At the time they were playing better football than us. At that time we had drawn 6 and won 2 out of 8 games. While Milan had won 4 and drawn 2 out of 7 and just created some buzz by beating Arsenal in the CL while we were going through the worst period of our season.
But who cares what number he gets? If Marotta and co. want to give him it then they obviously think he fits, if not, then they won't. Its very simple.