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Cellino confirms Tonali rejected Barcelona, Man Utd for AC Milan

Brescia president Massimo Cellino has revealed Sandro Tonali rejected Barcelona, Inter Milan and Manchester United to join AC Milan.

The 20-year-old has decided to join the club he supported as a child, with Brescia accepting a deal which will see Milan pay a loan fee of €10 with an option to buy in a deal worth €25m in total.

"I know that [Inter CEO] Beppe Marotta really wanted Tonali, and that [Inter head coach] Antonio Conte appreciated him, so I think his agent had agreed terms with Inter," Cellino told Top Calcio 24.

"He was determined and convinced that he was going to Inter, but all this time dragged on and it was practically the start of the new season with still nothing happening.

"As soon as Milan showed real interest, he did not want to listen to any other options. I also have a historically good rapport with Milan and we reached an agreement with [Milan technical director] Paolo Maldini quite quickly.

"We also had interest from Barcelona and Manchester United, but the lad is in love with Milan and went crazy once he heard of their offer, because he supports them.

"Those figures are correct, but we turned down €65m (£58m/$77m) from Barcelona in January and about a dozen days ago Manchester United had offered €10m more than Milan."

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Freddie Taylor

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