Milan thanked Franck Kessié on social media, while the Ivory Coast international revealed that Barcelona coach Xavi played a crucial role in his move to the Nou Camp.
The former Rossoneri star joined the Catalans on a free transfer after the end of his contract with Milan. Barcelona confirmed his signing on Monday, revealing that Kessié now has a €500m release clause.
Kessié rejected several contract extension offers from the Serie A giants and signed his contract with Barcelona in March.
“It’s a great opportunity,” Kessie told Mundo Deportivo, as quoted by Football Espana.
“I really want to begin and do my best for this team. When a great coach like Xavi [Hernandez] calls you, who has been a great player, you see that all your efforts have been worth it. I can’t wait to start working with him and my teammates.”
Milan thanked their former midfielder on social media shortly after the announcement from Barcelona.
Kessié scored 37 goals in 223 appearances with Milan, winning the Scudetto in his final year at the club.
He is one of the four Milan players who left the Rossoneri at the end of their contracts during the last year.
Gigio Donnarumma and Hakan Calhanoglu walked out of the club for nothing in the summer of 2021, followed by Kessié and Alessio Romagnoli this summer.
Welcome kessie,as a Barcelona die hard am happy to hear Barcelona has signed kessie.congratulations to fcb team and fans
I have to say that I didn’t like the thank you message. Kessie only really delivered during 20% of his entire Milan career. He was excellent last season, and this season, he turned up for the last 6-7 games. The club invested heavily in him, and he ended up walking away on a free. The fact that he left a champion was ‘thank you’ enough.
A great coach like Xavi…..???? Is he serious?? Great player sure but coach….common. Milan should cut ties completely with players that do these acts (such as Dona, Kessie and Calhanoglu). If your plan is not to re-new and the club has invested in you, put you out there for the world to see and get these other teams after you, it is only respectful to let the team know that you will not re-new and to sell them for whatever profit. Then you can say thank you or happy bday or whatever you want to ex-players because they tried to provide some finical income for the club by being sold. But like this….. no, never. Barca prob reach to him last year and he agreed but they kept it a secret… its the only thing that would explain why he would drag the negotiations and also saying ” I will renew my contract” but in the end he left for free. He would have been something for Milan, special…. I dont see him achieving those things with Barca… the mentality at Barca is different…. not a team mentality as they were in the past when M.S.N were there… Milan will have better replacement and do more without someone who is chasing whatever he is chasing…..
Honestly Milan got 5 years out of him which nowadays is fair amount of time given how players and agents jump ship. At 25, arguably Barca will probably get the better half of the next 5 years from him after his time with Milan but given the chaos with their selling situation I dont think they really had the time to try and convince him to stay either.
Lol, so the key to his signing was great player Xavi calling him? He must not rate Maldini as a great player then. Good luck Mr. Former President.
He mentioned Xavi as a great COACH. Okay, who knows, Xavi might be on the path of being the greatest coach ever etc, but at the moment, he is NOT. What has Xavi won apart from his Qatari tenure? Sure he steadied the Barca ship last season, but the same could be said to Pioli and Pioli even did one better, winning the title with arguably crappier team than Barca lol.
Would respect him a bit more if he just said that he wanna try a new challenge or adventure etc. Thanks for the contribution, but I am glad we parted ways.
Dreadful and miserable management that made milan loose more than 200 M$ on these players. What are they doing?!
Derrick bwoni
‘Barcelona die hard’ 😂😂😂