Adriano Galliani has praised M'Baye Niang after the attacker scored his first Serie A goals for AC Milan in a 4-1 win over Sampdoria on Saturday and has taken credit for preventing the Frenchman from joining Genoa on a permanent basis.

Niang - who scored twice and set up another to help Sinisa Mihajlovic's men to a comfortable win at San Siro - spent the second half of last season on loan at the Stadio Luigi Ferraris and Genoa were apparently keen to hold of him beyond that temporary spell.

"I would like to praise Niang in particular. He was fantastic and he is just 20 years old," Galliani told reporters.

"I brought Niang to the club at a young age and last year I resisted the interest of Genoa, who wanted an option to buy him during his loan spell. But we didn't give in.

"We now have an important player for the team."

The 20-year-old's double on Saturday were his first Serie A goals for Milan since joining the club from Caen in August 2012.

Niang, who struck five times in the league for Genoa last season, has a contract with the Rossoneri until June 2019.