AC Milan had been tracking former River Plate defender Leonel Vangioni for more than two years before the Argentinean moved to the San Siro as a free agent last summer.
Trouble is, the 29-year-old is yet to make Serie A debut as Mattia De Sciglio and Luca Antonelli are usually starting over him. Calciomercato.com’s Daniele Longo has exclusively interviewed Armando Vangioni, father and agent of the Argentinean footballer.
How is your son doing at Milan?
“He loves the city and he has settled in well with the family. He also loves his teammates, there are many great players and they are all very united.”
Now he’s out of action due to a muscle injury. Have you talked to him recently?
“He has a contracture, he’s recovering and I think he’ll return to training with the rest of the group in one week’s time. Of course he’s not happy, I think he’s picked up this injury because he’s nervous. He’s had just three similar injuries in his career.”
Did he expect to play more games?
“He did not come to AC Milan to play a bit-part. Maybe they don’t know him very well in Italy, but he has over 300 appearances in the Argentinean league. He has played with River Plate and the Argentina national team. I am sure that if he’d be given a chance, AC Milan fans would love him, he’s a great pro, he knows AC Milan is a big club and that he has to work hard, but we are not happy with how things are going right now. We didn’t expect to face this situation. Many Serie A clubs had been chasing him: Palermo, Torino, Sassuolo and Roma were also interested. Sassuolo’s director of sport also came to Argentina to negotiate with me.”
Are you going to ask to leave the club if Vangioni doesn’t get more game time?
“Of course yes. I don’t know if it will be in Italy or abroad. Leonel will go wherever they trust him. Things have changed at AC Milan. There is a new boss and we moved to the club when there was Mihajlovic in charge. He was the one who wanted him. Now Leonel is going to work as hard as he can to convince Montella, in January we’ll decide what to do.
Daniele Longo, translated by Lorenzo Bettoni, via Calciomercato.com
