AC Milan head coach Vincenzo Montella had cleared himself from a recent comment with regards to the Italian Serie A squad's underwhelming summer transfer window, saying that he was only joking when he compared his team to their cross-city rivals Inter Milan.

Both AC Milan and Inter Milan had recently been taken over by Chinese investors and after the 42-year-old Italian mentor was asked for the reason why I Rossoneri was quiet during the concluded summer window, he quipped to reporters that Milan's Chinese owners "got the address wrong when they made the bank transfers", as per World Soccer Talk.

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Some people, particularly both club's directors, did not take the joke well as the report said that Montella was "forced to issue an explanation" why he made his comment that seemed to insinuate the Inter owners' "superior financial power" over those in Milan.

"It was a joke, I'm not being polemical," said Montella, via Football Italia. "As I often do, I tried to deflect questions about the market by means of irony."

"And I made a joke about the future ownership of Milan, who invested very much, at a moment when they are still in the preliminary phase of the purchase," he said.

"There was no other meaning or interpretation to my words. Above all, there was no intention to be polemical," the coach added.

Silvio Berlusconi, AC Milan owner and president, has not yet handed the team's complete ownership to the Chinese consortium and just signed a "preliminary agreement". Sino-Europe Sports Investment Management Changxing Co, who is reportedly the main investors in the deal, will fully takeover the club by the end of the year, according to the agreement.

Montella was hired by Milan on July 1 to a two-year contract worth €2.3 million per season. His former club, Sampdoria, was given €500,000 as a recompense to release the manager from his former deal.

Montella took over from Cristian Brocchi, who served as Milan's head coach for only seven games following the sacking of Siniša Mihajlović near the end of last season.

TagsChina Football, China Football News, AC Milan, Vincenzo Montella, Inter Milan