Paolo Maldini worked for many months to bring Renato Sanches to AC Milan only for everything to break down because of Elliott.
AC Milan negotiated the purchase of Renato Sanches for more than six months. However, the Portuguese central midfielder ended up joining his former coach Christophe Galtier at PSG. Hardly a surprising choice considering that Paris Saint-Germain offered Renato Sanches a contract of €6 million per season.
Nevertheless, AC Milan had Sanches in their hands despite not having the same economic capacities of PSG. L’Equipe reveals the backstory of what happened this summer confirming that AC Milan were indeed the first choice of Renato Sanches.
The 24-year-old Portugal international had given the green light to a transfer to AC Milan. Paolo Maldini had reached an economic agreement with his agent Jorge Mendes over a long-term contract at 3.5 million per season plus add-ons.
Despite having an agreement with both Renato Sanches and Lille, Maldini lacked the funds to complete the transfer. At the same time Elliott Management had reached an agreement to sell AC Milan club to RedBird Capital. Eventually, the Singer family froze every transfer including the contract renewals of Maldini and Massara.
Such ‘strange’ events sent the wrong message to the player. PSG were quick to exploit AC Milan’s setback and close a quick deal with the former Lille box-to-box midfielder.
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