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Milan, listen to what Santi Gimenez's father has said: "For me, Porto are a good step forward"

Christian 'Chaco' Gimenez spoke about his son Santiago, who joined Porto on loan from AC Milan in the closing days of the summer transfer window.

Santiago Gimenez's spell at AC Milan has come to an end. The Mexico striker departs after a year and a half marked by only a few bright moments and many difficult ones, and he will now begin again in Portugal with Porto under Farioli. The move gives the Mexico international a genuine opportunity to revive himself at the top level and once again become the ruthless goalscorer he had been at Feyenoord.

The admission from Chaco Gimenez

Christian 'Chaco' Gimenez said about his son Santiago's loan switch to Porto: "This transfer went on for quite some time and, fortunately, it finished well. It took longer than we expected. We had already been in talks with Porto for 20 days, and they were one of the first clubs to make an approach. Then there were some decisions by AC Milan regarding Santi, under which, if he had not found a solution, he would have gone six months without playing, and that was making him more and more desperate. As the remaining time in the transfer window kept ticking away, the situation became more complicated."

A step forward

Gimenez's father then explained the reasons behind choosing Porto: "Santi is a boy who thinks very carefully. We do not look only at the names of the clubs, but also at the coach, the way they play, the attacking options they have, what he can create there, whether they are in the Champions League and how they play. A lot of factors affect the decision to move to another team and, in truth, we took things as they came. We felt Milan would be a great opportunity because, apart from the fact that Santi grew up watching Milan, when Milan came in, he forgot about the other teams and we headed to Milan. The truth is that, for me, Porto are a good step forward because they are a team that will compete in their domestic league, that will fight for the title, that will play in the Champions League and, honestly, they have a really excellent squad."

He then spoke about Santiago's final months at Milan: "When he played, he played nine matches, but in those nine matches he kept playing despite the injury and did not want to stop because he was a starter. Santi does not take any medication; he was even taking Dosul just to play, because they had no other options and because the other strikers were injured. There are things that perhaps the world does not know, but I do. As for his performances, maybe he did not do well or was not productive: in the first nine matches he played before the injury, he was actually a starter. When he returned from injury, the team suffered a huge collapse, going from first place to fifth. It is part of the growth process, it is not the end of the world. He is 25 years old, has scored 99 goals in his career and in 12 Champions League matches has recorded eight goals and two assists."