The Theo Hernández Travesty

Milan have said goodbye to one of the best players they have had in decades, Theo Hernández. Maldini himself proclaimed him as his heir, and he is the one who signed the French left back in 2019. Theo would go on to break Maldini's record as Milan's all-time highest scoring defender just this past season. And he did it in just over five years, while it had taken Maldini 25 years to set that record. And the criminal part in losing Theo is that he wanted to stay. He had been trying to get a contract renewal for two years, since before Maldini was sacked. But not only did Milan not offer him a renewal, they pushed him out, threatening to freeze him out this season if he did not accept a move to Saudi Arabia. Theo fought it for weeks, and eventually acquiesced, with the media, fans, and his own club turned against him. After all he gave this club in the past six years, the hell he endured off the pitch and with his family, he still loved Milan and was willing to stay. But Milan did not love him back. That is the Theo Hernández travesty.

Theo loved Milan. But Milan did not love him back.

This is something I have been trying to write since early June, when all of the douchebaggery was going down between management and Theo regarding his future at Milan. But it was so difficult to write about when my anger was so fresh and so raw. I doubt I will ever not be bitter about this, and given Estupiñan's relatively inauspicious start at Milan, I will probably only become more bitter as time goes by. But it needs to be said. All of it. People need to understand the whole story, because too many people believe only what the toxic Italian media, the club, or other fans want them to hear or have been making noise about, rather than the human side of the story.

There are two sides to every story, maybe the one told by the fans and the media is not accurate?

Who Is Theo Hernández?

Young Lucas and Theo Hernandez in their early footballing days

Most people know that Theo Hernández and his brother Lucas, who is also a footballer, were raised by their single mother, without the presence in their life of their father, himself a former footballer. Having already won the Champions League with Real Madrid by the time he arrived at Milan at just the age of 21, Theo's footballing pedigree was pretty well established. Theo joined Milan and quickly became a World Class player for both club and country.

Theo came to us with Champions league DNA.

During his time at the club, Paolo Maldini said of him, "Theo is a very particular fullback. He is absolutely a fullback, but what he does is not done by anyone else, above all for his ability to finish, to assist and the way he comes onto the pitch. He has slightly revised the modern idea of the fullback." This was evidenced in every single one of his 34 goals for the club, as well as his 41 assists. Amazing numbers for a defender. Probably the most memorable Theo goal is his goal vs. Atalanta in the run-up to the Scudetto in 2022, the one where he ran the full length of the field before scoring. That goal says it all. No wonder it was named the Serie A Goal of the Season that year.

Theo and Lucas lifted the Nations League trophy together for France.

For France, he won the Nations League in 2020-21, and also played in the World Cup Final in Qatar, finishing as a runner-up. For Milan, he won the Scudetto in 2022, then lifted the Supercoppa this past January. But as an individual, he was also honored, including being named as part of Serie A's team of the year for four straight seasons, amongst many other achievements. But the funny thing about Theo is that he was just as likely to be fined for his actions during the Scudetto parade as he was to assist or score the winning goal. He was just as likely to get a yellow or even a red card as he was to send in the most incredible assist for a perfect goal for a teammate. Because his passion for Milan went deeper than football.

Idol, Director, Mentor, and Friend – Maldini was everything to Theo.

Losing Maldini

Things began to unravel for everyone, not just for Theo, when Paolo Maldini was sacked in June of 2023. Obviously, Theo had a special relationship with him, having been signed by him, playing in his same position, mentored by him, and proclaimed to be his heir by Maldini himself. Posts by Theo and other players on social media demonstrated their heartbreak and shock at the loss of Milan's technical director so suddenly. But Theo was probably hit harder than anyone by this loss.

Theo's social media post could have never fully expressed his pain.

