Marco van Ginkel says Nigel de Jong, Fernando Torres and Jose Mourinho all had a role in persuading him to accept Milan's offer.
The Dutch midfielder arrived loan from Chelsea this summer and the club's Vice-President Adriano Galliani defined him as the hardest transfer to complete in the summer window.
For the player himself, several people were involved in helping to persuade him to come to San Siro.
“De Jong often called me and insisted the club truly wanted me to join,” Van Ginkel has told Milan Channel today.
Marco van Ginkel says Nigel de Jong, Fernando Torres and Jose Mourinho all had a role in persuading him to accept Milan's offer.
The Dutch midfielder arrived loan from Chelsea this summer and the club's Vice-President Adriano Galliani defined him as the hardest transfer to complete in the summer window.
For the player himself, several people were involved in helping to persuade him to come to San Siro.
“De Jong often called me and insisted the club truly wanted me to join,” Van Ginkel has told Milan Channel today.
“We talked a lot, because Nigel is Dutch like me, and spoke very well of the club. Also Torres repeated to me more than once to accept their offer and come here.”
Milan have an incentive to play the midfielder, to reduce the loan fee agreed with Chelsea.
“Jose Mourinho worked at Inter, our rivals, but now he's at Chelsea. He cared about my future and advised that I come to Milan and take this great chance.”
Van Ginkel can't speak Italian, the new Coach Pippo Inzaghi isn't fluent in English, but they found a way to communicate.
“I'm new, we talked about what he expects from me through his assistants who translated our words.
“Inzaghi has a high opinion of me and told me what my duties will be.
“I'm a box-to-box midfielder, able to attack and defend at the same time. My idols were Lampard and Gerrard.
“But now that I've played with them, I realised there aren't so many differences with me. So now I'm just focused on myself.”
The 21-year-old started his professional career at Vitesse before joining Chelsea and is excited for this new experience.
“For every young player, Milan is a very big club and playing in San Siro makes me proud, makes me want to give the best with this shirt.”