AC Milan target Nicolo Zaniolo has said that he is ‘stretching his hand’ to AS Roma after a turbulent January transfer window in which he was desperate to leave the club.
The Giallorossi star has sent an open letter to the ANSA press agency (via Roma Press) in which he starts by refuting many of the things that have been written and said about him in recent weeks.
The player decided that he would like to leave Roma in the January transfer window and the club were happy for him to go for the right price.
After he turned down a move to Bournemouth in the Premier League, no other deal materialised and it became too late to reignite the Bournemouth deal.
Milan could not afford him but he favoured a move to the Rossoneri. It is now reported that Milan may try to get that deal done for a lesser fee in the summer.
“Many things have been said and written about me in recent weeks and many are not true,” the letter began.
“I arrived in Rome as a stranger and Roma and Romanisti welcomed me as one of them. They gave me confidence, courage and affection in the terrible and dark moments of injuries.
“In the last few months I have gone through a delicate period, in which it was difficult to understand what my professional future would be. However, I have always applied myself in the field and in training with the utmost professionalism.
“For the first time these days I was afraid, for myself and my family, and I felt abandoned. It had never happened to me and I got very scared. The future is in our hands: I stretch mine and I put myself at the complete disposal of the Roma family.
This is what happens when a club and a management put their foor down.
After 5 months of not playing, he will go wherever they tell him next summer.
Also, smart move by Roma not to sell him now to Milan, because the offer they received from Milan they will get again in the summer either from Milan or some other club, and at the same time they are not strengthening a direct opponent, plus they showing the player who is the boss.
“After 5 months of not playing, he will go wherever they tell him next summer.”
How did that work out with Bakayoko? 😂
Bakayoko isn’t 23 and have clubs offering 20-30 mil to sign him, plus offering him a salary raise.
Bakayoko has been sitting and not playing for most of the last 6 ,7 years since he moved to Chelsea.
Bakayoko situation is also complicated because he is on loan at Milan from Chelsea, making a salary that no team wants to pay him. He wants to leave, but he also wants to keep his salary. Turkish club is offering lesser salary, so one of Milan or Chelsea has to pay the difference. Chelsea don’t care because they already have Milan on the hook for Bakayoko salary till June after they found a dummy to sign Bakayoko on a 2 year loan with obligation to buy If he plays certain amount of games .
It’s apples and oranges
Kinda makes Roma look like a shitty club to play for tbh, they should not be trying to force him to a club that will most likely get relegated this season. they had offeres from teams like Spurs if they didnt want to sell to a direct competitor like us. Plus benching him for the rest of the season is just “cutting off your own nose to spite your face”, they should be more professional imo. Your right about bakayoko, we made the deal so thats on us, he has every right to just sit out his contract.
We are so used to getting screwed over by players leaving for free, that now we think that Roma protecting their own interest is unprofessional and shity club to play for..
I disagree. Roma acts like that because they have leverage. The player asked to leave , they said no problem, this is the price. They received an offer from bournemouth for 30 mil, but the player wanted to go to Milan. No problem, tell Milan to bring 30 mil. Milan offered something around 20 on loan with obligation. Even if he doesn’t play till June, Roma can still sell him for 20 in the summer, but they won’t help Milan in the meantime, when they are direct competitors for top 4.
Tottenham was only looking for loan and with Conte leaving most likely at the end of the year, Roma knew that Tottenham won’t buy Zaniolo. And he wasn’t even going to be a starter at Tottenham
Bakayoko is delicate. He has big contract in Chelsea until June 2024, and he socks completely, so he knows he can’t play good football anywhere. Se he is warming bench at Milan, because poor Milan management took on loan his contract for two years, beside his poor form at Napoli.
Yeah, right. They will make less money and pay him his wages another 6 months. You sound like Roma got something out of this…
I hope Maldini and Massara are taking notes .
The most important note they should take is NEVER sign this clown.
Roma basically called his bluff. He thought they needed him more than he needed them. He was wrong. He’s not a big star, he’s an injury-prone, underperforming talent, that’s all. He should have gone to Bournemouth with a release clause for relegation. That way he would be playing, getting some EPL experience, then he could leave in the Summer.
Roma lost 7-10 million of the transfer fee + 2.5M€ as he gets paid around 5 per year. So 10-12.5M lost for “calling his bluff”. Amazing move.
bravo Maldini, he succeed to ruin a player career