Former AC Milan director Massimiliano Mirabelli has claimed that the club did not want to keep Hakan Calhanoglu, and thus any talk of him betraying them is wide of the mark.
Calhanoglu was one of the players that Mirabelli brought to Milan during the summer transfer window that saw heavy spending, but he left after four years at the club to join Inter on a free transfer.
The Turkey international has been playing in a deeper role under Simone Inzaghi but is earning praise for his performances, and hopes to finally capture a Scudetto this season after watching his old club Milan celebrate in 2022.
This morning’s edition of Tuttosport has an interview with Mirabelli, the former Rossoneri sporting director who brought the then 23-year-old to Milan, and his comments were relayed by Radio Rossonera.
Tell us about the decision to sign him in 2017…
“I really believed in it. Fassone gave me great strength, telling me: ‘Massimo, if you think he’s strong, let’s take him, I don’t care about the rest’.
“When Montella was sacked by Milan, he complained about having found him in the dressing room. Or rather, that it wasn’t a player chosen by him, but by me.
“His agent underlined how the boy would have liked the No.10 shirt. I promised him that shirt only if he did important work before, since we met him before his move to Milan. At Milan he held many roles and was a protagonist.”
How is the relationship between you two now?
“I still feel it affectionately. He calls me ‘father’, since I was important to his career, his footballing father. If I hadn’t brought him to Milan, he might have risked getting lost.”
He decided to join Inter…
“When you move from one side to the other it’s normal for there to be certain reactions. The Rossoneri know they have lost a very important player.
“Did he leave over 500 thousand euros? The truth is another. Someone wanted to erase the work that had been done. Milan had to fight to keep him, not let him go away for free as happened with Donnarumma and Kessié.
“The fans at Milan admired him. Today they think that he betrayed the Rossoneri, but that’s not the case. It’s Milan that didn’t want to keep Calhanoglu, not Calhanoglu who wanted to leave Milan.”
And what about how he is doing today?
“It makes a difference. Those points of separation that there are now between Inter and Milan would perhaps have been overturned if Calha had remained. The Rossoneri must bite their hands for what happened.”