The reports of Furlani's first address to the team, essentially reminding them they were all under contract, did not exactly help foster in the post-Maldini era positively. Neither did the nearly instantaneous selling of beloved teammate, Sandro Tonali for a giant bag of cash. The subsequent dismantling of the Scudetto-winning team by losing 17 players and buying 10 new players that summer alone did not help with morale, either. And it only went downhill from there, with the entire team losing significant value. Theo's market value had been at its peak, at €60 million, when Maldini was sacked. But over the next two years, it would drop to only €35 million, losing nearly 50% of his market value in just those two years. Everyone was greatly impacted by the exit of Maldini, but the travesty was the effect it would have on Theo and his career.

That meeting with Maldini at Ibiza.

False Rape Accusations

Theo's reputation suffered a major hit long before he ever came to Milan. In June of 2017, a woman accused him of raping her simply because she was angry that he would not go home with her. I am typically a "listen to women" kind of person, but in this case, Theo was never even arrested, because her story was immediately debunked.

Some reputations are earned, others are maliciously given.

Both security camera footage and a number of texts she sent to Theo at the time proved she was lying. Instead, she was charged with filing a false police report, having maliciously made up the story due to Theo's fame as a footballer. However, she managed to drag out the court case for eight very long years.

Pioli was another support system for Theo that he lost this past year.

During those eight years, Theo's name and "rape" appeared in the media hundreds of times, simply because he was famous. No one bothered to read the actual story to find out that the woman had made it all up and was now evading her own punishment. In fact, most news outlets did not even bother to share that part of the story. This had to affect Theo's performances throughout this time, but especially during the times when it was in the news so much.

Sometimes, it would be nice to be able to hide from the world.

This past season, 2024-25, this story came up again. The woman was scheduled to appear in a Spanish court in October, and Theo was scheduled to testify. Then her lawyer called in sick and she was a no-show, and the story was in the media again for months... once again for Theo as well. Even though he was completely cleared of any wrongdoing eight years prior. But until the case was finally resolved in January, Theo had this dark cloud hanging over him... again. And the travesty here was that she got away with a fine and a suspended sentence, while he was immediately judged as guilty by the public, despite being innocent all along.

Theo did not whine about all of the indignities he suffered, he just held his head high and kept working.

Dangerous Pregnancy for His Wife and Daughter

This past season, Theo had a lot more important things on his mind, though. His partner, Zoe Cristofoli, was expecting their second child, a little girl. However, there were reports that it was a difficult pregnancy, and that Zoe was hospitalized with both her life and their daughter's life at risk. As a partner and a father to Theo Jr. as well, I cannot imagine anything weighing more heavily on someone than something like this. It is difficult to think it would not affect his performances.

Zoe is his everything.

Little Cloe Marie was born on April 7th, and mom and baby were both healthy. That must have been such a relief for Theo, who had been carrying this around all season. It was around this time that Theo's performances on the pitch improved dramatically, so perhaps this stressor was a big factor in some of his poor performances earlier in the season.

Finally, mom and baby were safe, so Theo could relax.

False Night Club Assault Accusations

As if Theo needed anything else to distract him or damage his reputation, at the end of November, the multiple times-convicted and ex-con extortionist, lying, defaming paparazzi slimeball, and person put on the earth only to ruin other people's lives for money and his own fame, Fabrizio Corona, made a public accusation against Theo. Corona, the sleaziest of them all, claimed was that Theo "assaulted a woman in a nightclub." His evidence, which he showed all over television in Italy and then went viral, was some very dark, grainy, undated footage in which some man, who is not even identifiable, pushes a woman.

Just when you think you're clear on goal, life slide tackles you again.

The owner of the establishment made an official statement insisting that was not Theo. There were never any accusations made from a victim, no police reports filed. Neither Theo nor the club even publicly acknowledged the obvious smear campaign from the scum-of-the-earth Corona. And here's why: Fabrizio Corona is the ex- of Zoe Cristofoli, Theo's partner. (Yeah, she was way out of his league, I have no idea how that happened, either.) She left him way back then, and he was doing this out of jealousy/spite/revenge.

