Italian giants set sights on Paredes, but Boca Juniors hold firm

The Milan midfielder Leandro Paredes was back in Buenos Aires by June 2025 to pull on the Boca Juniors shirt, the club where he began his career. Now the Italian side is weighing up a move for the 32-year-old, who remains on their shortlist for the next transfer window. The report comes via TyC Sports, the Argentine outlet tracking the story in real time.

Paredes has given every indication that his future lies in Argentina. Since returning, he has led Boca Juniors to the 2026 World Cup final as captain and lifted the same trophy in 2022. His commitment has been visible on the pitch: in the Copa Libertadores group-stage match against Universidad Católica he played through injury, risking his World Cup 2026 participation. The same resolve showed after the World Cup itself, when he cut short his rest period and lined up just four days after the final, this time in the Copa Sudamericana tie against O’Higgins.

The club hierarchy in Buenos Aires believes a departure is unlikely at this stage. They point to Paredes’s stated desire to win major honours with the club that shaped him. The midfielder has already spent eleven years in Europe—turns at Chievo, Roma, Empoli, Zenit, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus—before choosing to come home. His final European chapter was a successful spell at Roma, where he re-established himself as a key figure in Serie A.

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Age is now a factor in any decision. At 32, Paredes knows the window for another big move to a European powerhouse is narrowing. A concrete proposal from Milan could therefore force him to reconsider, especially if the financial and sporting package meets Boca Juniors’ valuation. The Rossoneri would need to present an offer the Argentine club finds attractive, while also convincing the player to walk away from his Argentine project barely a year after his return.

For now, the situation remains embryonic. Milan have registered interest, but no formal bid has arrived. Boca Juniors, meanwhile, retain confidence that Paredes will stay, citing his own public statements of loyalty. The club is banking on the deep bond between the player and the shirt he first wore as a teenager.

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Formed entirely in Boca’s youth system, Paredes returned with a single mission: to deliver trophies for the club that discovered him. The coming weeks will show whether that ambition outweighs the lure of a final tilt at European football under the lights of San Siro.