Former AC Milan midfielder Andrea Bertolacci has claimed that head coach Gennaro Gattuso was told not to select him by those above.
Bertolacci joined Milan back in June 2015, arriving in a €20m deal from Roma having had an impressive spell at Genoa, who co-owned the player at that time.
He scored his first Serie A goal for Milan in a 3–1 away win at Lazio in November of that year, but ultimately he fell down the pecking order and didn’t make a single league appearance from the start of the 2017-18 season onwards.
The 28-year-old recently joined Sampdoria on a free transfer, and in an interview with Il Secolo XIX he seemed to suggest that he would have played more at Milan but for the club’s intervention.
“I had a good relationship with Gattuso,” he said, via Calciomercato.com.
“We always talked to each other and he wanted me at AC Milan. My contract was due to expire, and it was more a choice of the club.
“I talked to Gattuso and understood that it wasn’t his doing. I trained all year with a smile and I never got into trouble. However, it’s a closed chapter for me.”
LATEST PODCAST: Episode 70 – Hitting the reset button (again)
