Tonali explains Milan switch

Sandro Tonali says he “closed all other doors” when his childhood team Milan made it clear they wanted to sign him. Milan announced the signing of the Italy international on loan with an option to buy for a reported €35 million last week, after three impressive seasons with Brescia.  

Tonali, compared to Italian great Andrea Pirlo, had been tipped to join city rivals Inter, but he says the opportunity to join the Rossoneri was too good to turn down.  

“More or less everyone supports Milan where I’m from, including my father, who passed that passion onto me as a kid,” he told a media conference.  

“I’ve wanted to wear this jersey for a while. I didn’t speak much to Massimo Cellino [Brescia president], but he realised straight away what it meant to me. He said he’d let me make my choice and he kept his word.  

“I asked him to make this effort for me and he was super about it. When I realised there was this opportunity to join Milan, I closed all the other doors. I had to go to Milan. I had to.  

“My agent did most of the negotiating with Inter, so he quite rightly left me out of it so I wouldn’t get distracted. As soon as I heard about Milan, and he knew that I supported them, we talked and I let him get to work.”  

A technically gifted midfielder renowned for his dribbling and passing abilities, Tonali scored once and registered seven assists for Brescia as they were relegated from Serie A in 2019-20.