AC Milan Playing a Dangerous Game as French Clubs Chase Hachim Mastour

Hachim Mastour has been a name on the lips of every fan of AC Milan for years. From stories of his training-ground heroics in the youth system to his shockingly early promotion to the first team last year at age 16, fans have seen the teenager as a key to the team's future.

There's no doubt that this kid has ability coming out of his ears. This video—which intersperses some shots of him playing tricks in an empty stadium with a number of highlights from his youth games—is evidence enough of that. There are certainly some incredible images of him taking on multiple defenders and leaving them all in his wake. A few of those moves are—dare we say it—almost Messi-esque.

Ever since his promotion to the first team, Milan's fans have waited to see him run out onto the field in the famous red-and-black stripes. Unfortunately, there is very suddenly a possibility that they'll never get the chance.

On Sunday, Corriere dello Sport reported (h/t Football Italia) that Paris Saint-Germain were preparing an official offer for the 17-year-old. According to the sports daily, the prodigy is getting impatient with waiting for his official debut for his club despite winning a cap for Morocco last month.

Hot on the heels of that report came one from calciomercato.it (also via Football Italia), linking another French club, Monaco, to potential negotiations for the player.

The rumors have only intensified from there. On Monday L'Equipe (h/t Football Italia) seemed to confirm the involvement of both teams and forecast a bidding war. On Tuesday it was even posited by Sky Sport (h/t Football Italia) that Silvio Berlusconi could use the starlet as bait to tempt PSG into allowing Zlatan Ibrahimovic to return to Milan this summer.

Milan is playing with fire here in several ways.

First, purely in the business sense, allowing Mastour to leave the team could be a massive mistake. Apart from the fact that no player so young, regardless of his potential, will reap much money in a sale—the general figure being bandied about in the various reports is €5 million—allowing Mastour to leave would be a huge mistake when it comes to brand-building.

The Rossoneri have spent a lot of time building their corporate brand in emerging markets like East Asia and the Pacific Rim, but their decline on the field has dropped their appeal in more traditional markets, and Mastour could be a huge help there.

Even at 17, Mastour already has a bevy of sponsorship deals, including Nike and Red Bull. If he starts to make full appearances at Milan and finally go from potential to reality in their shirt, his sponsorship connections could go a long way to building Milan's brand back up in mainstream European circles.

But the even bigger risk here comes from the fans themselves.

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There has been growing discontent among the team's supporters this season, culminating in fan protests over Berlusconi's ownership. This summer's spending spree in the wake of new investment can be taken as a step forward, but the optimism should still be cautious.

What the fans truly want is evidence of a concrete plan for the future, one that is built on promising younger players and only augmented by the transfer market. Mastour represents the biggest building block in that plan. Selling him would cause a furor that would make the response to the sale of Bryan Cristante last year look like nothing.

If Mastour were sold, it would be concrete evidence that Berlusconi and Adriano Galliani are still flying by the seat of their pants. If that sale involved Berlusconi's pursuit of Ibrahimovic—which has become increasingly Quixotic over the last month—the absence of a plan would be even clearer. The Swede is one of the five best forwards in the world, but he's also 33 and missed much of the past season to injury. His best years are behind him.

From Mastour's perspective, moving from Milan would be supremely risky.

It would be understandable that he'd be frustrated over not making the debut yet, but Milan also has reason to be cautious. In Stephan El Shaarawy they have a prime example of what can happen when a young body is subjected to too much too soon. In Mastour's current condition, it would be advisable to keep any potential encounters with the likes of Giorgio Chiellini to a minimum.

A move for playing time might be tempting, but there's still no guarantee. PSG has a bad track record when it comes to giving playing time to their youngsters—Kingsley Coman left for Juventus for that reason. At Monaco he may have a better shot, but it's still a gamble. The team hasn't invested the time in developing him that Milan has, and he'll have to fight for a spot rather than growing into one at Milan.

In reality, a move away from Milan is probably bad for all parties. Milan will lose a marketable star and face the prospect of a full-scale fan riot. Mastour, for all his talents, would be casting himself into the unknown, with no guarantees in his future.

Still, club would have far more to lose than player. Milan cannot allow Mastour to leave.