AC Milan not willing to sell El Shaarawy, even for €30 million

AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani informed the media about the €30 million offer that was made for club forward Stephan El Shaarawy. Galliani said that the club rejected a €30 million bid from one of the big clubs in Europe and the player and the club have no desire to part ways with one another.

El Shaarawy, even though he scored 19 goals last season and was the club’s highest scorer in the league and overall, was criticized for his form which resulted in rumours of him leaving the club.

Though Galliani squashed all such rumours and claimed that Shaarawy doesn’t want to leave the club and is happy with his role as the supporting striker in Milan’s new 4-3-2-1 formation for next season.

Galliani told the 7 Gold Television: “What we hadn’t told anyone was that we received a very big offer for El Shaarawy, but I will never name the club involved. It is a very important club, though.

“I informed the player’s agent and as soon as he returned from the Confederations Cup, I spoke to Stephan. We did not want to sell him, so we simply informed the lad and his family that this proposal had arrived for him.

“I asked him what he wanted to do. He said the money he had was more than sufficient, that he is a Milan fan and did not want to leave. I kissed him on the cheek and that was that.”

“We were not tempted by the offer, but we couldn’t exactly hide it from him,” Galliani added. He saw the figures, but did not want to budge. How big was the offer? More than €30 million.

“We discussed tactics for next season, as we are returning to a 4-3-2-1 system and he is happy to play as a support striker. He had a goal scoring crisis in recent months, not a physical one, but he always worked hard for the team.

“He is only 20, so some ups and downs are natural. It even happened to Edinson Cavani, who didn’t score for two months.”

Source: ESPN