The agent of Malang Sarr confirms he was ‘on the verge of joining Torino’ before Chelsea struck a deal and the defender on loan at Monaco ‘would be ideal’ for Serie A and Milan.
The French talent turns 24 next month and joined Chelsea as a free agent from OGC Nice in 2020.
There were loan experienced at FC Porto and currently AS Monaco, who have an option to buy, but agent Federico Pastorello reveals it could’ve been very different.
“Sarr is a player who would really be suited to playing in Italy. In fact, he was very close, as he was on the very of joining Torino, but just as we were negotiating, the Chelsea opportunity came up,” Pastorello told Tuttomercatoweb.
“He immediately saw that as an incredible chance for his career, so I understand he jumped at that, but I still maintain Serie A would be ideal for him.
“I won’t deny that Milan tracked him for a long time, we had a lot of discussions with Daniele Massara and Paolo Maldini and he would’ve had an easier path at Milan than Chelsea with more playing time.
“Sarr is very intelligent on a tactical level, left-footed, can play in a full-back or in a three-man defence as well as centre-back.”
While Monaco do have an obligation to buy for €15m if certain circumstances are met, Sarr is still expected to move on once the season has concluded.
This is because he has barely featured in the current campaign, managing just six Ligue 1 games and two in the Europa League, starting just five of those matches.
“We’ll see if Monaco will let him go as long as offers come in, but clearly the lad is a little disappointed and wanted more playing time when leaving Chelsea.”
With his profile dropping after very little playing time over the last couple of years, his price-tag would also fall to circa €8-10m if Monaco did not activate their option to buy.