Alexandre Pato: “I still love Milan, I’ll be back in Italy one day” | OneFootball

Brazilian striker Pato is a free agent after he picked up a knee injury last August and that put an end to his stint with MLS side Orlando City. The former Milan player is looking for a new team and Serie A could be his next destination, he has confirmed in an interview with Tuttomercatoweb.

“I love Milan, they gave me so much. I love Serie A and I miss Italy. I’ve told my wife that I’ll go back there and she’ll do everything to stay with me. I don’t know what my future holds but I’m not ruling out a comeback to Italy”.

Pato, now 33, joined Milan in 2007 when he was 17. Overall, he played 150 games across all competitions,  scoring 63 goals and winning the Scudetto in the 2010/11 season. He left the club in 2013.

“I always follow Milan. I love them, they gave me so much and I’m grateful for what they taught me and because they gave me worldwide exposure”.

The most controversial moment in Pato’s tenure with the Rossoneri has been his failed sale to PSG in January 2012, a move that subsequently would have brought Carlos Tevez’s sign with Milan.

Many believed that the deal collapsed because of Pato’s lovestory back then with Barbara Berlusconi, daughter of former Milan’s owner Silvio Berlusconi and co-CEO of the club alongside Adriano Galliani at that time.

He struggled a lot with muscle injuries too and the common theory at that time was that Milan Lab, the club’s medicine structure, failed entirely with identifying the Brazilian’s striker physical evolution.

When asked about those two topics, Pato replied: “It’s not like that. Everyone at Milan had my back but unfortunately things went the way they went. Nevertheless, what I’ve lived through back then has helped in becoming the person I’m today”.

Andrea Agostinelli I GIFN