Who wouldn't be jealous of this beautiful family?

But it had its intended effect. First of all, I'm sure Corona got his paycheck, because stories like these feed television ratings. Secondly, it absolutely discredited Theo, particularly in combination with the simultaneous return of the false rape accusations (which was clearly something Corona calculated and took advantage of.) It was like a sucker punch to Theo's reputation, even making some of his most devout fans turn on him. And when his performances also faltered (gee, I wonder why?) the media and the fans got the pitchforks ready. What a travesty.

Theo still loved the fans, even when they turned on him.

Being Benched and Gaslighted By His Own Manager

Theo clearly needed more pain, though, so Milan had hired Paulo Fonseca as their manager last summer. He replaced Stefano Pioli, who was like a father to his players. The combination of both Theo and Leão returning later in the summer due to their national team duties and Fonseca's penchant for trying to force his best players to submit to him with domination, humiliation, and a complete lack of communication was always going to be a recipe for disaster. And that is how we ended up in the third match of the season last year, despite missing six other players, with Theo and Leão starting on the bench vs. Lazio. (Yeah, I still don't understand how that happened, either.)

Never before did 90 seconds of behavior cause so much outrage.

And that is the origin story for the "Cooling Break Debacle," in which our two best players were benched, having to watch their teammates losing the match for 70 minutes, then came on, and scored immediately. They basically saved Fonseca's job, giving him the draw instead of losing all three points to Lazio, with him having only a draw and a loss at that point already. No one cared about Fonseca's childish and imbecilic decision to bench them. They were worried about Theo and Leão's decision to keep walking around, having literally just come on, to keep their muscles warm, instead of going over and listening to the manager's same instructions that they had just received two minutes earlier. Everyone was distracted from the fact that Fonseca had literally dropped points again in a match that was winnable due to terrible decision-making and pride, because they were too busy shaming Theo and Leão for not getting a drink of water.

Still showing up for his team and his teammates, in spite of the nightmare manager.

But that was just the beginning of a long and very dysfunctional six months with a manager who would randomly bench his best players, slam them in the press, blame them and gaslight them for his own shortcomings, whilst never accepting any responsibility for his own actions. Fonseca may have had some decent tactical ideas, but he had zero room for error, zero flexibility, and even less ability to connect with his players, let alone get respect from them. Obviously. That he also did not communicate with them was very telling, and the events that transpired under his watch were not any surprise, to be honest.

Theo's leadership was regularly questioned, yet the armband was still reluctantly given him.

Theo took a triple hit in the match away to Fiorentina last year, on his birthday. First, Theo conceded a penalty, which Maignan gratefully saved. Then Milan were awarded a penalty, and Theo, wearing the captain's armband, took the penalty, which was saved by De Gea. After another penalty was taken by Tammy Abraham and was also saved, Theo also earned himself a straight red card and a two match ban by saying something to the referee after the match. An absolutely horrific night for Theo, sure. And worst birthday ever.

Theo still showed up, still scored in the Champions League in spite of everything, but that doesn't drive clicks.

But Fonseca's night was also incredibly poor. Not only his tactics, but also his incredibly late and bizarre substitutions, causing even the most calm and professional Pulisic to question him. And his press conference, where he was absolutely irate, and called out Theo and Tammy Abraham (not by name, but by their actions,) informing the world that they were not the assigned penalty takers. He could have handled that in-house, but chose to make it very public to try to deflect criticism from himself for losing yet another match. This also was the moment everyone else realized that none of the players liked or respected Fonseca. (And we could easily see why.)

Five goals and six assists would be an incredible season for anyone else, but for Theo, it was apparently criminal.

