AC Milan planning to cut short Mario Pasalic's season-long loan deal

Mario Pasalic is set to rejoin Chelsea with AC Milan looking to cut his loan deal short despite paying £1m ($1.3m) to sign him on a temporary basis in the latter stages of the summer transfer window. The Croatian midfielder joined the Rossoneri on a season-long loan deal, but has failed to make a single appearance so far this campaign.

The 21-year-old midfielder joined the Stamford Bridge outfit in 2014 from Hadjuk Split. He is yet to make a single appearance for the Blues and has spent the last two seasons out on loan, first with Elche in Spain and the last season with AS Monaco in Ligue 1.

Chelsea have a number of midfielders at their disposal and it was unlikely that he was going to get a chance with the first-team. However, it is a similar situation in Milan as Vincenzo Montella also has more than the required number of midfield players at his disposal for a limited number of positions.

According to Italian publication Calcio Mercato, the manager is not convinced by the quality offered by the Croatia international and has favoured other players. Suso, Jose Sosa, Juraj Kucka, Riccardo Montolivo, Giacomo Bonaventura and Andrea Poli are said to be ahead of Pasalic at the moment.

The report claims that even teenager Manuel Locatelli has moved ahead of him in the pecking order for a place in the midfield at the moment. There will be even less space in the squad for Pasalic when injured stars Mati Fernandez and Andrea Bertolacci make their return. It is believed that the club are willing to cut the loan short if the situation does not change, and a return ahead of the January transfer window has not been ruled out.