AC Milan have confirmed that Samu Castillejo has left the club and joined Valencia on a permanent basis.
The 27-year-old joined the Rossoneri from Villarreal in August 2018 and went on to make 113 appearances for the club, scoring 10 goals and providing 15 assists in that time.
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As per the club’s statement, Castillejo has now departed on a permanent basis to join Valencia, where he will reunite with former Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso, who took charge at the La Liga side earlier this summer.
While there is perhaps a sense of disappointment over the inability to get a fee for Castillejo, an exit ultimately makes sense for all parties involved.
Valencia bolster their attacking options, Castillejo gets a better chance of securing a more prominent role and Milan trim the wage bill and open up a space in the squad to potentially bring in an upgrade.
Although Castillejo never lacked commitment and determination, which was on display through his work ethic and desire on the pitch, he failed to provide quality and creativity on that right flank on a consistent basis and that is evidently reflected in the number of goal involvements detailed above.
As Milan now look to defend our Serie A title and start to try and really compete in the Champions League, we need more in the final third, and having had plenty of time to prove that he could be a solution, Castillejo came up short.
Milan fans will no doubt wish him well moving forward as he has been an important squad player despite perhaps being quite underwhelming, and he did play a part in us winning the Scudetto last year, but it feels like the right time for him to move on and it’s hoped that our business in this transfer window in terms of incomings is far from over.
