Kessié wants Italy return after earning around €50m between Al Ahli and Barcelona

Franck Kessié is one of the players who made better use than most of the boom in Saudi football to secure a staggering contract. It was the summer of 2023 when the Ivorian midfielder, who had joined FC Barcelona from AC Milan a year earlier, accepted a three-year deal with Al Ahli Saudi FC, the Jeddah-based club.

The two clubs agreed a transfer worth €12.5m, while Kessié signed a three-year contract worth €20m gross per season. In other words, a salary of around €14m net per year: more than €40m earned over the past three seasons, on top of the €6.5m he picked up in Catalonia the previous campaign.

“Let’s put it this way: I’m at the World Cup and I’m thinking about the World Cup. Then let’s add that I’m still an Al Ahli player until 30 June. So we’ll see what happens. I was happy in Italy and in football anything is possible. But we’ll talk about it in a month,” said the 1996-born midfielder, who will turn 30 on 19 December.

He still has three or four major seasons ahead of him and would like to spend them in the league that launched him at the highest level — and ultimately allowed him to earn so much elsewhere.

Kessié arrived in Italy at 19 thanks to Atalanta and immediately made his mark with an excellent season in Serie B at Cesena. A year later, under Gian Piero Gasperini, he emerged as one of the best midfielders in Serie A, before completing a €28m move to AC Milan in 2017.

In the Rossoneri shirt he spent five seasons, making 223 appearances and scoring 37 goals. Above all, he played a leading role in Milan’s Scudetto triumph at the end of the 2021/22 Serie A season.

After the World Cup, Kessié could return to Italy - but not to Milan. Luciano Spalletti is especially interested in bringing him to Juventus FC: talks are already under way, and his agent George Atangana is expected in Italy in the coming days to deepen discussions with interested clubs.

With Juventus, and with any other sides who decide to come forward.