Western Counties Soccer

AC Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso has indicated that the talk of Zlatan Ibrahimovic making the comeback with the Rossoneri is just ‘hot air’. The 36-year-old has been a huge revelation since making the move to Major League Soccer with LA Galaxy in March, contributing 20 goals and nine assists from just 24 appearances.

As such, there has been the speculation of Zlatan joining the Rossoneri on a short-term loan at the turn of the year but Gattuso has appeared to pour cold water on the gossip saying: "You have to ask Leonardo. I can only talk about [Ibrahimovic] in terms of the period in which he was my team-mate. He was a leader, a champion with a very strong personality but, as far as the market is concerned, so far it is just hot air."

Meanwhile, Gattuso has previously suggested that he would prefer to sign another out-and-out striker to accompany Gonzalo Higuain and Patrick Cutrone and when asked on the same, he appeared to suggest nothing has been decided as of yet, he added: "I would like many things in life! The moment will come when I will sit with the club and discuss what we need."

“ Milan have remained unbeaten for the past seven matches across competitions“ but their league form has been far from impressive with just two victories from their opening six matches. As such, they are presently lying in the bottom half of the standings but Gattuso could take some heart from the “ fact that the team“have recently returned to winning ways with a comfortable 4-1 win over Sassuolo last weekend.

The Rossoneri are scheduled to face Chievo in their final game before the international break and they should fancy a comfortable triumph, considering their opponents have remained rooted to the bottom of the table this term. Milan are presently four points behind the final Champions League position with a game in hand.