Note that this was the weekend just before Theo was supposed to have had to testify against the woman who had filed a false police claim against him back in 2017. He did not yet know that he was not actually going to have to testify at the time. So his poor performance could be based on that massive stressor. But I don't know what Fonseca's excuse was. He just kept doing the same thing all season, with all the players' performances being incredibly inconsistent if not declining as the year went on. Theo especially was the target of many of his comments, although he did get more playing time than Leão, only because Fonseca had no one else to play at his position. Fonseca's portrayal of Theo's "attitude" and work rate was a travesty, particularly because few players loved Milan more than him.

That "my psycho manager was finally fired" smile.

Poor Performances and Discipline

Theo's performances dipped slightly in the 2023-24 season, but that was as much due to the fact that he had played straight through the previous season, playing all the way through to the World Cup final, with only two short weeks to recuperate. Theo also typically played virtually every minute of every match for Milan, seeing as how the club never signed a proper backup for him. But fans have a selective memory and tend to rewrite history, too. They forget that Theo also scored five goals and had 11 assists in all competitions that season, topping his numbers from his amazing Scudetto season. His contributions were integral to Milan's second place finish that year.

Fans try to rewrite history on Theo's most prolific season with Milan.

This past season, however, after Pioli also left Milan, Theo's performances were notably changed. Whether it was due to distractions from the crusade against his moral character, his concerns for his family, an unhinged manager's rants, or the club not negotiating a renewal for him, or more going on that we don't know, or any combination of these, or all of the above, the decline in performances at times was obvious. The discipline, when poor, was particularly poor as well. But he still managed some solid performances throughout as well.

Theo was always happy to put Barella in his place, no matter what was going on.

Theo would only score five goals and make only six assists this past season. Fantastic numbers for an average fullback, but slightly down for him. However, in addition to the two match ban after his postmatch red card from the Fiorentina game, he also saw red vs. Feyenoord in the Champions League playoff round. One yellow for protecting a teammate who was down, and a second yellow for a dive, something referees never call, yet this time, for some reason, they did. Theo was sent off in the 51st minute, his team forced to play on ten men for the rest of the match. More specifically, his team forced to play without him for forty minutes.

THE red card that fans used to displace their anger about everything toward Theo.

To the fans and the media, this meant that Theo Hernández was personally responsible for Milan's exit from the Champions League. Not his teammates, who could not pull off a win at home against an inferior team, despite playing 40 minutes on ten men. Not Maignan, who had a "bad day at the office" in the first leg, conceding the only goal, which would have changed this match as well. Not Musah, who was sent off in the 31st minute vs. Dinamo Zagreb, leaving his teammates to play a full hour on ten men away, with no fan support, either. And a win there instead would have meant that they never would have had to play Feyenoord in the first place. Not the managers, the tactics, the boycotting fans, or the rest of his teammates. Not the referees, not the other teams. Not management for their poor choices.

No. Blame Theo. It was all his fault. Travesty.

Ladies and gentlemen, your scapegoat (nevermind the goals, you can ignore those.)

Media and Fan Campaign Against Him

The fans and media are justifiably angry at Milan's very poor results this past season, as well as everything that has transpired for the past two years that has removed the heart and soul from the club and destroyed the winning project that had been in place. But their anger is often misplaced. Theo was an easy target. After having lost his idol and mentor, his manager of nearly five years, then having his character attacked, being repeatedly maligned and discredited, having concerns about his family, and then his manager with personal issues and a habit of not getting along with his best players, all of Theo's good performances were completely forgotten.

Theo could have won the Ballon d'Or and the media and fans would have found a way to use it against him.

Imagine being Theo, having one of the worst years of his life, and not only struggling to pull it together on the pitch, but having the world turn against him. Even the fans for whom he had given everything for this past five plus years, the ones who wore his name on their jerseys and chanted his name. Now they were claiming it was he who was not putting in the effort, that he was no longer worthy to wear the shirt of the club he had helped carry on his back all these years. The media was beyond harsh toward anything he did, blowing any interaction, change of hairstyle, or social media post completely out of proportion, or even out of context.

When they couldn't find anything to criticize about his performances, they switched to his hair color.

