Gattuso Resigned To Higuain Departure  (Sky Sports)

AC Milan head coach Gennaro Gattuso says he "accepts" Gonzalo Higuain's decision to leave after dropping him from their squad to face Genoa.

Higuain has been linked with a move to Chelsea to rejoin his former head coach at Napoli, Maurizio Sarri.

Sky in Italy reported Higuain, who is on loan at AC Milan from Juventus, has agreed to move to Stamford Bridge until the end of the season, when Chelsea will then have the option to buy the Argentina striker.

Gattuso said: "I accept his decision. Surely he could have done more and maybe we could have helped him fit in better.

"I want to be honest with you all. We had a poor training session today due to all these rumours. We spoke after the training session and I did not consider him ready for this game."

The 31-year-old was left on the bench for Milan's Supercoppa Italiana defeat to Juventus in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday.

Gattuso confirmed Higuain will be left out once again when Milan, who are sixth in Serie A, face Genoa on Monday.

Any deal for Higuain would see Alvaro Morata leave Chelsea. The Spaniard, who joined from Real Madrid for £57m in July 2017, is close to completing his move to Atletico Madrid.

Morata was left out of Chelsea's 18-man squad as they lost 2-0 at Arsenal on Saturday.