The friction between the young defender and the club’s management reached a breaking point over symbolic gestures of status. Jimenez felt a distinct lack of trust, which ultimately led to a breakdown in his professional discipline. “At the beginning of the season, I asked for the number 2 shirt,” he confessed. “I wanted it for the tradition of great full-backs. They said no, they said I wasn’t ready, that I was too immature. They were wrong. From there, it’s true, I lost concentration and was late a few times.”
This internal tension boiled over into a public scandal involving a leaked private message after he remained an unused substitute under Max Allegri. Hitting out at his manager, he said: “I didn’t even play… this sh*tty coach.” Looking back, Jimenez is repentant. “It was a stupid thing. I don’t think Allegri is a ‘sh*tty coach’ and his history proves it,” he clarified. “I hadn’t played and I was angry. I had the wrong person to send the message to. From day one I apologised to Allegri: I don’t believe what I wrote. And he accepted my apology . But all these situations have taken away my peace of mind and I was also the one who told the club to find solutions: Milan is a club I love and I didn’t want to feel bad or negatively influence the team with a bad moment of mine.”