Alessio Cerci wrote an open letter to Torino fans after his move to Atletico Madrid. “I was conflicted to the last moment.”
The striker completed his transfer after passing a medical, which is reported to be worth in the region of €16m.
Alessio Cerci wrote an open letter to Torino fans after his move to Atletico Madrid. “I was conflicted to the last moment.”
The striker completed his transfer after passing a medical, which is reported to be worth in the region of €16m.
“It has never been so difficult for me to explain what I am feeling right now,” wrote Cerci on Facebook.
“These have been complicated months, spent between many questions and the answers that were tough to find.
“I thought up many theories in my head and in my heart I went back in time to when I first started kicking the ball at the age of seven. I remembered all the sacrifices and difficulties I went through in my career, the dreams I had as a child.
“Anyone who does this for a living wants to play for a big team, take on the best in the world and run on the most famous and prestigious pitches.”
However, Cerci hinted at his disappointment with Milan, who never made the decisive step forward this summer.
“I was conflicted to the last moment: make the big step or stay in the city that gave me back life and glory? Believe me, I waited to the end for a valid proposal and hoped it would arrive with all of my soul, but it didn’t happen.
“So I watched with a clear head the situation that was happening to me, what will hopefully allow me to achieve all those things I’d been waiting for, the chance that I hope will make people realise Cerci isn’t just the hothead described for many years who can just make the difference at a small club, but that can have his say alongside great champions.
“Do you understand I could not have given up an experience like that? I know that right now my every word can be seen as the usual cliches, but I am sure the real Toro fans know what they have become for me and always will be…
“That goal against Genoa will for the rest of my life be the most wonderful embrace with fans.
“I thank Coach Giampiero Ventura, because it is thanks to him that today I am stepping on to a huge stage like Atletico Madrid. He promised me and he did it.
“Thanks to all of Torino FC, from the President to the kit staff who always made me feel at home, loved and embraced in every moment.
“Thank you to the fans who were my strength. I don’t know what my future will hold, but I do know my hope is that this is only an arrivederci with the colour that warmed my heart for two years full of emotion: Granata!
“I will always carry you with me. With love, AC11.”