De Maio reveals why Milan move fell through in 2016: “I was one step away” | OneFootball

The former Genoa defender Sebastien De Maio has revealed that he nearly ended up at AC Milan in 2016. However, some last-minute results put the move on hold, and after that it never materialised.

It’s safe to say that Milan were linked with a lot of players during the ‘Banter Era’, but they were rarely able to close the deals due to financial restraints. Adriano Galliani, the CEO and mercato man at the time, certainly did a good job with the amount of resources he had.

Speaking to Chiamarsi Bomber, as cited by MilanNews, one of the aforementioned targets Sebastien De Maio revealed that he nearly joined Milan when he was at Genoa. However, it never materialised due to Alex’s (unexpected) swift recovery.

“The team I was really close to was Milan, I was practically one step away. In January 2016, Alex got injured and my agent was contacted by Galliani but we had to wait for the results of the tests. In the end, it was just a sprain and nothing more was done. These are things of life, evidently it wasn’t the right time,” he stated.

De Maio ended up joining Anderlecht instead the following summer but he only played four games for the team. This is because he was almost instantly loaned out to Fiorentina, then he joined Bologna the next summer. Now 37 years old, he plays for Serie B side Mantova.