Giacomo Bonaventura has admitted that he never wanted to leave AC Milan when he did, and that San Siro holds a special place in his heart.
Bonaventura said goodbye to the Rossoneri in the summer of 2020 after six seasons with the club, and he did so as a real favourite. He ended up with 183 official appearances and 35 goals to his name, and was one of the most reliable performers.
The 30-year-old came off the bench during a 3-0 win over Cagliari at San Siro at the end of the 2019-20 season for an emotional farewell. Then, with his deal having expired, he decided to join Fiorentina on a free transfer where he remained until moving to Saudi Arabia in the summer.
Bonaventura gave an interview to Undici in which he spoke about saying goodbye to Milan and the San Siro pitch, immortalised in a famous image. His comments were relayed by MilanNews.
“I knew it was my last time, I didn’t want to leave San Siro. I wanted that match to never end. I grew up dreaming of playing at San Siro,” he said.
“I started from a small town in the Marche and I arrived here. That stadium gives you a boost that you can hardly find elsewhere, even though there was a great atmosphere in Florence too.”
One of the most underrated player we had. Loved his grit.
Me too. I loved Jack. And then he had another 3-4 good seasons at Fio. We could have used his leadership and his ability at AM all those years, and he wouldn’t have cost much to renew given his love for the club. Instead we f-cked around with primadonna Calhanoglu and Diaz who was never fully under our control.
He could have played as an AM, he could have played as a CM, he even could play as a LW/LM when asked to do so. He could have been our captain.
Last season he scored 8 goals and got 4 assists which is as much G+A as Loftus-Cheek but he did it with Fiorentina.
Letting Jack go was one of the dumbest transfers in Milan’s history. He had exceptional close control, vision, goals… which meant of course we were happy to pack him off to Fiorentina.