Gennaro Gattuso has revealed the amount that he gave up when he was sacked as AC Milan manager to ensure his staff got paid.
Gattuso was the Primavera head coach before being promoted to first team boss on an initial interim basis after Vincenzo Montella’s sacking in the 2017-18 season, and after finishing 6th in that campaign he followed it up with a near-miss as Milan were edged out on Champions League qualification by a point after the final game of the season.
After a lot of speculation about what that might mean for his future, he decided to resign from his role and was eventually replaced by Marco Giampaolo in what turned out to be a disastrous move.
Calciomercato.com were among the sources to report that the former Milan midfielder made just one request before leaving though and that was that the €5.5m net he would have been owed if sacked instead went to paying the two-year salaries of all of his backroom staff.
In an interview with Il Corriere della Sera, Gattuso looked back on his experience and confirmed that the figure floated in the media was correct.
“I am very grateful to Milan. If I am what I am, I owe it to that club, to those colours that I have always loved. I didn’t want to be a burden and I wanted to go away on tiptoe,” he admitted (via Calciomercato.com).
“The figure?” Five and a half million net. A part went to pay the staff who otherwise, with my exit, would have remained and it was not fair. But it didn’t bother me that much. Milan, as a player and as a coach, transformed my life.
“I cannot forget when, after the victory in the 1990 European Cup, my father took me to parade in the town with the Rossoneri shirt on. I was proud to wear it, although obviously it was a replica, not an original.”
