Santiago Giménez heads to FC Porto on a season-long loan from AC Milan

Some transfers read like a second chance, and this is one of them. Santiago Giménez is in Portugal undergoing his medical ahead of a move to FC Porto, joining on a season-long loan from AC Milan. The Mexican forward will be looking to find at the Estádio do Dragão what San Siro never quite gave him: continuity and confidence.

Under the terms of the deal, "Bebote" will spend the entire 2026-27 season on loan, with an option to buy set at 23.2 million dollars that Porto could trigger if Giménez hits certain performance targets. In other words, the Portuguese club has kept open the possibility of making the move permanent if the Mexican delivers on the field.

It's worth remembering where he came from. Milan paid 43 million dollars to sign him from Feyenoord in January 2025, after Giménez broke out in the Netherlands with 65 goals across two and a half seasons, a tally that at the time also drew interest from several Premier League clubs. But his time at the Rossoneri never really got going: between injuries and the tactical unpredictability of Serie A, the striker finished with just seven goals in 37 appearances.

A future that no longer ran through Milan

The final blow came with a change of coach. Rúben Amorim took over at Milan and made it fairly clear that Giménez didn't figure in his plans, especially after the summer arrival of Portuguese forward Gonçalo Ramos from Paris Saint-Germain. With that outlook, an exit was only a matter of time, and the club itself gave him the green light to find a new home.

Why Porto and not somewhere else? That's the key to this whole move. The Portuguese side is the current leader of the Primeira Liga and, crucially, offers Giménez something that had become elusive in Italy: Champions League football. Porto opens its league phase campaign hosting none other than Manchester City on September 8, an ideal stage for a forward who needs to rebuild his stock.

After 18 difficult months in Italy, marked by physical setbacks and a lack of playing time, Giménez is betting on a change of scenery to help him recover the scoring touch that made him stand out in Rotterdam. The challenge now is to show, in Porto's blue and white shirt, that the killer instinct from his Feyenoord days is still there.