Fans have a tendency to judge people on their worst possible mistakes, their lowest moments, rather than the years and years of incredible contributions that were so vital to their team's success. A perfect example of this is when Maldini left, people clung to two or three poor transfers, and judged his entire lifetime at Milan, if not at least his five years as a director, based only on those few transfers. Now, most of them would kill to have him back.

These two had more in common than they would have liked.

Yet this season, no one was humane enough to see Theo the person, to speak up for him and remind people who he really was and all that he had done for both club and country. Every day online and in the media, every match in the stadium, he was personally blamed for everything wrong with the club. Even though the club, too, had turned his back on him.

Theo's net was left empty, after six years of scoring goals for Milan.

No Renewal from Club

After two and a half years of crushing it on the pitch, Theo's original contract had been deservedly renewed in February of 2022, during the run to the Scudetto, a contract through 2026. Because of his incredible and consistent performances, there had also been talk already about opening discussions for another renewal even before Maldini's departure, ideally to be completed during the 2023-24 season. However, with management barely able to dress themselves in the morning during that first season on their own, that obviously did not happen.

A very deserved renewal in 2022.

Fast forward to this past season, when it would be important to renew his contract by the end of the year, because he would then only have one year left on his current contract and could have easily walked for free this year. Someone, (not saying who, but there have always been convenient stories and leaks about players whenever the club needed them since June of 2023,) told the media that Theo had demanded €8 million per year to stay. This was long before he or his agent had ever been invited to sit down and even talk about a renewal, so it seemed completely false. And no matter how many times he or his agent denied it, no one listened.

Theo was struggling just trying to keep his career on track, and the club was not helping.

So of course, this stuck. And, like the false rape and assault charges, the media and fans spread this story, and everyone believed it. The club, of course, never denied it. This was obviously an advantage they could use in their contract negotiations, should they ever decide to have them. Much like the stories about Maignan being too fat or too old that were released right about the same time the club were changing their mind about his renewal, the Theo salary demand story gave the club the upper hand in the eyes of the fans and the media.

Theo's agent tried to open up contract negotiations but the club kept putting up road blocks.
Photo by Daniele Mascolo

In the end, the club never actually offered Theo a renewal. Unlike Maignan, whom they had come to a renewal agreement with but never signed, this management never even seriously sat down with Theo or his agent to talk contract extension. They left it to the end of the season, and we all witnessed what happened then. It was a complete and utter travesty.

Not just pushed into a corner, shoved completely out.

The Club's Postseason Ultimatums

Back in 2022 Allegri said some very flattering things about both Theo and Leão, leading everyone to believe that he would have preferred to keep Theo. Certainly, the way he has embraced and built the team around Leão, one would think that he could have easily restored the Theo in Theo's game if given the opportunity. It was also reported that Tare would have liked to have kept him as well, but the decision to push him out was made before even Tare's arrival. Truly a shame, not only that they waited so long to hire a Sporting Director, but that when he arrived, his hands were immediately tied regarding one of our best players (and Tare and Allegri also had to work very hard to convince the other two best players to stay, as well, because of poor management choices.)

It's still hard to accept that we won't see him terrorizing our opponents anymore.

Perhaps the fact that Theo is one of 29 players who left in this summer window alone can tell you that this was no ordinary transfer window. Nor was his exit simply him asking to leave or something. Dark forces conspired against all rhyme or reason, and what started out as multiple statements from Furlani to the fans that the club did not need to sell turned into transfer window anarchy. And the first descent into madness was getting rid of Theo by any means necessary. And by any means necessary, that meant forcing him to go to Saudi Arabia so management could get the most money for the player whose market value they helped tank so hard.

Being recognized at Milanello for making 200 appearances during the 2023-24 season
(but it should have been Maldini giving him that recognition, and we all knew that.)

