People were writing whatever they wanted. By the way, I have a great relationship with the media and whenever something was needed, I always responded, but in that situation, I was honestly a bit irritated, because no one asked me: ‘Is something going on?’ All sorts of things were written, and honestly, I had no contact with any other club. I wasn’t playing, and usually after seven, eight, or ten matches without playing, some doubts arise, but that wasn’t the case with me. I was here, I was training, and I didn’t have any specific offers in mind, nor was the club negotiating with anyone.
Milan was the first club to come after me. There were also English clubs, although I won’t name them now. Before the start of the Euros, I spoke with Zlatan Ibrahimović for the first time. Coincidentally, I had seen him a few days earlier and had no idea Milan was interested in me. When he called me and when I saw how much they wanted me, I didn’t think about any other club.
I didn’t speak with Simeone, nor with anyone else at the club. I knew about the interest through my agent and other people, but even before that, I had told Zlatan I wanted to go to Milan.
Why did I say yes to Milan? Because of Zlatan, because of the greatness of the club, because of Serie A, because of everything. I had several conversations with Ibra in which he told me he liked my character, that he liked who I am, and that he wanted to see me here at all costs. The deal was expected to be done earlier, but then we had some minor issues with Salzburg — it didn’t go the way it should have — but in the end, thank God, everything went well and I arrived here.
Individually, I started well, then came that bad match against Liverpool… Paulo Fonseca liked to rotate. One would play in the Champions League, another in Serie A, another in the Coppa, and so on. Now that I think about it, it’s not that bad. There were some great matches, but it’s very difficult for one player to be perfect if the team as a whole isn’t at a good level, as we aren’t right now.
It’s an extremely negative season for a club like Milan. We won the Supercoppa when the new coach arrived. Then we beat Roma in the Coppa Italia, two home games, we drew with Inter, and then we had that match in Zagreb against Dinamo. That 1–2 loss changed everything. If we had won, we would have secured a spot in the Champions League quarterfinals, we wouldn’t have had those two games against Feyenoord, and we would’ve been fresher for the league where we had Torino, Bologna, Lazio.
“I feel it. People often tell me directly, to thank me for my attitude. That makes me extremely happy.”
