AC Milan, Tottenham tried to sign Barcelona summer arrival in January – report

Over the past couple of months, there had been a lot of speculations surrounding the future of Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessie.

The 26-year-old arrived at the club in the summer window, joining as a free agent after his contract with AC Milan had expired. However, Kessie found it tough to break into the lineup under Xavi Hernandez at his new club.

Having featured sparingly during the first half of the season, the Ivorian was linked heavily with an exit, heading into and during the January transfer window.

Inter Milan, for one, had been credited with a lot of interest in Kessie, but according to SPORT, it was AC Milan and Tottenham Hotspur who tried to sign the 26-year-old midfielder in the winter.

Milan, who have been struggling to keep up with Napoli in the Serie A title race, wanted to take Kessie back to the club in January as per the report.

At the same time, Tottenham Hotspur also were keen on the 26-year-old and knocked on his doors in the last month.

However, both clubs were met with rejection from Kessie, who never considered leaving Barcelona midway through the season.

The same stance was maintained by Xavi and his staff, who were uninterested in parting ways with the midfielder, despite his slow start to life in Catalonia.

Having had to bide his time, Kessie is slowly starting to get more prominence in the side of late and has made some valuable contributions, like the assist for Jordi Alba’s goal against Sevilla this past weekend.

With Sergio Busquets out with an injury, there is a possibility that Kessie will continue to get more minutes in the coming weeks, if Xavi persists with the tactic of fielding four central midfielders.