Former AC Milan Chief Reveals Cristiano Ronaldo's Europa League Stance in Proposed Move
Former AC Milan sporting director Massimiliano Mirabelli has revealed what Cristiano Ronaldo said to support his proposed move to Milan in the summer.
The 49-year-old caused waves recently when he admitted that the Rossoneri had agreed a deal to sign the Portuguese international before Juventus, but the previous owners refused to go through with it, citing financial difficulty.
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Mirabelli has been adamant that if the current ownership regime had been under control, then Ronaldo would be wearing black and red rather than black and white. He also acknowledged a deal was in place for Arsenal's Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang.
Speaking to a show called 'QVCS' on Telelombardia, as quoted by Football Italia, Mirabelli reiterated: “I confirm what I said, that there was the possibility of signing Cristiano Ronaldo.
"We weren’t kidding ourselves: I can assure you that if the current owners had been in charge at the time, at this precise moment Cristiano Ronaldo would be wearing the Milan jersey. I can mathematically guarantee it."
Confirming Ronaldo's happiness to join, he added: “He didn’t mind not playing in the Champions League. He told us: ‘I’ve never won the Europa League, so I’ll win that too'."
The executive then explained: “I sat down with his agent and my part of the deal was finished, everything had been defined, including the salary and the price of the transfer.
"I had no fear of anything going wrong, because when Silvio Berlusconi sold Milan to the Chinese group, he told us of a great man, with great lawyers and great banks behind him. Berlusconi said they would be able to do for Milan what he no longer could.
“All the players we signed were paid for. We also had Aubameyang and he wanted us. The regret is that we had a deal with him and Borussia Dortmund, but his father got in the way.
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As well as the Gabon international, the Italian also confirmed several other negotiationd he had with strikers: “When I was negotiating for Aubameyang, Vincenzo Montella’s first choice was Nikola Kalinic and I had to follow the instructions of my coach. Before leaving, we spoke to Alvaro Morata, Ciro Immobile, Karim Benzema and started the negotiations with Gonzalo Higuain, getting him to speak to Gennaro Gattuso.
Detailing their eventual downfall, Mirabelli admitted: "We were always a little tense when waiting for the payments to come in, but they always arrived. They arrived the last day, but they arrived.
“I don’t know what happened with Yonghong Li, but we always paid the bills, we never left an IOU. The craziest part was the few hours just before finding out if Elliott had received the money or not. It’s incredible, as we had these huge groups prepared to purchase Milan for millions, but the absurd thing is he lost everything when he had the chance to make a profit.”
