Former AC Milan legend Alessandro Nesta says that the impending sales of Thiago Silva and Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be a huge loss for the Serie A club.
Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi revealed on Friday that centre-back Silva and striker Ibrahimovic were close to joining big-spending French Ligue 1 outfit Paris St-Germain, although the latter’s agent has since refuted these claims by insisting a move for his client is far from a done deal.
Nonetheless, Nesta believes the club should not even be considering selling the duo as they both have key roles to play in the Rossoneri’s prospects for success in the future.
“Of course I follow the Milan news every day on the internet,” the ex-Italy international, who has since joined Major League Soccer side Montreal Impact, told La Gazzetta dello Sport. “I still feel very attached to the group.
“The two sales are a great loss. They are players who should not be on the market.
“Maybe with the transfer fee they [Milan] can buy three or four players of value, which will need to happen for Milan to be competitive.”
Nonetheless, Nesta believes the Milan faithful should get behind Berlusconi, considering he’s always been willing to splash the cash for the club.
“For 26 years, Berlusconi’s money has been on the line,” the 36-year-old revealed. “If he had not spent so much, then maybe the club would not have done so well.
“The fans owe it to him. In fact, they should thank him. For a quarter of a century he has made them happy.”
Milan entered last season as defending Serie A champions but ultimately lost out to Juventus in the race for the Scudetto, which he believes happened because they had not expected Antonio Conte’s men to put up such a strong fight.
“We lost to Fiorentina and Bologna at home,” Nesta added. “We underestimated the strength of Juventus; we did not believe that they could have a championship like that.
“They were great, they played very well and they are deserved champions. It is not an excuse but we had so many injuries. We gradually lost confidence.”
Nesta joined Milan from Lazio in the summer of 2002 for a fee in excess of €30million, and went on to make 326 appearances for the Rossoneri.
