However, Rossoneri chief would not disclose which club made the bid.
AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani has told reporters that the club rejected a €30m-plus offer for starlet Stephan El Shaarawy.
Galliani refused to name the club who attempted to sign the 20-year-old, but admitted that he spoke to the player about the offer before the club released an official statement that notified interested parties that he was off the market.
Amongst those that were interested in acquiring the star were Premier League duo Chelsea and Manchester City, although some sections of the Italian media are suggesting that it was Russian side Anzhi who made the big-money offer.
Earlier comments from Galliani had suggested that the club were willing to sell one of their most promising talents, but the Milan chief has now revealed that having sat down and spoken with the Italian international, it was clear that he wanted to stay at San Siro.
Despite suffering a dip in form in the second half of last season, El Shaarawy remains a vital part of this new Milan moving forward, and appears set to adapt to the switch in tactics the club is set to implement next season.
It will likely see El Shaarawy deployed a secondary striker behind Mario Balotelli, while he may face stiff competition given the Rossoneri are targeting both Keisuke Honda and Adem Ljajic.
“What we hadn’t told anyone was that we received a very big offer for El Shaarawy, but I will never name the club involved. It is a very important club, though,” Galliani told 7 Gold television at a charity event on Sunday evening as quoted by Goal.com.
“I informed the players’ agent and as soon as he returned from the Confederations Cup I spoke to Stephan.
“We did not want to sell him, so we simply informed the lad and his family that this proposal had arrived for him.
“I asked him what he wanted to do. He said the money he had was more than sufficient, that he is a Milan fan and did not want to leave. I kissed him on the cheek and that was that.”
“We were not tempted by the offer, but we couldn’t exactly hide it from him. He saw the figures, but did not want to budge. How big was the offer? More than €30m.
“We discussed tactics for next season, as we are returning to a 4-3-2-1 system and he is happy to play as a support striker.
“He had a goal-scoring crisis in recent months, not a physical one, but he always worked hard for the team. He is only 20, so some ups and downs are natural. It even happened to Edinson Cavani, who didn’t score for two months,” he concluded.
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