Galliani: ‘Witsel wasn’t possible’

By Football Italia staff

Milan’s joint-CEO Adriano Galliani says it ‘wasn’t possible’ to sign Axel Witsel from Zenit St Petersburg.

The Rossoneri were pursuing the Belgian international for much of the summer, but despite the player wanting to leave, were unable to complete the deal.

“We tried for Witsel,” Galliani said as he received an award at Coverciano.

“We’d have had to spend more than €25m, we were hoping to take him on loan with an option to buy, not an obligation, but it wasn’t possible.

“It was a long transfer campaign, with eight players brought in, in addition to two Primavera players in [Davide] Calabria and [Gianluigi] Donnarumma who have graduated to the first team.

“Philippe Mexes? There was a negotiation, but it didn’t go through.

“The month of August is strange in football, now September is beginning, so let’s see what happens.”

The Diavolo’s city rivals Inter have been widely praised for their transfer campaign, but Galliani refeused to be drawn on that subject.

“They brought in a lot of good players, but also had some significant depatures. I want comment, because in football when someone is awarded the Scudetto in August, they rarely get the real one in May.”

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