Former AC Milan CEO Marco Fassone has revealed his belief that signing Leonardo Bonucci from Juventus in 2017 was ‘a mistake’.
Fassone was of course part of the new-look leadership – alongside Massimo Mirabelli – brought in under Yonghong Li’s ownership.
He has now discussed a number of topics in a tell-all interview, including the potential signings of Alvaro Morata and Cristiano Ronaldo two years ago.
“Bonucci was a mistake, but Gianluigi Donnarumma’s contract renewal was not,” Fassone told Sportitalia.
“When we signed Bonucci from Juventus, we’d already made eight or nine buys. The strategy was to create a squad suited to 4-3-3, so we already had the defenders and really didn’t need another. What we were missing was a centre-forward, for whom we had €70m set aside.
“The choice we made in the end was to reduce the budget for the striker and sign a leader for the dressing room. With hindsight, if we had just invested in a top forward as was the plan, it would’ve gone differently.”
On the €38million purchase of Andre Silva, Fassone revealed that the idea was always to bring in a proven striker as well.
“We thought that we’d get Andre Silva and let him grow under the wing of a great centre-forward, but never managed to close the deal.
“Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was a target, as (director of sport) Mirabelli was always a fan. However, it’s complicated to deal with German clubs. The demands were higher than his real value on the market.”
