The club posted marginal profits in the last two years, with 2023 being the first time they had been in the black for 17 years.

But their thriftiness has been interpreted as a lack of ambition, a legitimate criticism after a season that saw Milan finish eighth in Serie A, 19 points adrift of champions Napoli and out of the European spots.

The tide at last, appears to be steadily turning.