Gennaro Gattuso confirms Cristiano Ronaldo could have joined AC Milan

As if it wasn’t painful enough for AC Milan fans to watch Juventus win Serie A for the past seven years, while our own club struggles to get its act together on and off the pitch... now we have this. This is as painful to write as it is to read, so buckle up, Milanisti.

AC Milan could have signed Cristiano Ronaldo.

COULD.

Clearly, they did not. Cristiano Ronaldo is currently tearing it up at Juventus, who are currently 11 points clear in first in Serie A, and off to the last 16 of the Champions League, which they aspire to win.

However, according to former Sporting Director Massimiliano Mirabelli, Ronaldo to Milan was not as far off as many may think.

In an interview with Sportitalia, Mirabelli explained that Ronaldo’s move to San Siro was actually close to happening, but was blocked by Yonghong Li (ugh) and the Chinese ownership.

“It was something we talked about with Jorge Mendes. We did everything, but then the Chinese owners blocked the deal because it was not sustainable.”

”With the current owners CR7 would have been a Milan player.”

And yes, that is absolutely crushing.

Basically, the Chinese ownership (the same ones that bought 11 players in a summer and then proceeded to default on their loans, which turned ownership over to Elliot Management, led by Li, who after he was no longer involved in Milan got his passport revoked and declared bankruptcy) said no to the move because, in short, they couldn’t afford it.

I’m sure plenty of clubs would love to sign Ronaldo, but they can not afford it, yet this sounds different. It sounds like Milan had all the pieces lined up to sign a player who had just won three consecutive Champions Leagues and Ballon D’Ors.

As a quick justification, I have no earthly idea how this would come even close to making sense under financial fair play. The previous regime already almost got Milan in trouble because of that massive summer of spending, and I have no idea how this would have been realistically pulled off.

That said, again, it sounds like Mirabelli and Marco Fassone had their “Ronaldo-to-Milan“ ducks in a row, only to have it shut down. The key words are, ”with the current owners CR7 would have been a Milan player.” And that hurts.

To make it even better, Gennaro Gattuso was asked about these comments in his pre-match presser, where he confirmed it.

“Mirabelli is not a joke, there was the possibility of signing Ronaldo. It is all true what he said, then there are many things in between, but I confirm what he said.”

Ouch. Meanwhile, Juventus continues to dominate this season, partially thanks to their going through with signing Cristiano Ronaldo, and Milan subbed in Fabio Borini in two consecutive games.