Cellino reveals Milan-linked midfielder wants Juventus or Inter move despite huge Barcelona offer

By Oliver Fisher -

AC Milan have been dealt a blow in their pursuit of Brescia midfielder Sandro Tonali as Massimo Cellino has revealed his two preferred destinations.

The Rossoneri have been repeatedly linked with a move for Tonali as they look for a long-term partner for Ismael Bennacer in the engine room of the midfield.

Numerous sources have claimed Milan’s interest in Tonali is genuine despite his reported €50million price tag, with the Diavolo hoping to play on the fact he is a boyhood fan of the club and would instantly be a protagonist of a new youth-led Milan side.

As our mercato expert Vito Angele revealed to us last month that Tonali has in fact reached an agreement with Inter regarding a summer move, and now a further blow has arrived.

Brescia president Massimo Cellino has confessed that the Italy international wants to join Juventus or the Nerazzurri in the summer.

“I fall in love with certain players and I would never want to sell them,” Cellino told Il Corriere dello Sport.

“Building a good team around him, a team of satisfactions, was my dream. But I realise, however, that the boy has important personal targets, a family that supports him, especially the mother.

“Nasser [Al-Khelaifi] would like to have him in Paris, he wrote me today. But he [Tonali] doesn’t want to go to France.

“He prefers Inter and Juve. [Napoli President Aurelio] De Laurentiis has offered me £36million, Fiorentina are ready to do whatever it takes, but his fate is more or less sealed.

“Before the coronavirus, Barcelona had arrived at €65m plus two very interesting guys valued €7.5m each, one was a defender.

“I think the Catalan leaders received an answer they didn’t like. And not from Tonali.”

Tags AC Milan Sandro Tonali
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