Suso is happy at Sevilla, but reveals he had been very close to leaving Milan for rivals Inter and does not hold back on the coaches he worked with at San Siro.
The winger moved to Sevilla in a January loan deal with €20m option to buy, which becomes an obligation if they hit certain targets.
“You never know in football, but I am very happy to be here and think great players ought to be in the Champions League,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
Suso is happy at Sevilla, but reveals he had been very close to leaving Milan for rivals Inter and does not hold back on the coaches he worked with at San Siro.
The winger moved to Sevilla in a January loan deal with €20m option to buy, which becomes an obligation if they hit certain targets.
“You never know in football, but I am very happy to be here and think great players ought to be in the Champions League,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“We never got to play in it with Milan, at most the Europa League, so I have this desire to play in this competition with Sevilla. I always said that I grew up at Milan and will always be grateful to the club and city, but I am closer to my family now and I hadn’t experienced that in a long time.
“The fans were phenomenal with me, except for the last six months. I’m disappointed they forgot all I did for Milan, even if things weren’t going well for the whole club at that time.”
Suso reveals his exit from the Rossoneri had almost come considerably earlier.
“I spoke to Fiorentina last summer and we had a meeting, but I just listened out of courtesy. There was never anything concrete with Roma, either. However, I was close to joining Inter, as Luciano Spalletti had spoken to me and really wanted me at Inter.
“This was a team that played very good football with an interesting system suited to my characteristics. However, it would’ve been sad to leave Milan for Inter, as I was so fond of this club.”
Over the years, Suso saw many changes at Milanello, with coaches, teammates and club owners coming and going.
“Vincenzo Montella helped me grow up, he didn’t talk much and let us get on with it, the kind of coach I really like. I also had a good spell with Gennaro Gattuso, who was very different to Montella, because he’s a person first and a coach second, so gets along with everyone.
“Even if I wasn’t playing much, I admit Sinisa Mihajlovic was always very direct and honest with me.
“Marco Giampaolo was, in terms of being a tactician, 10 out of 10. The problem is that we played all summer in one way and then after two bad games with Cesena and Udinese, we transformed the whole system. When you start like that, it’s never positive.”
Giampaolo was sacked a couple of months into the season and replaced by Stefano Pioli.
“Things didn’t go well with Pioli in recent months, so I had this chance to go back to Spain and I took it.”
Suso also revealed that Gerard Deulofeu “wanted to come back to Milan, but the clubs couldn’t agree on the figures.”