Valentini hits out at Riquelme over Boca exit: ‘No intent to renew’ | OneFootball

Almost two years after his contentious departure from the Xeneize institution, Nicolás Valentini has decided to speak for the first time about the reasons that led to his exit as a free agent. The current central defender for Hellas Verona in Italy did not shy away from controversy and directly targeted the management of Juan Román Riquelme and the Football Council, refuting the claims that labeled him as the sole party responsible for failing to reach an agreement.

The defender was blunt in explaining his position during the 2024 negotiations: “I was always willing to renew, I offered many alternatives. On the other side, they didn’t have the same intention, otherwise I would have signed again.” With these words, the player sought to make it clear that his desire was to stay at the Ribera club, but he encountered a rigid stance from the authorities.

One of the most sensitive points in his account was the confirmation of the extremely low salary he received before leaving, a fact that had circulated as a rumor for a long time. “It’s true that they paid me a salary of 300,000 pesos per month,” the player confessed, exposing the economic disparity that existed in his professional contract at the time. Despite his frustration with how the negotiations ended, Valentini tried to separate the management conflict from his affection for the club: “Boca gave me everything, it was my home, I was there for ten years and I will always be grateful.”

Finally, the defender closed the topic by trying to give a broader explanation of what happened, joining the list of youth players trained at the Ezeiza complex who end their cycle amid external noise. “Sometimes it doesn’t just depend on the renewal, and even though I gave many options, it didn’t happen—sometimes that’s just how it goes,” he concluded. After a brief stint at Fiorentina and now in Serie A, the center-back seems to have closed a chapter that left an open wound both for the fans and in his own career.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.