I actually lost track of the number of times it was reported that Theo said no or flat out refused to go to Saudi. One of his concerns was to remain viable for a call up from Deschamps for France, given that this is a World Cup year. After the club threatened to bench him for the entirety of this season if he refused to leave, and Theo spoke with Deschamps to get the okay, Theo finally gave in and agreed to go to Saudi Arabia.

If only a certain porftolio manager understood that no means no.

The announcement that Theo was going to Al-Hilal was one of the darkest days this summer. Watching him sign that contract hurt so much. All of this could and should have been avoided. Even Leão noted in his farewell post that "It wasn't supposed to end this way." Theo should be ours still. Fans point out that he is making four times the salary he made at Milan, but it was never about the money for Theo. Sure, he was interested in closing the gap between what Milan was paying him and what he deserved. But he wanted to stay at Milan, and it was reported that he would have even renewed without a raise, that's how much Theo loved Milan. But Milan did not love Theo back. That was the travesty.

The fog was real, but also metaphorical for their season last year.

Theo's Undying Love and Loyalty for Milan

From the very beginning, Theo loved Milan to his core.

Even before the drama of the past two years, Theo's time at Milan was filled with turbulence that most players do not ever have to deal with off the pitch. Many people will likely have forgotten the time when his partner, Zoe, was held up and robbed by gunmen while Theo Jr. was six months old and Theo was not even home. That was the headline, but the real story was that it was much worse than that. Or there was the time that Theo received death threats from Napoli supporters toward both he and his baby son on social media. And the club said nothing to support him, either. Either of these events alone might have made a lesser player want to leave Milan, yet Theo stayed loyal to the club and continued to play for lower wages than he deserved for years, too.

No one deserves to take a bow more than you, Theo.

When Theo was pushed out this summer, his farewell message was typically heartfelt, thanking his teammates, Paolo Maldini, and the fans. But later in the message, he wrote:

"The direction the club has taken and some recent decisions don't reflect the values or ambition that brought me here."

Fans and media challenged this, claiming that moving to Saudi Arabia wasn't exactly full of values or ambition. However, Saudi was never his idea. And they missed the message of the previous lines:

"My decision to leave wasn't easy. I always knew where I wanted to be, and Milan has always been my priority. Unfortunately, not everything depends on just one person."

Theo did not want to leave. The reports were right, he was definitely being pushed out.

This is how Theo would have liked to have say goodbye to the fans.

Yet one journalist still defended the club, claiming "Theo has been defended and protected both in sport and at home." Really? Theo was never defended or protected by the club these past two years. In fact, I believe the club may have actually fed negative stories about he and other players to the media. Certainly, his own coach said things about him publicly. No one ever said a word of support for him about the rape accusations and trial. Or Zoe's difficult pregnancy. Or about the accusations of Fabrizio Corona. Let alone back when the robbery and death threats occurred. No one ever publicly related to Theo as a human being. Exactly how and when did they protect him?

The picture that elicited death threats from Napoli fans, and no support from Milan.

And when Theo had errors, he was still fed to the wolves of both the fans and the media. What kind of "protection" do they think they gave him exactly? Because of their bad choices, the whole team lost significant value, with Theo losing nearly half of his market value in less than two years. Then they refused to renew him, pushed him out, and their "sensibilities were offended?" I wasn't even aware this management had any sensibilities to offend.

Theo would be the first to tell you his form dropped this season, but it did not mean it was gone completely.

I am certainly not absolving Theo of all of his responsibilities here. He could and should have done better, particularly this past season. His reactions and responses to the negative environment created by the club are also on him. However, it is easy to see how he may have felt like the entire world was against him, because in a way, it was.

Sure, Theo's drama on the pitch got him in trouble, but no one acknowledged the drama he faced off the pitch.

I still absolutely believed in him, and as one by one, the stressors off the pitch were relieved, he had regained his form at the end of the season. But it was too late, apparently, for Furlani, who had probably been crunching the numbers and was looking for any excuse to get rid of Theo's big salary, or more importantly the need to increase it. And Theo gave him plenty of disciplinary excuses to choose from. Except that everyone concerned about sporting results or even just loyalty and basic human decency would have definitely made a different choice.

