When Qatar Sports Investment purchased Paris Saint-Germain in 2011, they didn’t hesitate to splash the cash. Javier Pastore was one of the players the capital invested in to start this new era.
The Argentine cost €42 million from Palermo in 2011 and had a quality stint with the French giants. However, Pastore notes that heading to the French capital wasn’t his first option.
Pastore stated in an interview with Gianluca Di Marzio that he wanted to move to AC Milan and continue playing in Italy.
“The matches I played with Palermo, we won almost all of them both in the league and in the Italian Cup,” Pastore told the Italian media outlet. “Milan was the team I would have liked to go to after Palermo.
“They looked for me, but in the end, with [former Palermo chairman Maurizio Zamparini], we opted for the PSG project: they told me that they wanted to win in France and in Europe and to do so, they would take the best players in the world and that’s what happened. Over the years, there have been contacts to return to Italy, and Milan were interested, but my choice has always been to stay in Paris.”
This interview comes at a perfect time as PSG and AC Milan will face off in back-to-back contests in the UEFA Champions League. The first match occurs on Wednesday at the Parce des Princes. Afterward, the return match will be Nov. 7 at San Siro.
Whichever club gets a favorable result in these two games could position themselves to advance into the knockout stages with two matchdays remaining.
