Morning Transfer Talk: No “rotten apples” for AC Milan

Of all the things for which AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi probably need apologize, this one surely rates low on the list.

This is a man, after all, who has been dogged by scandal for years. He has been convicted for tax fraud and accused of bribery, false accounting, collusion, tax evasion, embezzlement and (perhaps most odious) engaging in prostitution with a minor.

Feel free to go take a shower. We’ll wait …

So calling someone a “rotten apple” seems like a misdemeanor infraction in the court of public opinion. Especially when so many people would be inclined to agree.

And yet, here we are. Berlusconi has apologized for saying just that about Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli, who is surely printing up his bitingly ironic “rotten apple” t-shirt at this very moment for later display upon his next goal.

What Berlusconi said last week: “The name of Balotelli never came into my thoughts. He is a rotten apple and could infect every group where he goes, even Milan.”

More important to the transfer goings-on, the AC Milan owner attached his subsequent apology to another denial, knocking down the hard-to-kill rumors that City’s man-child might find his way back to Italy and to the San Siro.

What Berlusconi just told Sky Italia:

What I said was based on the fact that I feel positive people are useful in the changing room. I was not referring to Balotelli and I apologize if it is was taken as a slur against him. … Could he still come to Milan? No one from my club has held any talks with him, and neither [AC Milan vice president] Adriano Galliani nor I has identified him as a transfer target.”