Silvio Berlusconi has apparently, at long last--for real this time--sold AC Milan to a bunch of Chinese investors. The new guys will establish a pretty big transfer kitty, and reports are one of their targets is/will be Mateo Musacchio.
Musacchio's release clause is €50m, but Milan seem willing to offer maybe €20m or possibly €30m. However, I can't imagine Villarreal being very happy at the prospect of losing Musacchio in addition to Eric Bailly.
Reports in Italy are Milan's CFO Galliani has already contacted Musacchio's agent, so, if the reports are true (always a big 'if' where reports in the Italian media are concerned) whether anything really comes out of this will depend largely on Musacchio I should think.
Milan are not in Europe at all next season; Villarreal are. Musacchio's contract runs until 2018, though he is 'only' paid €1.2m/year which is not that much, really (by way of comparison, Cristian Zapata makes nearly €3m/yr at Milan and is not rated anywhere near as high as Musacchio). Of course since Milan aren't in Europe maybe Mateo could play in the Olympics, if he cares.
Milan have a number of center backs: Zapata, Romagnoli, and Mexes (all right, he's admittedly 34 now). So not sure how much they need to add another one. And of course Villarreal have no interest in selling Musacchio now; we're already down a CB after Eric Bailly's departure.
I don't think the rumor makes sense, but I would not totally discount it either.
If Musacchio wants to leave, either Sr. Roig holds firm and makes Milan pay the €50m release clause, which they are not likely to do, and then you have a player who isn't happy where he is; or, you end up starting at the €50m and negotiating down to something in the €30-35m range, meanwhile making a lot of quick phone calls to line up a replacement.
Of course, if Musacchio is happy at Villarreal and wants to focus on the season ahead in Europe and La Liga, then Milan will have to look elsewhere.