Zenit St Petersburg sporting director Maxim Mitrofanov hints Milan and Juventus may have acted improperly over Axel Witsel.

The Rossoneri were keen to sign the Belgian international this summer, but pulled out after they couldn’t secure an initial loan deal, with the Old Lady also linked.

“Every player has a price,” Mitrofanov admitted, speaking to Championat.

Zenit St Petersburg sporting director Maxim Mitrofanov hints Milan and Juventus may have acted improperly over Axel Witsel.

The Rossoneri were keen to sign the Belgian international this summer, but pulled out after they couldn’t secure an initial loan deal, with the Old Lady also linked.

“Every player has a price,” Mitrofanov admitted, speaking to Championat.

“If someone wants to buy Witsel, there’s a [€100m] clause in his contract. I don’t think any of the suitors were willing to pay that amount.

“On the last day of the transfer window, I spoke with Witsel and his agent. I told them that there were now two possibilities.

“They could either extend his contract, or, if the lad insists on leaving, get a team to pay the release clause in his current contract. If the offer isn’t sufficient, Witsel still has a contract until 2017.

“He’s assured me he’ll stay at the club until the end of his contract, he understands that there are some things in football that you can’t do, especially when someone calls the club on the last day without a concrete proposal.

“Milan only got in touch with us in earnest in the last two days of the window.

“Our response was: ‘Lads, have you seen the date? You’re late’.

“Maybe they were trying to contact the player’s agent. UEFA can check whether there was some violation according to the rules of the transfer market.

“Maybe Milan, Juventus or some other club deserves a ban of a couple of years. If we discover that a club has contacted the player without our agreement, we’re ready to write to UEFA.”

Bygaby

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