Adriano Galliani has revealed how close Milan were to reaching an agreement with Manchester City over Carlos Tevez.
Adriano Galliani has revealed how close Milan were to reaching an agreement with Manchester City over Carlos Tevez.
The Rossoneri Vice-President was in negotiations with Manchester City’s chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak until early on Friday evening in an attempt to break the deadlock over Tevez’ future.
The Premier League side were keen for full payment up front on their want-away striker, but Milan, who have been pursuing the forward for several weeks now, were pushing for an initial loan deal.
Where early reports indicated that Galliani had been successful in twisting Al Mubarak’s arm today, it subsequently emerged that City rejected the offer, prompting the Italian side to instead take up their option on plan B, Catania’s Maxi Lopez.
Speaking to Milan Channel after the news was confirmed, Galliani reflected on the day’s events and what the future may hold.
“At 18:30 I was convinced that Tevez would join us,” the 67-year-old mused. “We were very close.
“The day today was still very important because we have solved some misunderstandings born in recent days with City. Relations with the English club are much improved, but…patience…life goes on.
“Will Tevez stay at City? I don’t know what will happen in these last few days of the transfer window. The market will reopen in four months – we’ll see.
“Tevez was ready to fly to Italy. It’s a shame. I would like to publicly thank him for waiting. We will talk to City again in June.”
Galliani was equally keen to talk about new arrival Lopez.
“I chose to respect and honour the words promised to Maxi. We had a deadline of 19:00 today and since we did not reach an agreement with City we have filed the contract with Maxi instead.
“He waited for us. He is an important player who will be very useful for us and who we can use in the Champions League.
“We will only sign him for now. He has a lot of desire.”