Even at his worst, Theo scored for us. The worst version of Theo is still better than anyone else.

What Milan Have Lost

At his worst, Theo was still considered one of the top 5 left backs in the world. His infamous coast-to-coast goal vs. Atalanta in May of 2022 was nominated for a FIFA Puskas Award. Milan fans voted that goal as the Best Goal of 2021/22, and his goal vs. Lazio the following year was voted Best Goal of 2022/23. He is a defender. Known for his goalscoring. Not just his prolific goalscoring, but also how spectacular his goals are.

Theo immediately showed his quality, quality that is irreplaceable.

We will miss his speed, his power, his strength, his agility, his skills, and his incredible linkup play with our other World Class player, Rafael Leão, a duo also affectionately known by fans as Theão. The way he dominated the left flank for six years straight in Serie A, the energy he brought to the team and to the game every time he stepped onto the pitch. We will miss the terror in the eyes of the opposition, the way he got under their skin to the point that we said "I'm glad he's on our team." But that was just his competitive nature, off the pitch, he was truly a nice guy.

Even at its worst this past six years, Milan had the most feared left flank in Europe.

There are plenty of amazing compilation videos that could still never do his Milan career justice. This one attempts to put all of his six years of brilliance into just seven minutes. Impossible. It's not even possible to truly capture his brilliance on camera. I don't know that anyone could ever do Theo justice, anyway. However, the infamous CompsACM at least did a pretty good job of capturing the essence of Theo.

Theo and Paolo Maldini celebrating the Scudetto win in the dressing room was so emotional.

Every time I see him celebrating the Scudetto with Paolo Maldini in the dressing room, I tear up a little. That moment for me was so healing, two Milan greats closing the wide gap between Milan trophies over the years. And now the rift has been torn again, the cavern even wider than ever. Losing Theo, and in particular the way he was treated, is a scar that I am not sure will ever heal for me. All of the lies, deception, and unnecessary defamation of such an important player will forever be a travesty.

Giroud's favorite hairstyle.

And yes, we will even miss his frequent changes of both hair colors and hair styles – pink hair Theo, bleached blonde Theo, curly hair Theo (Giroud's personal fave,) and even Theo with braids. In spite of the wild hairstyles and tattooed exterior, Theo was one of the most genuine teammates on and off the pitch. He has always kept in touch publicly (on social media) and personally with current and former teammates. In fact, both Tonali and Gabbia got married this summer, and amongst the very few teammates invited to their small events, Theo was perhaps the only non-Italian Milan teammate there. Because he is that guy.

Los tres amigos.

People said Theo wasn't a leader, but his leadership just looked different than some might expect. In between the passionate verbal and physical displays that caused his disciplinary issues on the pitch, he was the first person to offer a hand to an opposing player – to either help them stretch a cramp or help them up after a tackle. Theo's teammates always knew he was there for them, like a brother, on and off the pitch. Maybe he wasn't the ideal role model in a disciplinary sense, but as a human being, he is actually the guy you would always want to have your back. A true leader.

Theo truly loved even his ex-teammates, and they knew that.

For all of these reasons and more, the way the club treated Theo Hernández is a travesty. And losing him is a tragedy. We have only just scratched the surface of life without Theo, and it is not pretty. If only this management had any kind of a learning curve.

Theo could even still blow his teammates' minds, he is that extraordinary.

Theo is one-of-a-kind. Both as a person and as a footballer. I wish Estupiñan all the best, I really do, but it would be impossible to think he could ever fill Theo's ginormous shoes. Theo will be missed both on and off the pitch. He leaves a gaping wound in many of our hearts that may never heal. We have no control over the idiotic choices of this management, or their lack of foresight and planning in not only letting Theo leave, but actually forcing him out. They have no idea what we will be missing, but I do. And for all of the reasons, I can only send my love and say thank you...