Gennaro Gattuso insists Gonzalo Higuain started AC Milan's Supercoppa Italiana defeat to Juventus on the bench due to a fever, as speculation on the striker's future continues to mount.
Higuain has been tipped to link up with his former Napoli boss Maurizio Sarri at Chelsea during the transfer window.
Those rumours were exacerbated when he did not partake in a team photo with Saudi prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal ahead of the Supercoppa contest in Jeddah, which Juve won 1-0 thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo's header.
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Argentina striker Higuain came off the bench with just under 20 minutes remaining and Milan head coach Gattuso is adamant that illness, and not a potential departure, was behind his thinking.