U-turn as Hauge asked Pioli to exclude him from Milan’s squad vs. Nice

Earlier today, Stefano Pioli announced his 22-man squad for the game between Milan and Nice, revealing that Jens Peter Hauge won’t take part in the friendly. However, it seems the cause isn’t that a transfer is close. 

Norwegian outlet VG almost immediately jumped on the story and reported that Milan are in advanced negotiations with Eintracht Frankfurt, with an agreement ‘imminent’. However, that isn’t the reason for the exclusion.

According to the reliable MilanNews, Hauge worked extremely hard in training this week and subsequently asked the manager not to include him in the squad. In that sense, the decision was strictly technical, even though the market is looming.

Milan are indeed in negotiations with Eintracht Frankfurt but the German side haven’t reached the request of €12m just yet. On this occasion, though, the decision was not made with a thought to the mercato, as first thought.