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André Silva joined AC Milan to some fanfare during the previous summer’s transfer window, arriving from FC Porto for the eye-watering sum of €38 million.
However, the Portugal international striker struggled at Milan last season, infamously only managing two goals in 24 Serie A appearances for Milan during the 2017-18 campaign.
Many Milan fans were nonetheless disappointed to see Silva go on loan earlier this month. Silva joined Sevilla in Spain on a loan, with the La Liga club rumored to have also agreed to a option to buy the striker for €35 million.
The bitter pill of losing a 22 year-old high-profile striker was made even worse last weekend when Silva scored a hat trick on his debut for Sevilla, outdoing his Serie A goal-scoring total in one match.
#Gattuso: "We didn't want to sell André Silva, but he wanted to go at all costs. When a player asks to leave, it's right to respect his will" #NapoliMilan
— AC Milan (@acmilan) August 24, 2018
However, during the pre-match press conference today, Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso said that Silva “wanted to go at all costs,” and that when a player wants to leave as much as Silva did that it is only right to find a deal for him to go.
Of course, some fans might argue that it’s not right for a player to force a move away from the club if they feel like they are not getting the playing time or pay that they feel they are due, but Gattuso is absolutely right to say that players who wish to leave as much as Silva wanted to must be allowed to leave.
Disgruntled players can be a cancer to a dressing room, as they can infect the rest of the team. It’s hard enough to get professional players all on the same page and all battling towards the same result, and having a player who does not want to be there can create enough disharmony to derail even the most united of dressing rooms.
So, as much as it stings for Milan fans to see someone like Silva leave, it probably was for the best, and it appears that Milan will recoup almost all of the transfer fee that they paid for him. And honestly, if a player doesn’t consider it an honor to wear the Milan shirt, do you really want him at the club anyway?