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Revealed: Leonardo, Maldini persuaded Suso to remain at Milan

Revealed: Leonardo, Maldini persuaded Suso to remain at Milan

Why did Suso choose to remain at Milan, when it looked like everything was in place for the former Liverpool man to leave?

The winger seemed to be out of the Rossoneri’s plans in the summer, leading to a confusing situation - with the Spaniard resorting to bigging up his former club and his agents attempting to offer him to Real Madrid.

It appears that the change in ownership helped, with the Diavolo now owned by the Elliott Fund. Coach Rino Gattuso also stonewalled any suggestion that his star winger should leave.

It appears that the 24-year-old (who scored six goals and added seven assists last season in Serie A) met with Milan’s new team, made up of Paolo Maldini (Sporting director) and Leonardo (Technical director) just seven days before the end of the transfer window.

Yet Suso’s agent, Alessandro Lucci, didn’t just go to that meeting: he had also been present the day before in Rome to speak to Roma’s DS, Monchi.

Suso asked for a new deal, even though he had renewed it as recently as the previous season. Ownership confirmed that they see Suso as central to the project, but wanted to delay any talk of a new deal.

Milan are expecting even more of a leadership role from their man. Signing Samu Castillejo was also a carrot and stick approach: they want their man to earn a new deal, because otherwise they have a potential replacement on the bench...