Boateng admits he may leave Italy

AC Milan midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has admitted that he may leave Italy after he was racially abused by supporters on Thursday.

The 25-year-old walked off the pitch after being subje
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cted to racist chants during a mid-season friendly against fourth-tier Pro Patria.

His team-mates followed him off the field and he has since received the backing of his club, including coach Massimiliano Allegri and president Silvio Berlusconi, as well as a number of prominent figures in the football world.

But he has now admitted that he is unsure about his future in Serie A.

“It’s not something which you can just shake off,” he told German newspaper Bild.

“I will sleep on it for the next three nights and then sit down with my agent Roger Wittmann next week. We will have to see if it’s really worth carrying on playing in Italy.”

The private and public backing of Berlusconi, who stated that Rossoneri players should always walk off the pitch in the face of abuse, as well as coach Allegri, may not be enough to keep Boateng in the country.

The former Tottenham midfielder had previously told CNN that he was surprised that racism still existed in 2013, and that he is fed up of having to put up with abuse of that kind.

“I was surprised that in the time we live in now – it’s 2013 – these things still happen; still these things come up, and still we have to fight these things and still hear these things,” he said on Friday.

“It’s not the first time in my life that I’ve had to see things like this or hear things like this. I’m 25 years old, and I don’t want to see this bulls**t anymore, and for myself, no-one can convince me to play again. I said it straight: ‘I’m not going to play on this pitch again’.”

“I was angry, I was sad, I was disappointed. And this all came together and I said: ‘Okay, I’m not going to play anymore. I don’t want to play when the crowd is doing things like this, or in a place like this’. So many negative emotions came up in me.

“I’d say to everyone that I don’t want them to play through this experience – I’d tell them to walk off the pitch.”