Milan idol Gennaro Gattuso has been presented to the media after he signed a two-year contract with FC Sion.
The Swiss side revealed last night that the 34-year-old was on his way to the club after he opted to end his 13-year career with the Diavolo.
Milan idol Gennaro Gattuso has been presented to the media after he signed a two-year contract with FC Sion.
The Swiss side revealed last night that the 34-year-old was on his way to the club after he opted to end his 13-year career with the Diavolo.
“I've come here to Sion to win and to compete with FC Basel for the championship,” the 2006 World Cup winner noted.
“I told Sion that they would get a hard-working and combative midfielder in me, but also that I couldn't offer them the quality of Andrea Pirlo,” he smiled.
“The President of Sion, Christian Constantin, has promised me that we will have a competitive squad and so far it seems like that will be the case.
“My first impression of Sion's President was that he is a hot-tempered man like myself and that's why I liked him immediately.
“I had many offers from Italy, but I couldn’t stand the idea of wearing the shirt of another Italian club other than Milan.”
Gattuso, who missed most of 2011-12 because of an optical nerve problem, was looking to re-join former club Rangers – but couldn’t because of their financial problems.
“I thought it would be the right thing to go to Scotland,” he added. “That’s where my career started and my wife is born there, but that couldn’t happen.”
FC Sion only just survived relegation this term, while it is understood that Gattuso rejected big offers from America, China, Qatar, Turkey and Russia for his signature.
“It wasn’t a question of money,” the former Salernitana man noted. “One of the reasons why I chose FC Sion is because it is close to home.”