Gennaro Gattuso and Pippo Inzaghi have both confirmed that they will be leaving Milan at the end of the season.
Gennaro Gattuso and Pippo Inzaghi have both confirmed that they will be leaving Milan at the end of the season.
After holding talks with Adriano Galliani on Friday, it was initially believed that a one-year contract would be offered to Gattuso, despite his struggles this year for playing time, having been afflicted with a rare eye condition.
However, the 34-year-old midfielder has instead announced that he will be leaving the club in June and even hinted at his retirement.
“Tomorrow we will hold a press conference at Milanello,” Gattuso told reporters at Milan after the meeting.
“I'll take a year out, this is goodbye and we’ll see what happens in the coming year. I have nothing on the table at the moment.
“I’ve missed a year with injury and I have realised that now there is no space for me here, so it’s time to make way for players that are younger than me.
“I will meet again with Milan in the next year, but not as a player.”
Meanwhile, Inzaghi, who has barely featured this season and was more widely anticipated to leave, wrote a long letter bidding farewell to the club’s fans.
Whilst he is expected to continue playing on, as confirmed by his brother on Thursday, Inzaghi has looked to make clear his affinity to the Rossoneri in writing goodbye.
“The first and only thing I want you to know forever is this – I have played and won for us,” the striker wrote on the club’s official website.
“To play and win without sharing emotions is nothing, but you and I, us, we did everything together.
“We hoped, we suffered, we cheered, we celebrated. We lifted cups and titles together with our hearts. We were always on the same wavelength. And no-one can ever take this away.”
Gattuso and Inzaghi follow Alessandro Nesta in leaving the San Siro outfit at the end of the season.