AC Milan midfielder Sandro Tonali has expressed a desire to stay at the Serie A champions this summer, despite earning interest from Arsenal offering a path to the Premier League.
Sandro Tonali states ‘I want to stay’ at AC Milan as Arsenal interest emerges
Arsenal have suffered a blow in Mikel Arteta’s quest to sign Sandro Tonali, as the AC Milan technician has told Corriere della Sera that he intends to stay at the San Siro this summer.
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Tonali has emerged as a late window target for the Emirates Stadium outfit as Arteta looks to return the Gunners to the Champions League. Calciomercato.it report the north London natives recently met the Rossoneri to sound out if Stefano Pioli may let the 22-year-old go.
Arteta has identified Tonali as a player who would improve his engine room after playing a leading role in the Serie A giants’ Scudetto success last season. Tonali featured in 36 games and offered five goals plus three assists, from generally deep-lying positions in Pioli’s plans.
AC Milan informed Arsenal that they deem Tonali to be non-transferable on the eve of the new campaign. But technical director Paolo Maldini and sporting director Frederic Massara would struggle to turn down bids worth at least €55m (£46.5m) to then make two signings.
Sandro Tonali secured transfer to side most of his family support
Tonali only joined the San Siro squad permanently last summer as AC Milan turned his loan deal with Brescia into a full-time transfer. The temporary side of the deal set the Rossoneri back €10m (£8.5m), plus a further €10m (£8.5m) with €5m (£4m) in add-ons to retain him.
His switch to the Serie A giants saw Tonali join the club he and most of his family support. It is also Tonali’s desire to continue wearing the red-and-black jersey of AC Milan, so he is likely to reject any late window interest Arsenal show in search of Arteta’s midfield target.
“In my family, apart from my Inter uncles, they are all AC Milan fans,” Tonali explained, via quotes by TuttoMercatoWEB. “My father influenced me, what he could take and went abroad to follow away matches in the Champions League.
“He passed on this ‘AC Milan’ style to me. I feel strong, even now. There was no chance of arriving at Milan at the age of ten: I arrived at the right time. And I want to stay there.”
Tonali demonstrated his desire to be at AC Milan strongly last summer as the San Siro side negotiated his permanent transfer from Brescia. The midfielder agreed to reduce his wage from €1.6m to €1.2m-a-season (£26-19.5k-a/w), per Gazzetta dello Sport via Milan News.
“It was the right thing to do,” Tonali now notes. “I think the leap in quality was a natural thing: for a player being owned is always different from being on loan.”
Tonali has four more years on the contract he signed with the Rossoneri to leave Brescia in 2021. So, only AC Milan needing to raise funds in the late stages of the summer sales could see Arsenal’s interest in the 11-cap Italy international result in Tonali joining Arteta’s team.
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