AC Milan were on the cusp of signing American left-back Antonee Robinson. However, irregular heart pace was discovered in the medical visits and the move failed eventually.
Robinson was playing for Wigan in the English second division when Milan made a move to recruit him, backed by legendary Rossoneri defender Paolo Maldini.
The player spoke to The Guardian about the move, as relayed by Daily Mail. Here are his words:
"I was in hospital doing loads of tests and scans on my knees and back. They gave me a max exertion test on a Wattbike and were asking if I’d ever had any issues with my heart. I said: 'No' but then they sent me to another hospital to do another ECG and when they got the results they sent me to Milan’s headquarters. My agent’s there with Maldini and all the higher-ups of Milan and I’m expecting to sign my deal."
He added:
"But they said: 'We can’t do a deal because something’s flagged up with your heart'. It was deadline day and it would take a minimum of three days to find out the problem, so they couldn’t risk signing me. They were all talking so much but I’m just sat there staring at the floor and thinking: 'Of course it's not happened'. I was having ectopic heartbeats, which is basically an insufficient heartbeat. Up to 5% is OK but I was having double that. It was making my heart dilate, which means it was overworking and growing in size. It could have approached failure if it hadn’t been caught. So that [Milan] medical gave me the chance to catch something I didn’t even know I had."
Antonee Robinson returned to England and was set to undergo surgery but two months later, there was a lockdown in the country due to Covid-19. Therefore, the surgery was delayed. While he waited, the American was told to not drink coffee.
Antonee Robinson, 25, currently playing for Fulham said:
"When they went to do the operation they didn’t see any more insufficient heartbeats, they came to the conclusion that my heart’s sensitive to caffeine and I just needed to cut out coffee. Two weeks later I played my first game in six months against Huddersfield and it was a big relief."
