Milan had no January agreement with Ricci – Cairo

Torino president Urbano Cairo has celebrated 20 years in charge at the Serie A side and in an appearance on Italian TV, revealed behind-the-scenes information about Samuele Ricci’s move to Milan this summer.

Speaking on TeleLombardia, with quotes via MilanNews.it, Cairo was asked about rumours that Italian midfielder Ricci had already reached an informal agreement in January to join the Rossoneri in the summer, to which the Torino president replied “There’s absolutely no truth to it. There was nothing like that. Ricci was a player Milan were interested in but in January I never once discussed such a deal. Also because for us he was important and crucial to having the good season which we ended up having. We had hoped to achieve even more but Zapata’s injury hindered us a lot.”

Ricci joined the Rossoneri in July, signing for a reported fee of €23 million plus an additional €1.5 million in bonuses. The 24-year-old was a long-time target of Milan, who had previously attempted to sign the player from Torino and during his time at Empoli before he left the Tuscan side in 2022.

Cairo reveals truth on Milan links to Belotti in 2017

Cairo also presented some background information on Milan’s reported interest in Andrea Belotti in 2017, with the player’s €100 million release clause raising eyebrows as a high-spending Rossoneri prepared a move for the Italian forward.

Speaking about the Belotti deal, Cairo revealed Milan offered a mere “paid loan, worth around €5 million, with an obligation to buy in certain conditions” after then-Rossoneri director Marco Fassone admitted his side had “no money left now.” Cairo described the offer as an “insult” and the forward stayed in Turin.